Dear Chandrashekar TV,
The scraps at the workplace are common. Occasionally, the scraps go to the level of affrays also. However, if a physical fight takes place between two employees at the workplace, then it is a failure at the higher level. Rather than concentrating on the parties involved in the incident, look at the incident itself.
Let the Enquiry Officer (EO) investigate: what happened, where it happened when it happened, and why it happened.
Was the trouble brewing in the past, and if yes, then were the senior authorities privy to the ensuing tension? What was the occasion that put the lid off? Did managerial authority intervene to douse the fire or is it that they intervened but it was too late?
There are three types of conflict viz.
process conflict, task conflict, and relationship conflict. What has happened in your company is a relationship conflict but either task or process conflict always precedes this conflict. Therefore, what needs to be seen is whether you have systems and processes that sow the seeds of conflict in the company. If yes, then you need to eradicate the root cause rather than restricting yourself to initiating disciplinary action against the combating employees.
Earlier, I have given a reply to a post on the conflict at the workplace. You may click the following link to refer to it:
https://www.citehr.com/595819-employ...ml#post2382785
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar