Conflicts of Interest at Work: Examples and Mitigation Techniques

What is the workplace conflict of interest?

By hearing the word “workplace”, we believe having a safe environment where the employees welcome with value and having a platform to demonstrate their skills and feel belongness to the institution. Also, we have the experience of “workplace conflict of interest” which is a common issue in organizations. Workplace conflict of interest occurs while an individual’s personal interests, activities or relationships have the possibility to affect their professional responsibilities and duties. These conflicts can compromise objects, accountability and overall dignity of the decisions in the workplace.

Workplace conflict of interest can be in different types but the most common are personal conflicts, professional conflicts and organizational conflicts. This article will discuss these conflicts with examples.

The conflict between professional requirement and personal interest appears because of the nature of connections contrasted with rules of employee within the organization. Below are the three common types of conflict of interest.

Personal conflict of interest

The conflict occurs when an employee’s personal commitments conflict with professional responsibilities. The best example can be “Nepotism” where the owner outsources a contract to his/her family member or employed family member within organization. also, this can be in “financial” farm, where an individual or manager using company financial means for personal benefits.

Professional conflict of Interest

This conflict includes employee internal and external responsibilities of the organization. like an employee working with an insurance company and at the same time opening his/her own insurance company or working at the same time in two different organizations that are competing each other.

organizational conflict of interest

Conflicts happen between departments within the same organization on policy implementation. Like finance departments want to control the running cost of the organization but the administration department must increase its cost to provide better services.

There are different styles of leadership to control these conflicts within the organization, but I would like to share some according to my personal or academic experience.

• Institutions are responsible for establishing policies and procedures and clear about the organization objectives and prospective about the conflict of interest. Make sure every employee has a copy of organization policy for their better understanding.
• Arrange training about workplace ethics to better identify and statement conflict of interest. Assist the employee with any doubt about the policy of the organization
• It is the responsibility of the employee to report any possibility of conflict to the HR or manager.
• A legal farm should be consulted and proactively prevent circumstances that may advantage to conflict of interest.

The conflict of interest is a common issue that has too deep roots in professional workplace, that establishes insecure environment within organization and the employee find themselves valueless. The head of the organization is responsible for managing this situation and gives equal respect to the employee, also ensures that every employee must follow organizational policies. By introducing promotion and bonuses, motivate the employee to contribute to the organization’s productivity. This will help the organization to achieve its goal and keep its reputation.

Reference

University Compliance and Ethics. (n.d.). Understanding conflict of interest. Available at: https://compliance.ucf.edu/understanding-conflict-of-interest/#:~:text=A%20conflict%20of%20interest%20occurs,seriously%20that%20they%20are%20regulated.