Today's corporate landscape ain't Sesame Street

The reality of today's business environment is that many companies have resorted to cost-cutting measures, in a bid to brace themselves for any spillover effects from the economic downturn in the United States.

Headcounts have been frozen, resources are stretched thin and in the worst-case scenario, jobs are cut and staff layoffs can run in the hundreds, or even thousands.

As the remaining employees struggle to cope with the limited resources, amid an already-tense work environment where everyone's wondering when the next round of cuts will come round, tempers are bound to fray.

It's inevitable that colleagues will sometimes get tangled in a verbal scuffle. And, that's not always a bad thing.

I truly believe that we all need "a good fight", once in a while, to shake us out of complacency and remind us that we should never take anyone or anything for granted.

Too often, I hear people say how they'd rather avoid all forms of confrontation, preferring instead to "suck it up" and brood over the matter in a quiet corner, alone. At best, they would rather send a text or e-mail message to "tell their colleagues off" than to do so in person.

I think that only serves to make the situation worse, especially when text messages can be misinterpreted in so many different ways. And just like an over-stuffed balloon, you're bound to explode one day if you bottle up all that hot air inside rather than thrash matters out with your colleagues.

More importantly, I think it's extremely naïve for anyone to think the workplace should always be all honky-dory, where everyone gets along cheerily, and where the acceptable decibel level should always remain a modest 0dB.

Our colleagues are human beings--unless, of course, you work in a zoo--capable of demonstrating sometimes irrational, unexplainable emotions--which you can't always attribute to PMS.

We all have our imperfections, and are entitled to the occasional outburst.

That's why I will sometimes overlook instances where someone in my team throws a tantrum fit and snaps at the other teammates. More often than not, the irate people have the common sense to realize they're being overly testy, would calm themselves down within minutes and exchange apologies.

But before you go stab your colleague's back with a knife and name me your co-conspirator, I would like to stress that I'm not proposing we all turn into foul-mouth celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

I certainly don't recommend engaging in shouting matches at the office every other day. That can't be healthy in the long run, and you'll only run yourself hoarse soon enough.

What I am suggesting is that we shouldn't look at all office tiffs in a bad light because they can sometimes go a long way in helping to build stronger co-worker relationship.

It is through these quarrels that colleagues reveal more honesty about their feelings toward their co-workers, thus allowing a company's employees to better understand one another as they attempt to work out their differences like mature professionals.

"We cannot learn without pain," so said Greek philosopher Aristotle.

The sooner we realize the corporate environment ain't going to be like sugar-coated Sesame Street, the more we'll learn about how to better work with our colleagues.

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Eileen Yu

Eileen Yu began covering the IT industry when Asynchronous Transfer Mode was still hip and e-commerce was the new buzzword. These days, she gets stirred up over issues concerning Internet regulation, intellectual property rights and software patents, online privacy and data protection. Eileen is senior editor at ZDNet Asia, where she oversees the business tech news site.