The members of your staff have no obligation to like each other, but they have to respect each other. It there is a conflict among your employees, it is your job to deal with the situation. Allbusiness.com published a few tips how to do it.
1) Listen
Try to settle the problem by giving the employees your full attention. Let every person tell you their side of the story. Let them talk and listen to them. Keep your own judgement and reactions out of it.
2) Find out the specific problem behaviour
Employees who are involved in a dispute sometimes tend to be vague and generalize. If you are told that one party involved in the conflict has a bad attitude, that is not enough, you have to find out what specific behaviour is problematic. Only specific behaviour can be changed. Once you know what needs to be changed, discussion can begin.
3) Acknowledge emotions
Conflict between employees involves emotions like anger, sadness or fear. Express your understanding of such a difficult situation. Be empathic, it will help to calm down the situation.
4) Common goals
You do not always have to achieves agreement among all employees. However, you have to ensure their ability to cooperate and concentrate on the common goal. Explain to them that you have noticed their different work styles prevent the goal from being achieved. List the differences and then point out which of these differences are problematic. Try to find a solution together.
5) Open environment
Once you have got rid of the biggest problem, implement a fair working environment. Communicate more with the employees who were part of the conflict. In addition, encourage your staff to get to know each other. This effort is worthwhile because if another conflict occurs, it will be much easier to solve.
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