The 15 most frequent problems and conflicts at work.

Misunderstandings and false smiles in companies, more common than we think.

People spend a large part of the day at work, and it is logical that, after so many hours, conflicts can arise.It is logical that, after so many hours, conflicts can arise.

Conflicts are normal, but detecting and resolving them is key to prevent the work environment from becoming a living hell, because when we are bad at work our performance, our motivation or our feeling of belonging to the organization are affected.

Conflicts at work: which are the most common?

But, what are the most common conflicts in the workplace? What are the most frequent causes of these problems at work? We explain them below.

Lack of teamwork

Teamwork is one of the skills most valued by recruiters, because when an employee works in a team, their creativity and learning improves, their stress level is reduced and performance and productivity increase.. However, in cases where workers decide to go it alone and teamwork is not evident in the company, it is possible that conflicts may arise.

On the other hand, a very individualistic mentality can lead to mistrust of others, and in such situations it is easy to misinterpret certain behaviors and attribute them to a desire to stand out from co-workers.

• To learn more, you can read our article: "The 5 benefits of teamwork".

2. Lack of communication

Lack of communication is another cause of serious conflicts at work.When an employee or superior fails to communicate (or send the necessary messages) to other workers, problems can arise. Miscommunication can take the form of misinformation or misinformation. In the first case, the information does not arrive; in the second case, the information arrives badly.

At the end of the day, the frictions that can be produced by the lack of communication can give way to situations of ambiguity that produce failures and, in those occasions, the inability to know who has made a mistake causes conflicts to break out.

3. Toxic coworkers

Sometimes, labor conflicts can appear without any intention, nevertheless, other times, the toxic people create bad atmosphere where they go, especially in the work. Toxic colleagues can be identified because wherever they go they end up getting on everyone's bad side and create conflicts where there are none. They like to meddle where they are not called, they want to be the center of attention and they are usually the typical people known as false and critical.

4. Toxic bosses

It can happen that they are not the co-workers who intoxicate the work environment, but that the bosses, either by their bad management or by their personality. by their bad management or by their personality, make your life impossible.. In these cases, you may be at a disadvantage when it comes to resolving the conflict.

In summary, toxic bosses tend to be: arrogant and poor communicators, autocratic, inflexible, controlling and discriminating.

• Want to know more about toxic bosses? Then click here.

5. Competitiveness

It is common for many companies to pay their employees based on their achievements. And while some companies distribute commissions among team members, others reward employees on an individual basis: depending on sales or targets set, it is one person who receives the commission. This type of incentive can lead to friction among employees.The competitiveness that is created leads to conflicts between workers.

6. Love relationships

Coworkers may suffer some romance, which does not have to be negative. However, in some situations, romantic relationships at work can lead to conflict.. Love relationships can arise in the work environment as in any other place, but, to avoid conflicts, it is necessary that they do not interfere with work.

7. Colleagues who do not work well

And of course, when a colleague does not perform as well as he should, conflicts can arise.. When someone doesn't do their job well, it will end up interfering with yours, and possibly, make you have to do theirs and work harder. Companies and organizations are dynamic systems, and a delay in the deadline to deliver a project can cause the overall functioning of this "living organism" to suffer. No one likes to work twice as hard.

8. Prejudice (male chauvinism/racism)

Prejudice is a source of conflict in various spheres of life, including at work. Colleagues who do not tolerate people from other parts of the world or with a different skin color, bosses who treat their female employees in a sexist manner, and so on. These are cases that can appear in the workplace.

9. Personality clashes

Sometimes personalities simply do not fit and the spark jumps out at the first change.. In personal relationships, conflicts exist day in and day out. When such a conflict arises, it is best to resolve the problem as soon as possible.

However, it should be kept in mind that clashes between different personalities are not the most frequent reasons for conflicts in the company. On the contrary, many problems that are actually organizational and collective are wrongly attributed to the individual characteristics of certain people, since this is "the easy option" when looking for an explanation for what is happening (it is based on an essentialist view of workers).

10. Mobbing

Mobbing, also known as psychological harassment at work, occurs at work when an individual or several individuals exercise psychological violence in a systematic and repeated manner on another individual or individuals. Mobbing can be between employees, from the employees to the superior, from the superior to the employees or from the organization to one of its workers. Mobbing not only affects work performance and causes serious conflicts, but can also cause serious psychological problems in the person who suffers it. can cause serious psychological problems in the person who suffers it.. This is a problem that must be tackled once it is detected.

• You may be interested in these posts: "Mobbing: psychological harassment at work" or "The 6 types of mobbing or harassment at work".

11. Changes in the company

Changes in the company can generate different types of conflicts. For example, staff cuts may lead employees to feel uncomfortable and demotivated; or changes in the top management may lead to new policies that are not welcomed by employees, especially the most senior ones. Ultimately, these disruptions can cause the progress that has been made so far to be cut short until a new readjustment situation arises.

12. Exploitation

Exploitation on the part of employers can also generate conflicts with workers, for example, if the worker does not feel that he/she is being paid for the work he/she is doing.For example, if the worker does not feel that he/she is being paid fairly or perceives that he/she is overworking (working more hours than he/she should), he/she may end up in bad terms with the company and with other workers.

13. Resource conflicts

Overwork may be due to obligation as in the previous case.. But it can also happen that the company's lack of resources (fewer workers than it should have, poor personnel management, etc.) causes workers to come into conflict with the company or feel stressed and burned out.

14. Conflict over values

It may be that we are very clear about the company's values and that we like our work very much, so we will perform at an optimum level. But it may be that a colleague of ours does not feel the same way as we do in this respect.. This can cause that, in the case of the latter, his performance is low and he is unmotivated. This can create a bad atmosphere among colleagues.

15. Unclear guidelines

It has already been mentioned in a previous point that communication is essential for the good performance of the professional work. One type of communication that should be taken into account and treated with care is unclear guidelines.

Lack of communication in the business rules or in the objectives expected of an employee can cause what is known as role conflictin other words, not having a correct idea of what is to be done or what is expected of an employee.. Role conflict creates conflict among workers and is also one of the most common causes of job stress or burnout.