Team Dynamics - Conflict Resolution Strategies People work in groups or teams every day, whether in their career, education, political organization, church, or any other social setting. Conflict while working in teams or groups is inevitable. When taking people of different backgrounds, personalities, moral and ethical beliefs, and putting them together in a group, conflict will arise. The key to achieving your team goals is to construct and conquer your goals while keeping the greater good of the team in mind. Conflict, as it arises, should be combated and abated through swift and thorough resolution techniques. When dealt with properly, conflict resolution can give rise to a cohesive and productive team. What Is Conflict? Conflict, as defined by Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, is "a competitive or opposing action of incompatibles: antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interest, or persons), Mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands." Simply put, conflict is the disagreement and disharmony that occurs in groups when differences are expressed regarding ideas, methods, and/or members (Engleberg, Wynn, and Schuttler, 2003). Conflict among teams or groups develops in many ways. In developing an effective team, members will generally experience the five stages of evolution: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. The storming and norming stages deal with the process of conflict (storming) and resolution (norming). During the storming stage, exact conflict has not yet been identified, and therefore chaos, disorganization, and disputes are apparent. The Norming stage is where conflict is identified and dealt with, and resolution strategies are implemented. Effective Conflict Resolution Strategies There are several effective conflict resolution strategies that can be used to resolve conflicts within a team. One such strategy is to identify the source of the conflict and address it directly. Another strategy is to encourage open communication and active listening among team members. Additionally, compromise and negotiation can be used to find a mutually beneficial solution to the conflict. Finally, it is important to seek the assistance of a mediator or third-party facilitator if the conflict cannot be resolved internally. Conclusion In conclusion, conflict is an inevitable part of working in teams or groups. However, by using effective conflict resolution strategies, conflicts can be resolved, and a cohesive and productive team can be established. It is important to keep the greater good of the team in mind when dealing with conflicts and to address conflicts directly and promptly. By doing so, teams can achieve their goals and work together effectively. References DeJanasz, S. C., Dowd, K. O., & Schneider, B. Z. (2002). Interpersonal Skills in Organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 309-329, 371-393, 241-259. Engleberg, I., Wynn, D., & Schuttler, R., (2003). Working in Groups: Communication Principles and Strategies (3rd ed.) Boston: Houghton-Mifflin. pp. 146-170. Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A., (2004). Organizational Behavior (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. pp. 406-441. Parker, G., (2003). Cross-Functional Teams: Working with Allies, Enemies, and Other Str
Conflict Management can often be the toughest task for a leader to handle. It involves dealing with inter-personal and intra-personal conflict. As a team leader of a technical event called Pulse’09 at my university, I had to deal with conflicts on a regular basis. Conflicts usually arise either due to lack of effective communication, different ideologies, lack of resources or due to task interdependence [3]. It was by far my most life changing experience as it taught me the reason behind conflicts and the way to resolve them. In this paper, I will be talking about the way I dealt with conflicts and managed them, the impact they had on the team performance and what I could do to improve my leadership by contrasting my experience to the class readings.
According to the Theorists as groups turn into teams, most conflict happens in the “storming” stage of team development (De Janasz, Dowd & Schneider, 2001). First, one must understand what conflict is. Capozzoli (1999) cites Boulding’s 1962 definition of conflict as “a situation of competition in which the parties are aware of the incompatibility of potential future positions and in which each party wishes to occupy a position which is incompatible with the wishes of the other.” Conflict can be either constructive or destructive to the team and can be created in several ways. Conflict must be analyzed and understood for the team to resolve it.
Moorhead, G. & Griffin, R. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001.
De Janasz, S., Wood, G., Gottschalk, L., Dowd , K., & Schneider , B. (2009). Interpersonal skills in organisations. North Ryde, NSW: McGraw Hill.
Larson, C. and LaFasto, F. (1989), Teamwork: What Must Go Right/What Can Go Wrong. Newberry Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Resolving conflict is an art of communication as co-operation helps reduce anger, stress and frustration, allowing the team to function properly making them more productive.
Engleberg, Isa N. and Dianna R. Wynn. Working in Groups. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Conflict is known to be some means of disagreement, or some kind of disharmony rising within a group or between persons when the beliefs or actions of any one party is offensive to another party. Conflict can take place between two individuals, in small groups and work teams, or between two or more groups (Al-Hamdan, Shukri, and Anthony 2011)which may include violence or some kind of mental pressure on either parties involved in conflicts. Usually conflicts start with some kind of disagreement and gradually gets intense and leads way to Conflict resolution.
A group can only be called a team if the members are actively working together toward a common goal. A team must have the capability to set goals, make decisions, solve problems, and share responsibilities. For a team to be successful, trust must be earned between its members by being consistent and reliable (Temme & Katzel, 2005). When more than one person is working on a particular task, inconsistent views or opinions commonly arise. People come from different backgrounds and live through different life experiences therefore, even when working towards a common goal, they will not always see eye to eye. Major conflict that is not dealt with can devastate a team or organization (Make Conflict Work, 2008). In some situations, conflict can be more constructive than destructive. Recognizing the difference between conflict that is constructive to the team and conflict that is destructive to the team is important. Trying to prevent the conflict is not always the best way to manage conflict when working within a team setting. Understanding conflict, what causes it, and how to resolve conflict effectively, should consume full concentration.
Organizations are collections of people that work together and coordinate their actions to achieve a wide variety of goals and for a positive outcome. Conflict is a matter of perception. Managing and resolving conflicts are key factor which group needs to use to be productive. All stages in team development require the ability to negotiate and resolve team conflict. In the beginning stages, it would mostly be the manager negotiating with the employees. In the latter stages of team development, team members to negotiate and resolve conflicts amongst
Conflict is a basic aspect of teamwork (Levi, 2001), since the number of decisions that a team needs to make often evokes feelings of discomfort and stress. Conflict very often arises from a clash of different working style, ideas, interests, needs, and wants. Team conflicts can be due to high stress level. It has been experienced that in teamwork there can be conflicts and conflicts creates dissatisfaction among the employees. It is important that conflicts be addressed in such a way that it has adverse effect and it is very important to address the conflicts on the spot otherwise it would be difficult to handle the conflicts. (Jehn, 1995).When team member s disagree about the task themselves that how these tasks should be performed then task related conflicts occurs. It is also called task led-conflicts, it occurs when persons disagree over the understanding of tasks and their goals it is a disagreement between two team members in a group over the decisions. They have differences of opinions about a certain issue. (Stewart, Sims & Manz, 1999). Disagreement can be caused by differences in viewpoint and values, differences of opinion about tasks and differences in expectation about the impact of decisions (Levi, 2001).
Look up the word conflict in the dictionary and you will see several negative responses. Descriptions such as: to come into collision or disagreement; be at variance or in opposition; clash; to contend; do battle; controversy; quarrel; antagonism or opposition between interests or principles Random House (1975). With the negative reputation associated with this word, no wonder people tend to shy away when they start to enter into the area of conflict. D. Jordan (1996) suggests that there are two types of conflict: good, which is defined as cognitive conflict (C-type conflict) and, detrimental, defined as affective conflict (A-type conflict). The C-type conflict allows for creativity, to pull together a group of people with different opinions or ideas, to combine and brain storm all thoughts to develop the best solution for the problem. The A-type conflict is the negative form when you have animosity, hostility, un-resolveable differences, and egos to deal with. The list citing negative conflicts could go on forever. We will be investigating these types of conflicts, what managers can do to recognize conflict early, and what strategies they can use to resolve conflicts once they have advanced.
Conflict can be described as a major disagreement or opposing interests or ideas. Whenever people work together, conflict can most often be expected. Conflict is a normal and natural part of any workplace usually resulting from the differences in employees' personalities and values. . When it occurs, there is a tendency for morale to be lowered and a decrease in productivity. While conflict is a normal part of any organizational setting, the challenge of conflict comes from how you choose to deal with it. Masking, avoided or otherwise ignoring conflict will most likely fester and grow into bitterness, create withdrawal or cause discord and spitefulness within an organization. Addressing conflict in a timely manner is important to maintaining a healthy work environment. Believing that a conflict will simply disappear is an incorrect assumption to make because simple conflicts can grow into major problems if not dealt with appropriately.
Interpersonal skills are highly important in the workplace as a manager or as an employee. Skills such as listening, assertiveness, negotitation, coaching, persuasion, interviewing, and feedback set apart a manager or applicant, who then would appeal attractive to a company. Throughout this essay, there would be a brief explanation of each skill.
Go on the internet and do research on the following interpersonal skills: listening, assertiveness, negotiation, feedback, persuasion, interviewing, and coaching. For each skill prepare a report containing the following elements: a definition of the skill, an example of how the skill could be useful in business, and a web site that offers instruction on how to develop that skill.