Understanding Organizational Dysfunction: Part 1 - Workplace Assessment and Diagnosing Conflict

Workplace consultants play a vital role in helping organizations identify and address key themes of organizational issues. These professionals bring a unique perspective and expertise to the table, providing organizations with valuable insights and recommendations that can help them improve their operations, increase productivity, and achieve their goals. Through careful analysis and evaluation, workplace consultants are able to identify the root causes of organizational issues, develop strategies to address them and work with organizations to implement effective solutions. Working closely with leaders and staff at all levels, workplace consultants identify and address issues that may be hindering the organization's success, ultimately helping to create a more positive and productive work environment.

Organizational dysfunction can manifest in various ways, hindering the effectiveness and productivity of a company or department. While the causes of dysfunction can be complex and varied, in my practice, three common themes often emerge: historical issues, structural misalignment and lack of role clarity, and gossip or sub-standard behaviour. Historical issues refer to problems that stem from past events or decisions that continue to impact the present. Structural misalignment and lack of role clarity involve discrepancies between job responsibilities, expectations, and accountability. Finally, gossip and sub-standard behaviour can create a toxic work environment, erode trust, and damage morale.

To diagnose common themes, we use Moore's Circle of Conflict (2003) to diagnose the causes and "drivers" of conflict into five categories: Relationships, Structure, Data, Values, and Interests. [1] Mayer (2012) contributed to this model by expanding the drivers of conflict by stating, "Human needs are at the core of all conflicts." [2] Mayer expanded Moore’s understanding as to how the conflict unfolds by considering; how people communicate, their emotions and values, the structures, interactions, and history. [3] In alignment with these factors, my experience identifies three common themes: historical issues, structure and role misalignment, and gossip.

Gossip is easily identifiable in each of the five new factors in Mayer's Wheel of Conflict. Historical issues are commonly defined as past events that won't go away or a relationship between individuals or groups in a conflict that has not 'cleared the air' and is preventing people from moving forward. Another critical issue is organizational structure changes or lack of changes through operational growth or decline periods that need more role clarity for individuals at all levels. When organizations expand or decline quickly, employees become unsure of their duties, expectations, and accountabilities that accompany their changing roles, leading to interpersonal disputes in their attempt to find clarity. One critical issue that occurs repeatedly is gossip, sometimes reaching a level of "malicious gossip", thereby creating a toxic work environment. The effects of organizational gossip are profound on the erosion of trust, morale, and lost productivity. Gossip is a natural human phenomenon whereby we seek connection, affirmation, acceptance and belonging. We want to share in the group connectedness and decrease the innate action to fight and our fear of being alienated [4]. Mayer (2012) states, "Emotions are the energy that fuels conflict." [5] Gossip is a form of communication, and even at the best of times, human communication is imperfect; as a result, there is always a potential for conflict. Gossipy communication can lead to disputes in which the parties generate their own set of assumptions and hear the information presented differently. These assumptions, also recognized as attributions, play a critical role in conflict development. Each party seeks a logical, rational explanation of the other's behaviour to understand how that behaviour could be excusable or interpreted under the circumstances. [6] These "imperfect" interactions lead us to take an antagonistic stance or make a negative attribution, believing that the other party is being devious and acting in bad faith, which leads us to devalue their words or contribution. [7]

Most importantly, gossip can seriously affect personal physical health and mental wellness by causing anxiety, eating disorders, depression, and more. These adverse effects are supported in the research by Grosser, T. J., Lopez-Kidwell, V., Labianca, G. (Joe), & Ellwardt, L. (2012) describing the persons gossiping as the 'gossips', "Studies show that gossips have some positive and negative effects on the organizations. Some of those, including negative gossips can cause employee's poor morale and can destroy the productivity of the organizational objectives, but in some circumstances, gossips can play a positive role in the organization and help management to promote effective decision making and also to get a better understanding of the organizational atmosphere." [8]

While it is "essentially impossible to eliminate gossip by imposing a simple edict or anti-gossip policy…its pervasiveness in organizations means that it must provide some value to compensate for the risk." [9] Thus, managers and employees must understand the effects of gossip on a much deeper level if they hope to manage it effectively.

As a workplace consultant, I help clients to restart or reboot a dysfunctional team that has been swirling in gossip.  I work with clients to design customized workplace assessment to better understand how gossip affects the workplace and offer solutions to reset the organization onto a positive path forward.

Are you interested in learning more? Join me as I walk through Part 2: The Impact of Workplace Gossip and subsequent segments.

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[1] Moore, Christopher. The Mediation Process, 3rd Ed. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass), 2003. In Macfarlane, J., Manwaring, J., Zweibel, E., Daimsis, A., Kleefeld, J., & Pavlović, M. (2016).

Dispute resolution: readings and case studies (Fourth edition.). Emond Montgomery Publications. P. 14.

[2] Mayer, Bernard (2012). The Dynamics of Conflict: A Guide to Engagement and Intervention (Second edition.). In Macfarlane, J., Manwaring, J., Zweibel, E., Daimsis, A., Kleefeld, J., & Pavlović, M. (2016).

Dispute resolution: readings and case studies (Fourth edition.). Emond Montgomery Publications. P. 14.

[3] Ibid. P. 14.

[4] Ibid. P. 16.

[5] Ibid. P. 16.

[6] Macfarlane, J., Manwaring, J., Zweibel, E., Daimsis, A., Kleefeld, J., & Pavlović, M. (2016).

Dispute resolution: readings and case studies (Fourth edition.). Emond Montgomery Publications. P. 132.

[7] Ibid.P. 132.

[8] Grosser, T. J., Lopez-Kidwell, V., Labianca, G. (Joe), & Ellwardt, L. (2012). Hearing it through the grapevine: Positive and negative workplace gossip. Organizational Dynamics, 41(1), 52–61. P. 53.

[9] Ibid.P. 53.