A failure to address conflicts at work is one of the main reasons executives lose respect in a team. Failing to act because of a fear of conflict is often why decisions are postponed, problems are allowed to fester, and how serious realities are ignored. The desire to be liked and not thought of badly can be so strong as to paralyse thinking and stop one from expressing dissenting opinions which can in turn inhibit a company’s growth.
Although there may be good reasons for people to avoid disputes in the office, these anxieties can also be irrational and exaggerated because they are confused with early experiences in which they might have been hurt when conflicts occurred in their families. This is how small disagreements at work come to feel like enormous conflicts as the capacity to discriminate between past and present is diminished.
An example comes from a university graduate in IT whose fear was rooted in his relationship with his mother, in which closeness depended on agreeing with her, and differing opinions were frequently met with a dismissive response or rejection.