Q:  Last week, you advised readers that in order to avoid conflict among employees with different political opinions, they should avoid having the TV in the break room set to any news channel, and have the weather or history channel instead.  But I think this just glosses over the real problem, which is that some people have very strong opinions on both sides.  How can you keep it from getting hostile or personal at work?

A:  Okay, so you noticed I sort of dodged addressing the real source of the conflict last week.  My advice to change channels will reduce triggers, and it’s an effective, immediate and doable option.  But you’re right, I could go deeper, so let’s.

The “real problem,” as you describe it, is not so much that people have strong opinions; I happen to think strong opinions are a good thing.  The problem is that the workplace is simply not set up to have this kind of opinionated discussion.

At work, we are set up to discuss, disagree, and have strong opinions in order to come up with solutions and strategies about specific things:   A sales campaign, products and services, improving safety, the summer picnic or which direction to take the company.   In these discussions, there’s a process, a review of facts and figures, a hierarchy and a final decision that people will follow –happily or not.

There’s no such process in discussing politics.

Political views are seldom based on actual facts; they’re based on our beliefs and opinions about selected facts –same goes for religion and sex. So there’s no final outcome, it’s all opinion.  Therefore, the argument never ends. My advice again is to keep these three topics out of bounds at work (and with family if you know what’s good for you).

I started writing this column around our last presidential election.  Among the first topics covered was whether or not to discuss politics at work.  It was a bad idea then and it’s a bad idea now.

Lastly, you seem concerned that things might soon get personal or hostile.  Don’t let that happen if possible.  Try alerting someone in management so they can intervene.