The employee’s perspective on resolving disputes

“Think dispute resolution is a tough nut to crack?”

Welcome back to our series titled “Walk awhile in my shoes,” real world, gut-level messages from employees to managers. This series was inspired by the book “Walk Awhile in My Shoes” written by Eric Harvey and Steve Ventura.

Since the series started, we have addressed “On change”, “On recognition”, “On performance evaluation”, “On participative management”, “On how performance problems are dealt with”, and “On no win situations”.

I am the voice of the employee and today the employee is seeking to be heard “On resolving disputes.”

It does not matter what they are called, be it – complaints, grievances, or disputes, – the name does not matter. The fact is, I am human, and it is expected that I will sometimes have concerns about how I am treated at work. The issues that concern me are not always resolved. Sometimes they are left to work themselves out and other times, I just have to live with them. When they are not resolved, my work and my engagement within the organization are affected.

It is said that there is an “open door policy,” within the organization where I can come to your office to discuss my concerns “at any time.” However, that is easier said than done because you are quite often too busy for me. Most of the time when I asked if you are busy, your response is “yes, give you a few minutes” or “I will get back to you” but in most cases you never get back to me. There are times when I come to your office expecting you to give me five minutes of your time and you are multitasking – listening to me while you type an email or response to a WhatsApp. There have even been times when you mentioned that you were running late for a meeting and that I should hurry up and say what I am trying to say. Those experiences made me feel rushed, that my concerns are trivialized, and hat left me feeling worse.

I appreciate that you have a heavy workload, however, listening to my concerns and trying to resolve them are also part of the responsibilities of management. It is not everything that affects me I wish to bring to your attention because I do not want to be seen as just another “whiny employee.” It is only the things that I consider very important to me and have been bothering me for some time that I want to be addressed.

There are times when I believe that you are the cause of my concern and having to go to “the person who have done me wrong” to get resolution is uncomfortable. On an occasion like that, I feel like I am between a rock and a hard place – on one hand, I want to get the issue off my chest so I can concentrate on my work but on the other hand, I fear if I come to you, I will be labelled a “trouble maker” and possibly experience retribution, so sometimes I seal my peace around you and pretend that everything is okay, when they are not.

“There’s a catch -22 here that I don’t know how to stop. You validly have a right to ask, “How can I possibly resolve employee complaints if I don’t know they exist?” But I also must ask, “How can I expect to use a process I fear – or at least have little confidence in?” I wish I had an answer to recommend, but I don’t. I only have concerns.

Think dispute resolution is a tough nut to crack? Try walking awhile in my shoes!” walk awhile in my shoes.

If you are interested in the manager’s perspective on walk awhile in my shoes, please visit my YouTube channel karenhearttalk.

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