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My personal reflection on conflict management
Team dynamics and conflict
The importance of conflict resolution
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Conflict Resolution Strategies
Conflict has long been viewed as negative, and is usually associated with things as trivial as an argument to something as extreme as war, and is seldom seen as beneficial. In the team environment however, conflict can be very beneficial if recognized early and managed properly and can enhance team performance as well as relationships between team members.
Conflict is inevitable as humans interact, because not everyone shares the same beliefs, values, opinions, level of education, expertise on a given subject, and social or economical background, just to name a few. Most of us try to avoid conflict whenever possible because it makes us uncomfortable. To become comfortable with it, or at the very least be able to handle it when it arises, we need to understand it.
Let’s start by defining conflict. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, conflict can be defined as follows; "a: competitive or opposing action of incompatibles: antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interests, or persons) b: mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands." (Merriam-Webster 2006) Conflict can arise when someone feels as though their intellect, values, creditability, or beliefs are being challenged.
To be an effective part of a team, understand that conflict will arise and members will need to be able to manage it as part of their responsibility to the team and to ourselves. Managing the conflict early can be very beneficial to the team attaining its goals and can greatly enhance the relationship of the team members. Some teams choose to ignore conflict when it occurs. They may view it as only negative and be fearful to con...
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... it within the team avoiding or postponing can be appropriate. (Porter, 2003)
Now that we have defined conflict, looked at the different reasons conflict occurs and the positive and negative aspects, and some strategies to manage conflict, we can have a better understanding of potential causes and signs of conflict. As a result, we can recognize and manage the conflict effectively to have a positive and beneficial affect on team performance.
References
DeJanasz, Dowd, Schneider, (2001). Interpersonal Skills in Organizations.
New York: Mcgraw-Hill Companies.
McNamara, P (2003,08). Conflict Resolution Strategies.
OfficePro Magazine,
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2006
Porter, S (2003). Managing Conflict in Learning Teams.
University of Phoenix.
DeJanasz, Dowd, Schneider, (2001). Interpersonal Skills in Organizations.
New York: Mcgraw-Hill Companies.
In this paper, conflict, its effects, and some management and resolution strategies as they relate to team dynamics will be discussed. Understanding the various conflict resolution methods, including how and when to apply them, is of utmost importance. In teams, different types of conflict call for different solutions. Conflict resolution is certainly not an area in which one size fits all. Conflict may be classified as Substantive, Procedural, or Affective, depending upon the context to which it relates.
Conflict within the team can be healthy if well managed and there is a pre-set common goal the team is working towards. Conflict comes sometime due to differences in perception and cultural differences. These have to be harnessed to avoid “group-think” rather than allowing for ‘information seeker’ to thrive so as to bring the best out of the team work through critical questioning (A Primer on Communications Studies, 2012).
Conflict is more than just an argument that manifest itself through yelling and behavior it is a perception that there is something wrong and needs to be fixed or explained. There are many different paths that conflict can take and it all depends on the person and situation. The following is an analysis of a conflict in my own life and how it came to be, the different perceptions involved, and the path we choose to take as the conflict went on.
Conflict is a difference in opinion. The leader must devise ways of dealing with conflict in the team. The focus is to promote a healthy discussion that does not lead to division in the team . The team members come from different department and thus may have differing opinion on tackling the problem. The leader should be able to reconcile the different opinions into one strategy. In such cases, the negotiation skill becomes vital (Harrison, 1971). The leader must negotiate with the team member to strike a balance on the decision. Furthermore, the decision made by the team must be presented to the management and approved. The leader must convince the management that the proposal is viable, and its implementation will be beneficial to the organisation. The ability of the leader to negotiate for resources will enhance the success of the
Along with the preparation for conflict resolutions, understanding the situation in the team during the conflict is important. Clarifying positions along with listing the facts and all the necessary analyzation of the particular situation helps in resolving the conflict in a team. Applying this process can effectively address and resolve the conflict in a
Conflict, when managed effectively, can be constructive. Conflict theorists have labeled this type of conflict as “C-Type Conflict or cognitive conflict” (Amason, Hochwarter, Thompson & Harrison, 1995, p. 22). Conflict of this type is usually centered on issue or opinion related differences and has a positive effect on the team. It increases team member involvement by allowing each member to speak his or her opinion or idea and evaluate the opinions or ideas of others. People change and grow personally from dealing with this type of positive conflict and team cohesiveness is created. Ultimately, “C-Type Conflict” results in a solution to the problem or agreement amongst team members.
According to Jim Temme et al. (1995), "Teams must set their own goals, make decisions, and solve problems" (Temme, Katzel, 1995, para. 5). The most common ways conflicts arise are from the "struggle between incompatible and opposing needs, wishes, ideas, interests, or people" (DeJanasz, Dowd, Schneifer, 2001 p. 243). Other forms of conflict arise when team members have different values, attitudes, needs, expectations, perceptions, resources, and personalities (Capozzoli, 1995, para. 9). Many employers do not offer sessions on how to handle conflicts, so employees are not aware of effective strategies available to help team members deal with their differences. Conflicts can come from almost any type of communication Understanding different types of conflicts and how to resolve them is the best first step.
Conflicts arise when people’s interest, values, actions, views or expectation come into contact and there is a difference of opinion and thus a disagreement (Conerly, 2004). The way people view the conflict will determine whether the resolution will negative or positive consequences.
For a team to be successful there are several factors that have to be addressed in order for a fluent, functioning group of individuals combined to achieve a certain goal. This goal can be a variety of different endings from producing minor results to making decisions that create a major impact on a large scale. Within a team environment conflict is always presence. Conflict is essential to the advancement of teams and must be managed in a proper way to avoid destruction and division amongst the group of individuals. From sports, to education, and the workplace teamwork is present in everyday life. As a human race we all work in different team oriented situations in order to accomplish a variety of tasks.
People work in groups or teams everyday 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 with 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.
Conflict can occur anywhere from the around the water cooler or in the meeting on how the team will reach their goal. Many things a day can lead to a small or large conflict. It is important to remember that conflict is a natural part of life and everyone will experience conflict at some time when participating on a team.
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.
According to McShane and Von Glinow, conflict is “a process in which one party perceives that his or her interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party” (328). The Conflict Process Model begins with the different sources of conflict; these sources lead one or more parties to perceive that a conflict exists. These perceptions interact with emotions and manifest themselves in the behavior towards other parties. The arrows in the figure illustrate the series of conflict episodes that cycle into conflict escalation (McShane and Von Glinow 331-332).
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).
Conflict is energy, conflict is excitement, conflict is often driven by a passion that is necessary to progression. In other words, we need many of the characteristics that might cause conflict and conflict itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The important thing is learning how to manage