Managing Conflict in Engineering Organizations

We can all agree that conflict in engineering organizations is a reality. We can also agree that managing conflict can be a challenge. Every aspect of an engineering organization from low level task accomplishment or project management to upper level planning and establishment of organizational goals and objectives involves some degree of conflict. Conflict must be managed both locally and globally to assure the success of any engineering organization in its target industry. How an engineering organization manages conflict can directly impact its success or failure. Some conflict is considered productive and desired. Acceptable conflict can assure an organization continues to grow and remain competitive. Managing conflict in an organization benefits management, staff, and customers. We can not ignore conflict. It is reality. "Ignoring the conflict or believing it will go away over time does nothing more than to allow issues to remain unresolved and emotions to escalate." [1] It must be managed or conflict can adversely impact any organization. There are simple ways of managing conflict in an engineering organization. It takes time and commitment to make managing conflict successful and beneficial.