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Essay on Sources of Conflict and Dealing with it

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"There is immutable conflict at work in life and in business, a constant battle between peace and chaos. Neither can be mastered, but both can be influenced. How you go about it is the key to success" (Phillip Night 20th century businessman) A team, theoretically, should work like a well-oiled machine. Like a state of the art machine most enlightened people should be able to function peacefully for the stated purpose of geting the job done. However, oil can be forgotten, a scheduled maintenance item missed, and the machine slows or stops altogether. The same happens in a team. If one person is upset with another person, something gets lost or undone; progress and productivity will slow or disintegrate to nothing creating chaos …show more content…

Miscommunication can be de-motivating and debilitating to a team. Miscommunication will often result in decreased productivity and missed deadlines. When you are communicating tasks, goals, expectations etc to your teammates, be concise and clear, over communicate. You may know what you want and understand what you are saying, but others may not hear it the same way. As a communicator always leave room for questions and be prepared to have to explain something a couple of different ways and multiple times. As a listener, never fear asking questions. If you do not understand the answer, keep asking questions until all parties are on the same page and make sure that every one is on the same page.
Irrational beliefs can quickly turn a small conflict into a large one. Some commonly held beliefs are: conflict is bad and is to be avoided, “them vs. us”, there is a perfect solution, and one must approve of the solution in order to accept it. All of these beliefs stem from one sidedness and inflexibility. They are ultimately selfish and do not serve a team environment. In work teams, everything is about a common goal or project. Nothing is personal. Suspending ones self defense mechanisms, unless personally attacked, is necessary in a team environment in order to focus on the goal that ultimately will benefit all parties. Personal attacks should, theoretically never occur, if one looks at whether they are about to

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