Working in a team environment will bring about its challenges. The main challenge to overcome is conflict within the team. Conflicts will happen in a team environment, whether a team is an academic learning team or a business team. How the team members handle the conflict, will determine whether the result is either a positive outcome or a negative outcome.
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.
Most people believe that conflict is something negative. In many cases conflict can be. Whether1 a small dispute between two neighbors or a global conflict that leads to war, conflict is inevitable. Disagreement is a part of human nature. We are a society of individuals working together to achieve common goals. How we handle conflict determines whether the outcome is a negative or a positive one. If properly handled, conflict may lead to growth, maturity, and understanding of one another. If not, conflict at school could lead to broken ties, at home to hurt feelings, and in the workplace to discouragement. These negative outcomes may be avoided when conflict is handled properly. There is no single technique that works best for settling conflicts. What works in a school setting might not work at an office or at home. Regardless where or with whom the conflict is with, a person must examine themselves, his or her intentions and more importantly, core values.
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.
The path to conflict resolution is never an easy one, but is essential to our human condition and habitual nature. Conflict in its paradoxical nature can unite us and if approached properly, propel us forward. Essentially, conflict is the essence of experience and if used productively can lead to healthier outcomes and new
According to Hocker and Wilmot, Conflict is a fact of human life. It occurs naturally in all kinds of settings. Nations still struggle, families fracture in destructive conflict, marriages face challenges and often fail, and the workplace is plagued with stress, bullying, avoidance of real communication and blaming. (Hocker & Wilmot.,
Conflict Resolution
Many people enjoy working or participating in a group or team, but when a group of people work together chances are that conflicts will occur. Hazleton describes conflict as the discrepancy between what is the perceived reality and what is seen as ideal (2007). “We enter into conflicts reluctantly, cautiously, angrily, nervously, confidently- and emerge from them battered, exhausted, sad, satisfied, triumphant. And still many of us underestimate or overlook the merits of conflict- the opportunity conflict offers every time it occurs” (Schilling, nd.). Conflict does not have to lead to a hostile environment or to broken relationships.
A conflict is a situation where two parties do not agree with a certain topic and many times use conflict behavior to reach goals that are incompatible, or may express aggression towards each other. Many of us have been in a conflict situation a time or two with themselves, a worker and/or other peers and cannot manage or resolve the issue. Creating conflict resolution strategies for people does not prevent conflicts from happening however, being able to inform and educate people can help manage and lessen conflicts. Here are a few ways you can manage and resolve conflicts by, identifying the types of conflicts, focus on the overall communication system, and compromise a solution that would be acceptable for both parties.
Several advantages that a team has over an individual in the
workplace include greater total resources, greater knowledge band and a greater source of ideas. However, these advantages can also bring on conflict within teams and the entire workplace. Varney (1989) reported that conflict remained the number one problem within a large company. This was after several attempts were made to train management in conflict resolutions and procedures. However, the conflict remained.
People face conflicts every day of their lives. We all come across at least one incident in our lives that is challenging and we are baffled on what decision is to be made. Such conflicts may be an inner-conflict, a conflict between oneself and nature, a conflict between oneself and another person, oneself and God, or one and society. This paper will describe an incident in my life involving a conflict.