Process Conflict

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

Conflict arises from various sources in the team setting (Capozzoli, 1995). The most common causes of conflict are values, attitudes, needs, expectations, perceptions, resources, and personalities. As we are all raised with different values, morals come into play when the team issue deals directly or indirectly with ones values, morals, or ethics. Conflicting attitudes can bring about problems as two or more team members prove to have differing goals in mind. Individual needs can cause rifts within a team when they are not satisfied. The expectations of team members are not the same on how the goal will be met. We all have different perceptions of life situation and interpret them differently. The lack of resources needed to complete a task can cause conflict. Differing personalities play a major role in team conflict.

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

In team settings, individual team members generally handle conflict in five key ways as identified in an adaptation of the Thomas-Kilman Conflict Inventory (1976): Avoidance, Accommodation, Competition, Compromise, and Collaboration. All five conflict styles can be both beneficial and/or costly to individual and team success. It can also be argued that all five conflict styles may be useful to resolve conflicts under certain circumstances. Please review the five conflict styles listed below:

Conflict can be fixed and dealt with accordingly, regardless of the level of seriousness. Miranda and Bostrom (1993) claim that if a group makes sure each person has a particular task assigned, each member will then participate. They continue by stating that when open communication exists between team members, conflict can be resolved. The authors further state that conflict is inevitable. As long as conflict is dealt with quickly and sharing problems is important, it can be fixed. Making sure that the aforementioned strategies are put into place will allow conflict to be resolved. “Conflict is often inevitable because each of us has an innate preference regarding structure in solving problems” (Falcioni, 2007, para.5). However, if a team approaches this issue with the proper mind

“… some things are better left in the past. And true things are destined to repeat themselves” (Young 397). As the world outside falls apart, Sloane and James remain strong and deeply in love. They have lost friends and family to both the suicide epidemic and The Program. The couple refuses to show their true feelings to the world, in fear of being taken by The Program. Although the returners from The Program come back without their depression, they also come back with little memory of their past. I will be discussing three important conflicts that occurred in The Program.

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

Porter, S. (2003). Managing conflict in learning teams. p. 4. University of Phoenix, Learning Team Toolkit. Retrieved from www.apollolibrary.com/Library/Itt/download/ManagingConflic

Conflict is defined as to ‘be incompatible or at variance; clash:’ (oxford dictionary) and this can arise in a number of ways – but most simply through a disagreement of ideas which inevitably leads to an argument and therefore conflict. There are many ways to manage and attempt to resolve conflict – in this essay the modes will be broken down into the level of assertiveness and their respective effectiveness for the team rather than individuals. All of my given examples will be within a workplace as I find these to be most appropriate and relevant.

“Team conflict may occur among members hailing from different fields of professions, such as in a cross-functional project team, or between line workers (who work directly with the product or service) and staff teams (who provide behind-the-scenes support). It may also occur as a result of perceived inequities in group member status or productivity, personality differences, or other work-related problems.” (Organizational Communication, 2010, pg 223).

In Theatre: Collaborative Acts it reads, "Two or more characters want the same thing or want different things to happen. The forces work against each other until, in some way, the outcome is decided" (77). In my own words, conflict is when one doesn't agree with another's beliefs or actions, causing a problem amongst the two that have opposing opinions. For example, my sister and I disagree on what clothes we don't want to share with each other. It becomes a big problem because she may think it is unfair and I just don't want her wearing my clothes. We will argue about it until we come up with a

Conflicts can arise to an individual at any time and how a person utilizes conflict resolution strategies depends on both their conflict style and conflict resolution skills. There are many ways to respond to conflict situations with some styles involving a considerate or cooperative approach while others involve either a competitive or passive approach (Hodges 2000). The online tools discussed can be used to evaluate the conflict resolution styles as they may impact teamwork in different ways. Individuals have different typical behaviors in conflict situations which is describable along two dimensions that are assertiveness and cooperativeness. As a team and through the tools, we can understand how interpersonal group dynamics are affected by conflict-handling styles. It is a good tool to help us make informed decisions about choosing an appropriate style when approaching a conflict style.

The dynamics of a team relies heavily on the interaction of team members during times of conflict not just during times of agreement. Often groups seek to achieve a cohesive relationship in an effort to unite the team towards its goals. Group members can make the mistake of subverting conflict in an attempt to maintain this team unity. Conflict serves a valuable role in effective group interactions that must be understood by participants of a team. An examination into the characteristics of conflict and cohesion and the relationship between the two dynamics can provide perspective to

Some conflicts specifically occur early on in the assignment. When a team does not know each other, they will have imperfect knowledge of each other’s capabilities. This can be a problem because individuals may be assigned to tasks they are not competent in. Another conflict is finding a leader. Sometimes a leader