Conflict Resolution as a Key to a Successful Team Essay examples

Conflict results from real or perceived opposition to one’s values, actions, desires or general interests. Conflicts may occur internally or externally between individuals or groups; conflict within a team environment can cause frustration, and occasionally anger. However, conflict resolution can also often generate positive results for the team. Conflict management skills remain in demand; conflict may be managed successfully by reaching an agreement that satisfies the needs of both the individual(s) and the team as a whole

A basic view about conflict is that it is a bad and destructive. However, conflict is not something bad at all times, sometimes if a conflict’s outcome can increase group performance and improve the quality of decision, according to Organizational Behavior, it is considered as a functional conflict outcome. Conflicts can help solve problems better and increase the understanding of the team. “Remember the Titans” is seen to have a functional conflict outcome, which is why they won every game they played.

Cappozzoli, Thomas K. (1995, Dec). Resolving conflict within teams. Journal for Quality and Participation. v18n7, p. 28-30

When developing a conflict resolution it helps to know techniques such as, problem solving, avoidance, compromising, and communication. This will help your team members and create a system for redressing grievances, if they cannot solve their problems on their own. Then it will be necessary to arrange for the manager to conduct a meeting on this subject.

I believe that it is inefficient to have conflict between team members due to the nature of production. It would be wise to achieve the archetypical goal of having everyone unified and prepared to make willing sacrifices to achieve the same outcome. So in saying that conflict would in turn be a bad thing, because it holds the production as a whole back and that is the last thing any client would want.

All teams experience some type of conflict. How the team manages, that conflict needs be covered in the team charter. Beneficial conflict comes when team members have two opposing ideas. According to Winter, Neal, and Waner, "Managed appropriately, conflict can help people with different ideas analyze the various aspects of each idea and identify the best avenue or even new avenues for accomplishing a certain task." (2005, pg.68) Being able to come up with new ideas brings creativity to a team. Teams strive to come up with the best and most efficient solutions to projects and issues. The best teams come up with the best solutions.

In Tuckman’s (1965) paper only 50% of the studies identified and reported intragroup conflict. This Phase can be very destructive to the teams work as with conflict they are not going to achieve their shared goal. When the Group is at this stage the may feel that the other team members are judging them and may withhold their opinions and ideas from team discussions and with this it may cause even more tension amongst the group. Some teams/groups do not make it out of this stage as they are not willing to improvise and come up with ideas that facilitate the whole team’s ability. Supervisors of the team are highly recommend but some disagreement can make each individual stronger and more versatile and will also help the team come out of the storming

When with a group of people sooner or later you will run into conflict with one another. There are four levels of conflict that can happen with any team. Level 1 having the easiest resolution and level 4 having the most difficult resolution. The first level of conflict is fact or data. Having conflict on a fact is very cut and dry, there is only one outcome. Data can either be unfinished or done improperly which can have more than one outcome. This can cause arguments in a group (Griffith, Dunham, 2015). I had conflict when I worked at a concession stand. There was a miscount of the money at the end of the day. My coworker and I had a disagreement on who was right and it result both making a miscalculation. The second conflict comes from the processes and methods that the members participate in.

The two main conflicts that present themselves in teams are cognitive and assertive. Cognitive conflict focuses on the difference in opinions and assertive conflict refers to emotions being involved when an argument gets personal. Cognitive conflicts is the preferable approach because it improves the teams performance since the members argue based on their different expertise and experiences which results in an agreement based on the most highly beneficial choice. The members take the time to examine, compare and reconcile on the different opinions given by the members. Managers who have been part of these conflicts in teams describe the members as the "best in the business" , "productive", and "open". On the other hand, assertive conflicts decreases team performance since the arguments

“Conflict is defined as a process when one party perceives that other party as negatively affecting something that the other party cares about.” (Stephen Robbins 2007, pg 1) Conflict has challenges but conflict can be beneficial to a team and can bring out the best in every team member. The benefits can help the team moving in the right direction; conflict allows people to voice their opinions and allows people to grow from conflict. Conflict gets everyone involved and it allows the team to make better choices. Solution to problems comes out of conflict. Conflict can also lead to new ideas and different ways of accomplishing a project. Conflict has benefits but there are also downsizes to conflict if left unattended conflict can destroy a team; it can make people mistrust each other. Conflict can come from not meeting project deadline and from projects going over budget.

Dealing with conflict is always a challenging situation, which requires team members to be integrated into a single, organized unit (Bolger, 2003). Conflict among teams is bound to occur no matter how much one tries to avoid it. While resolving all conflicts is not possible, these conflicts can be dealt with using the correct methodology. To address team conflict there are five methods: Accommodate, Compromise, Enforce, Explore, and Postpone (Bolger, 2003).

Conflict can happen where there are incompatible attitudes, behavior or interests, which lead to friction between two or more parties. Within work groups, individuals will often have different opinions in several situations. Moreover, since the world is becoming more globalized work groups often have more conflict today than at any other time. Conflict does not always have to be unhealthy; in fact conflict can benefit or hinder a Workgroup. Daft (2014) explains, “Conflict is an antagonistic interaction in which one party attempts to block the intentions or goals of another” (p. 642). However, it is not that simple, Massey and Dawes clarify that conflict can fall into two categories: dysfunctional and functional (2007). Functional conflict can be a tremendous strength to a Workgroup since it inspires improvements and group cooperation. Functional conflict is considered healthy or normative. Normative or healthy, differences encourage individuals to be imaginative. If individuals in a Workgroup can suggest different resolutions to a problem this will foster new ideas and allow for group and individual awareness.

The myth that I focus more of my research is ‘conflict in teamwork is unhealthy’ because I personally experience it at the workplace and it very common myth that most people hear throughout their adulthood but I want to introduce a new perspective on this myth. Some people conclude that all conflicts are just bad and it must be avoided or at least managed (Brenner, pp1). The reality is when we single out the people that are assumed to be causing conflict and we call them bad apples, and then we will end up with people who never question or challenge the status quo. When people go back and forth exchanging ideas or some might call it arguing but they are digging more and more to the truth and that is what the workplace needs. Even identical twins have differences on how they approach situations. It’s actually very healthy to see conflicts in a group or team. Hackman states that, disagreements within team are actually good as long as its work related (Hackman, pg1).

When two or more people come together with an aligned goal, a team is formed. This team is comprised of members, each with his own plan of action to best achieve the task at hand. Many times one member believes that his point of view is the most correct or most efficient, while another member of the team may disagree, offering her idea as best. When one individual challenges another, conflict is born. This is a very basic example, and only one type of conflict is addressed. In reality, there are several types of conflict; some positive, some negative. The sources of conflict are as varied as each member’s own personality style. Humans differ in countless ways. These differences contribute to the strength of team

Individuals and organizations view conflict as a negative but is a natural result when individuals work together. Constructive conflict can be positive as conflict can inspire change. There will be differences and disagreements as goals or values and even perceptions between individuals differ but without conflict, teams can become complacent and not perform at optimum levels. It is safe to say that the values of team members are a common source of conflict as are the goals and expectations of expected outcomes. Personalities, attitudes, limited resources, and the roles and responsibilities of team members are all common sources of conflict. Destructive conflict destroys the morale of team members and divides them. Managers and team leader’s responsibility is to resolve a conflict by remaining impartial and to facilitate understanding among the group is essential. The biggest challenge for managers and team leaders is to balance the two.