Du burn-out aux pratiques occultes : L’envers du décor terrifiant des conflits de couloir en entreprise
Heavy silence, cliques, burnout, and declining performance: when professional relationships sour, the entire company falters. Between generational clashes, organizational confusion, failing management, and mystical rivalries, internal conflicts shatter human trajectories as much as they cripple productivity.
In some offices, the silence is oppressive. All you hear is the clatter of keyboards, held breaths, and averted glances. A chilly atmosphere where communication is reduced to the bare minimum, and every gesture seems scrutinized. It is in this setting that often invisible human dramas unfold.
Abdou Dia experienced this firsthand. A former employee of a local company, he eventually left his job, unable to cope with the daily tensions. "Every morning, walking through the office door became an ordeal. The arguments, the cliques, it all pushed me to leave. I no longer had the strength to continue," he confides bitterly. Today, Abdou works for a company where the atmosphere is much more pleasant. "I wake up with great joy to go to the office, and I hope this continues."
While Abdou quit his job, Ousseynou Traoré stayed, but his body gave out. Suffering from burnout, he recounts the downward spiral. “You tell yourself you can hold on, that you have to hold on. But after enduring constant conflict, a lack of recognition, and pressure, I cracked. I had to stop to rebuild myself.” He requested a year's leave of absence to travel. Upon his return, he learned to better manage the situation.
This is a stark reality of professional tensions: they are not limited to passing disagreements, they break career paths, weaken lives.
The roots of the conflicts
According to sociologist Abdoulaye Wade (pseudonym), tensions between colleagues originate from three main categories of factors.
First, there are cultural and generational differences. "Young people connected to AI and new tools encounter resistance from older generations, who remain loyal to manual techniques," he explains. These differences, the sociologist continues, fuel misunderstandings and sometimes even psychological harassment.
Next, there are conflicts of roles and responsibilities. "When an organization lacks clarity, when job descriptions are poorly defined or when missions overlap, the ground becomes fertile for frustrations and rivalries," he warns.
Finally, managerial failures. "Opaque communication, persistent rumors, and a lack of recognition can easily crystallize resentment and fuel a toxic atmosphere," he adds.
When rivalry takes a mystical turn
Yet, behind the scenes of organizational charts, competition sometimes takes much darker turns, where managerial logic loses its hold. In Senegal, the rapid success of some sometimes awakens in others a jealousy that goes beyond simple office squabbles. This is the bitter experience of Ami Beye.
“I joined the company and, in record time, climbed the ranks to eventually get promoted. That bothered them; I could clearly see it in their behavior towards me,” she recounts. It all started with cliques and innuendo, and very quickly, the toxic atmosphere manifested itself in physical ailments that were initially inexplicable. “As soon as I entered the office, I felt pain. It was inexplicable. My eyes hurt, I scratched myself nervously, and I constantly wished for the end of the workday to arrive. Eventually, I became completely unproductive. My colleagues had put a curse on me,” she says, still visibly affected.
This recourse to occult forces to hinder a colleague or gain their favor is not an isolated myth. In the privacy of his office, a local marabout confirms the extent of the phenomenon.
“Many people who work come to me and ask for actions to be taken against their own colleagues,” he confides, speaking anonymously. The requests he receives reveal the dark side of the corporate world: “I often hear: ‘Make sure they choose me to go on that overseas assignment.’ Many come with the names of their colleagues. They explicitly ask that things be done to prevent them from advancing far in the company, that they be blocked or fired, and others ask to curry favor with management,” the old man recounts.
From stress to decreased productivity
Whether they result in visible harassment or psychological distress linked to the feeling of being targeted by mystical attacks, the consequences of these tensions are immediate: increased stress, absenteeism, demotivation.
Fatou Diallo, an employee at a medical testing laboratory, testifies: “Relationships became strained when the recruitment of young people began. The people who were supposed to welcome us started putting obstacles in our way,” laments the young biologist. “A toxic atmosphere inevitably affects our morale, since we spend more time at work than at home,” she regrets.
In sectors where tasks are interdependent, such as manufacturing or transportation, the slightest conflict can bring the entire production chain to a standstill. Elsewhere, in laboratories or universities, the autonomy of experts partially cushions the blow.
The Human Resources Perspective
For Moustapha Sy, human resources director at the national daily newspaper Le Soleil, the warning signs are numerous: repeated arguments, isolation, internal divisions, frequent lateness. "Active listening remains essential, because social difficulties often develop gradually," he warns.
In his company, which is under intense pressure to deliver results, he regularly observes roadblocks related to task allocation, perceptions of pay inequality, or personality clashes. "Unresolved tensions directly affect the social climate. They reduce motivation, weaken cohesion, and diminish trust. In the long run, this slows down internal processes and leads to gradual disengagement," warns the HR director.
Restore trust
According to sociologist Abdoulaye Wade, prevention relies on open communication, a clear definition of roles, participatory management, and mediation mechanisms. Fatou Diallo adds: "Perhaps intervention from management could restore a climate of trust."
Moustapha Sy insists: “The answer cannot be simplistic. A combination of several levers is more effective than a single measure.” For the HR director, training in human management, internal mediation, and structured social dialogue are all necessary tools to rebuild a climate of respect and trust.
Because beyond procedures, it is the shared culture of a company that determines its health. And in the silence of the office, it is urgent to give workers a voice again.
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