[jiggy2011]

True dat. In many companies as soon as there is even the slightest hint of passioned discussion you will get someone who tries to step in "defuse" the situation and remind everyone of the "respect in the workplace" policy or some such.

This will then often lead to the intervening party trying to broker a "compromise" between the two parties where the emphasis is more on how to resolve the dispute without anyone getting their feelings hurt.

As long as the argument hasn't gotten to a point where you think someone is likely to get punched or it has got personal or so far off track that it doesn't look like it will ever end I think it's usually best to just leave people to argue it out.

In the end even the "winning" party is now likely to be more mindful of the potential pitfalls of their idea when it is being implemented.

If you are working with other people I think you should aim to have an argument a day.