Ep22: Conflict in the Workplace: How Do You Deal with It?

Conflict in the workplace is not necessarily a bad thing. When managed well, it can lead to learning and improve an organization overall. But when conflict is managed poorly or not at all, it makes for a combative environment where people feel disrespected and can’t do their best work. 

On this episode of Inside the Lab, our hosts Dr. Lotte Mulder and Ms. Kelly Swails are joined by Dr. Karim E. Sirgi, MD, MBA, FCAP, Founder and CEO of Sirgi Consulting and President of the American Pathology Foundation, Dr. Marissa White, MD, Assistant Professor of Pathology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Member of the ASCP Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and Mr. Paul Chiou, MPH, SCT(ASCP), Faculty at the Department of Clinical Laboratory and Medical Imaging Sciences at Rutgers University and a 2015 ASCP 40 Under Forty Honoree, to discuss conflict in the workplace. 

Our panelists share the most common areas of conflict among pathologists and laboratory professionals, and describe how to distinguish between productive and unproductive or even discriminatory conflict. They weigh in on how diversity can both cause conflict and enhance our learning overall, explaining what microaggressions look like and how they compromise a safe working environment. Listen in for Dr. Sirgi, Dr. White, and Mr. Chiou’s insight on the relationship between conflict and burnout and learn what we can do to foster a healthy competition of ideas while resolving unproductive conflict in the workplace.

 Topics Covered  

· How lack of leadership, communication, transparency and trust lead to conflict among pathologists and laboratory professionals
· Why conflict in the workplace or learning environment isn’t always a bad thing
· Distinguishing between productive conflict and conflict that is unproductive or
discriminatory
· How diversity both causes conflict and enhances our learning overall
· What microaggressions look like and how they compromise a safe working environment
· Our panelists’ personal experience with conflict in the laboratory workplace and how they resolved the situation
· How chronic unresolved conflict impacts our health and causes burnout
· Why knowing people as human beings is the best way to facilitate conflict resolution 

Connect with ASCP
ASCP
ASCP on Facebook
ASCP on Instagram
ASCP on Twitter 

Connect with Dr. Sirgi
Sirgi Consulting
Dr. Sirgi on Twitter 

Connect with Dr. White
Dr. White at Johns Hopkins 

Connect with Mr. Chiou
Mr. Chiou at Rutgers
Mr. Chiou on LinkedIn 

Connect with Dr. Mulder & Ms. Swails
Dr. Mulder on Twitter
Ms. Swails on Twitter 

Resources
ASCP Diversity and Inclusion Resources
Inside the Lab in the ASCP Store