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As the processes and systems used in business have become more complex, teams, not individuals, have become popular in many organizations. Teams are made up of individuals from an organization brought together to solve a problem, improve a process or implement a new process. “A major advantage that a team has over an individual is its diversity of resources and ideas” (Burns, 1995, p. 52). However, this diversity can cause conflict within the team. The success of the team is strongly influenced by the team’s ability to recognize the causes of, manage and resolve conflict. 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. 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. If managed poorly, conflict can be destructive to the team. Theorists have labeled this type of conflict as “A-Type Conflict or affective conflict” (Amason, Hochwarter, Thompson & Harrison 1995, p. 24). “A-Type Conflict” is the result of a team member’s personal feeling about another team member rather than an issue and has a negative effect on the team. It generally hurts team member morale as it divides the team into smaller groups of people. Attention is taken away from pertinent team activities while dealing with the conflict.
In several occasions, conflict occurs in the communication of one or two people. Several people have thought of conflict as cases involving pouring of furious anger in a communication process. Nonetheless, conflict is the misinterpretation of an individual’s words or values (Huan & YAzdanifard, 2012). Conflict can also be due to limited resources in an organization (Riaz & Junaid, 2010). Conflict may as well arise due to poor communication or the use of inappropriate communication channel of transmission of information between the involved parties. Management of conflict has various conflict management styles that include avoidance style, forcing style, passive-aggressive style, accommodating style, collaborating style and compromising style. Workplace conflict comes in two different kinds: task involving conflict, which focuses on the approaches used in resolving the problem and blaming conflict that has the aspects of blame and never brings element of resolving problems between the conflicting parties. In the perception of several individuals, relationship conflict is negative.
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
Increasingly businesses are capitalizing on the benefits of teamwork. The adage that two heads are better than one, and four heads are better then two, appears to be a proven fact as more teams are formed and team dynamics are refined through increased management of conflict resolution.
An effective team typically develops through several stages. Tuckman and Jensen developed a model for how teams should develop that includes five stages: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (as cited in Martin ,2006 and Fulk, Bell,& Bodie ,2011). In forming, the first stage in team development, team members are introduced to the team’s purpose and goals(Martin, 2006 ; Fulk et al. ,2011). Fulk et al. (2011) explain that members are usually motivated and excited about working together to accomplish the specific goal, but they point out that interactions among team members can be affected by uncertainty about purpose, anxiety, mistrust ,and reluctance to share ideas and opinions. Nevertheless, despite such uncertainties, team members usually avoid conflict and move on to the next stage, storming(Fulk et al.,2011). Unlike the forming stage, the storming stage is marked by conflict (Martin...
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.
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.
Individuals have their own personalities that can influence their enthusiasm and productivity within an organization. In addition, individuals also form groups and are part of teams that work together to reach a common goal within organization. According to Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, and Konopaske (2009) dedicated and cohesive teams can have a tremendous impact on organizations effectiveness and the global market. However, all of this happens within the frame-work of office politics and can hinder or enhance the organization’s effectiveness. Therefore, it is important to not only understand individuals, but also groups, teams and office politics within the organization. This will help leaders to plan, organize and motive individuals and groups for the best possible outcome for the organization.
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).
Working in teams provides an opportunity for individuals to come together and establish a rapport towards others within a group. Teamwork is classified as people with different strengths and skills who work together to achieve a common goal. When a team works well, specific objectives are fulfilled and satisfied. Teamwork plays a crucial role in implementing and fulfilling a common goal in a team project. Each member plays a role and takes on different responsibilities combined together. In different stages of teamwork, conflicts and arguments may occur for as members have different standpoints which need to be harmonized within the team. The key to having an effective teamwork is to explore each member's unique abilities to motivate them.
Conflict, aggression and hostility can arise due to the leadership efforts and assertion of autonomy. Individuals can respond emotionally to the task by resistance and can impose them on other team members. Storming is called as a sort out period as the members identify themselves as team members. They begin to get comfortable with each other, exchange their ideas and give recommendations, as well as may challenge the authority and leadership style of team leader. This results at the beginning of intra-group conflicts.
Conflict is unavoidable and connected to a world where different ideas and opinions are challenged. Negative conflict occurs when voices are not expressed appropriately, discussions are not in control or different parties reject moving forward with a solution. There is difficulty resolving disagreements because there are multiple reactions to disputes. However, a positive conflict supports debates without a destructive outcome. They improve communication, introduce principles that are important to others, and reduce chaos. On the other hand, the approach that a person uses to address conflict dictates the outcome they receive. Methods for resolving conflict include avoiding the problem, smoothing out a situation, competing against the ideas
Rahim (2002) differentiated person’s perception towards handling a conflict into two: “concern for self and concern for others” (p. 216). Further, the study explored two types of conflicts and observed that most conflicts arise during the decision-making process. Dysfunctional conflict, which hinders team performance and interpersonal relations due to individual’s self-interest in implementing particular decision. Functional conflict serves organization purpose with employees involved in the conflict regarding which proposal to implement (Rahim, 2011).
Conflicts transpire as the team develops and moves through the different stages listed in section 3.0. Additionally, conflicts could also arise from lack of leadership that leads to unclear and conflicting goals. The lack of communication from the leader would result in uncertainty to the contribution and commitment of each individual (The University of Melbourne, 2013). This conflict can be resolved by regularly reviewing the work and improving the communication between each individual (Johnson, 2015). Another large conflict that arises is the unfair distribution of work to each person. Whilst it is important for each individual to adapt to every Belbin role that is needed, one must not receive more or less work. The unequal distribution could lead to resentment, inefficiency and the unfairness of a member not contributing but still receiving the marks. All these conflicts can be resolved promptly before it hinder on the work quality. The team should identify the causes of conflict, state their effect on the team and negotiate a solution that suits all. Most importantly, the team should communicate regularly and be proactive about any situations (The University of Melbourne,
The stages of team development are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Norming is the first stage that involves team members getting to know each other and trying to figure out where they fit in. As a leader, it is important to provide clear directions and set proper goals and expectations during this stage. Storming is the next stage and as the name suggest it is characterized with struggles, challenges, conflicts, and competition among team members. During this stage, I will provide a mediating role and facilitate conversations that steers the team towards the right