Two of your employees seem to be in conflict. They bicker, critique or criticize each other. Or, when you interact with your employees, the tension is high. 

Is this good or bad? The best answer is: It depends.

The word "conflict," usually conjures up negative associations, such as arguments, hatred, anger, hurt feelings, distrust and more. But what is conflict and how does it impact worker performance?

Stephen Robbins, author of Organizational Behavior, defines conflict as, "A process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected or is about to negatively affect something the first party cares about."

Conflict can be good, bad or ugly and it can be managed in good, bad and ugly ways.

There are two ways of looking at organizational conflict, GOOD and BAD.  Each of these ways is linked to a different set of assumptions about the purpose and function of organizations. 

We generally do not look at conflict as opportunity -- we tend to think about conflict as unpleasant, counter-productive and time-consuming. Conflict that occurs in organizations need not be destructive, provided the energy associated with conflict is harnessed and directed towards problem-solving and organizational improvement. 

However, managing conflict effectively requires that all parties understand the nature of conflict in the workplace. Good organizational conflict is conflict and disagreement that allows the organization or people in it to grow, solve problems more effectively, and counterbalance the inertia that most organizations develop. Good organizational conflict helps people examine what they take for granted, and the ineffective old ways of doing things. "Good" conflict also stimulates creativity and problem solving.

For organizations to benefit from conflict a few things need to happen. People in the organization need to be able to separate the personal and the emotional aspects of conflict from the problem-solving parts. When people become overly invested in their positions, they tend to make organizational enemies as conflicts become more and more personalized. Personalization means that people forget they are on the same side and see each other as very personal enemies.

Second, people in the organization need the skills and understanding required to interact in conflict situations so that they avoid escalating conflicts into the bad and ugly ranges. They need to understand how to "fight fair" and stay focused on problem solving.

So the message here is that conflict is natural. It occurs in every organization. However, the process of engaging in conflict doesn't have to be negative and counterproductive. In fact, it can be positive. It all depends on how we view the tension that gets created and what we do with it.

Now go and have a productive conflict!!