In a recent episode of NBC’s sitcom “The Office,” one salesman discovered his fiancé was having an affair with a co-worker from the same office. They mutually decided to settle their differences with a duel, one that ended with the cuckolded co-worker slowly running over the other with his car.

Their fictional boss, Michael Scott, is usually portrayed as a clueless buffoon, but it’s hard to imagine any boss who wouldn’t be stunned speechless by such an event. Granted, the real world is rarely as outrageous as a TV show, but even in a situation as ridiculous as that, steps could have been taken to prevent it.

Your office or workplace will probably never see two employees go at each other with bicycle chains and pepper spray, but that doesn’t mean that disputes between employees can’t have serious effects. Besides the obvious impact to productivity and morale that a serious argument can have on an office, how an executive or manager approaches the resolution of that conflict can have significant repercussions for him or her, as well.

Leadership consultants say executives and managers need to tread lightly when it comes to mediating disputes between employees. They also say that business leaders have to be mindful of the role they play while they try to settle co-­workers’ differences, because otherwise the rift between those employees could deteriorate into a hostile working environment with no cubicle left unclaimed.

Get Your Bearings
As it is with any potentially dangerous situation, approaching employee disputes requires first assessing what’s going on. Kiki Weingarten is an executive coach and co-founder of DLC Executive Coaching and Consulting, as well as a former member of the administration of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. She says leaders should first and foremost remain calm and avoid being sucked into the middle of the dispute.

“The first thing is not to take sides,” Weingarten says. “They need to feel that the executive is neutral.”

Author and consultant Linda Henman, president of Henman Performance Group, says she advises business leaders to be extra-cautious and not get involved at all right away. She says staying a step remov­ed from the situation gives the employees a chance to resolve the disagreement themselves without complicating things.

“The general rule is only two can play,” Henman says. “When the boss gets involved, it just complicates things. Insist that the parties talk to each other before you step in.”

Leaders should also try to gather as much information as they can before stepping into a tense workplace situation, Weingarten says. “You do not want to be blindsided by information that you did not have,” she says.

Keep Your Cool
In an emotionally charged situation like an office argument, it isn’t always easy to maintain a level head and calm demeanor, even for the most collected business leaders. However, getting involved in the shouting, even if it’s only to try and restore some semblance of order, can have the opposite effect.

Weingarten says emotions are running much higher these days in most workplaces, thanks to the economic meltdown. Feuding co-workers may be so emotionally wrapped up in their argument that “winning” the fight becomes more important than the issue that started it. That’s where a leader’s position as the one who sets the tone around the office becomes so vital, Weingarten says.

“In the heat of the moment, emotions can be very high,” she says. “Your job is to maintain your cool. Don’t let people in a high emotional state drag you into that, which is way easier said than done.”

The single biggest factor when it comes to flared emotions is the tendency of people to see conflicts as personal. Even a dispute about a borrowed stapler can become heated if the person who borrowed it is made to feel like he or she is being accused of stealing. Both Henman and Weingarten say the best course of action for the business leader in the middle of the dispute is to try and de-personalize the situation as much as possible.

Henman says leaders can help themselves and their feuding employees by working to identify the issue at the core of the argument and then couching the discussion in terms of finding a solution. Determining who is “right” about a given problem can lead to hurt feelings and resentment on the “losing” side, she adds.

For instance, a missed project deadline might lead to a heated argument between two employees. One might blame the other for slacking off and dragging the project down, and the other might blame him or her for setting unrealistic goals. The disagreement leads to shouting, and now people are peeking up from their cubicles to see what’s going on (and possibly handicap the fight).

The manager might want to shout his employees down and tell them to get back to work, but in an age where anything you say can literally be seen around the world within an hour on YouTube, discretion is the better part of valor. Weingarten says managers should use language like “dialogue” instead of “argument” and “challenge” instead of “problem” to avoid causing emotions to boil over.

In the event that managers call a meeting specifically to discuss the situation, they shouldn’t be afraid of putting the meeting on hold if things get out of control. “You don’t want the word getting around that you lose control,” Weingarten says.

Bring in Backup
Many times, however, a manager or executive might not be the best person to mediate a dispute. Weingarten says business leaders might be skilled in many areas, but interpersonal skills may not be among them. In those cases, she says, don’t be afraid to ask for outside help. Weingarten says she has been called in by clients to mediate disputes many times.

Executives sometimes prefer to turn to a neutral party because they want to protect their positions as executives. She says they need to consider that their role is to protect the company, the task at hand and employees – sometimes even from themselves.