1 It may result in fighting.
2 It makes people stressed and they are unable to do their work well.
Business owners or managers who let conflict run rampant in their organization will face enormous consequences. The consequences of conflict cannot be fully quantified and will never be fully known. One thing is for sure: Conflict costs a lot!
If you work in a business setting that experiences conflict, even if you are not in a supervisory role -- for example, a co-worker is involved in conflict -- you have the responsibility to stop it. Why?
Because conflict is like poison to the work environment. Even more than that, conflict costs so much it can drive the company into the ground and drive you out of a job. This is not an exaggeration. Conflict costs so much, it can turn an effective and outwardly focused business (that is, one that is properly focused on meeting customer needs) upon itself: The managers end up putting out fires, and the employees spend more time in bitter disputes than in providing proper service.
In this article we're going to look at the various costs and consequences of conflict. Although we cannot place a dollar figure on each situation, you should consider the monetary cost if a conflict arose in your situation. You'll be surprised at how much it is.
Personal costs
Personal costs are the consequences of conflict on the individuals in the organization. However, like ripples in a pond, be aware that conflict does not only affect the people involved in the conflict itself, but spreads to those around.
Self-esteem is one area of personal consequence resulting from conflict. Sometimes one person's world view comes across as much more bitter to other people, and that one person can (unintentionally or intentionally) say hurtful things to others.
Real life example : One woman got a new job and would have enjoyed it; however, a very blunt supervisor made comments that were quite frank and (unintentionally) hurtful to the woman. Although attempts were made to resolve the conflict, the woman felt her only recourse was to quit the job, because she thought she was not good enough to get the work done.
Poor self-esteem can lead to even worse problems, including health-related problems that can directly impact personal productivity. Rather than do a good job, the person who feels the pressure (whether they are a part of the conflict or not) may often call in sick, or begin to show signs of not being fully committed to the job -- perhaps by coming in late, or going home early, or surfing the Internet at work.
Productivity is another area that suffers as a result of conflict. The closer a person is to the conflict, the more likely their productivity is going to suffer; however, it is true that many people in the organization will experience diminished productivity because of the conflict. On a personal level, this is simply because of the distraction resulting from the conflict: They are so busy thinking about the conflict, itself, they cannot get their work completed properly. Or, the conflict is creating such frequent interruptions that they cannot complete their work.