4. Conflicts 4.1. The Nature of Group conflict Conflicts are surrounding people everywhere in their lives. In the most extreme cases, conflict represent open fighting, even warfare. In a less aggressive and hostile form, it may reflect disagreement, tension over styles, opposing values, goals, or even personal choices. Whether conflicts affect individuals, families, groups, or organizations, people are inclined to avoid rather than confront them. In Scott Pecks work he suggests, that “by far the greatest source of mental illness is delivered from our unwillingness to deal with conflicts as they arise. We put them off until the stress surrounding such unfinished business begins to influence our ability to cope and the very quality of our lives.” (Peck S. , 1978, p. 17) The same is true in groups and teams. It is the avoided task, the unfinished business, or the hostile relations that constantly detract from the group`s ability to function as well as it might. The dislike for conflict has many reasons: it is difficult and people are usually poorly trained to deal with it. The result of …show more content…
Substantive conflict is based on members differing options about ideas, information, and facts presented during the team`s work. This type of conflict is helpful because it stimulates healthy dialogue, the development of solutions that include different points of view. Affective conflict is based on the emotional and interpersonal relationships among members and it pits members against each other. This type of conflict is rarely helpful to the development of the team. In general, affective conflict is more difficult to resolve than substantive conflict because it is resistant to persuasive reasoning. (Toseland & Rivas, 2001, p.
Conflict is a stubborn fact of organizational life. Regrettably, it is an inevitable when organizations incorporate individuals with such diverse scopes of life. As conflict is identified in organizational work teams, an analytical approach to conceptualizing conflict is the first step. Further development will then focus on the different sources of conflict and how it can compromise the common goal of the team if it is not handled correctly. Searching for ways in which to manage conflict and avoid conflicts in work teams will bring together the underlying focus of this paper.
In today’s world teamwork is being utilized by companies across the globe. Employers are seeing the value of teamwork and what can be accomplished when people put the strengths together. These teams consist of people from different cultures with different personalities. Conflict is inevitable when it comes to group dynamics. Conflict resolution is necessary to keep the group functioning efficiently. This paper will analyze group dynamics and focus on conflict resolution by way of communication.
People work in groups or teams everyday 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 with keeping the greater good of the team in mind. Conflict as it arises should be combated and abated through swift and thorough resolution techniques. When dealt with properly conflict resolution can give rise to a cohesive and productive team.
Conflict Levels – Effective teams maintain a perfect level of negative and positive conflicts. At times disagreement is encouraged to lessen the likelihood of groupthink.
Conflict Starts in the Heart- Conflict is an unavoidable truth. God made each of us in his own particular picture, yet he additionally made us unique. Along these lines some of our perspectives and assessments will contrast from those of others. Conflict regularly happens in light of absence of appreciation for another 's need and perspectives.
Conflict is defined by Wilmot and Hocker (2007, p9) as “an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from others in achieving their goals”. Many people try their best to avoid conflict, but conflict is an unavoidable factor in team work. The main causes of conflict in our team might have been the different cultures and personal attitudes. For example, the teacher required all students to have a meeting at a weekend in order to prepare for a performance. Most of our members did their best to
Conflict is a part of everyone’s life. Whether it be man versus man or man versus society or anything else, everyone does encounter conflict. When encountering conflict there are many different ways to deal with it. To take care of it you could educate yourself to help you succeed, think about it, etc. Depending on the problem some ways wouldn’t work to get rid of it.
Conflict, though it can be a hindrance, is essential to effective teamwork, because it is a natural part
According to Kristin Behfar, the more efficient and productive teams work through conflict and can consider themselves successful based upon three attributes: meeting performance goals, members being satisfied with the learning and benefiting, in addition to setting the team up for future success (Behfar, 2015). For teams not set up for conflict, it can decrease member satisfaction and productivity in addition to leading to non-effective problem solving. It is imperative to consider the manner in which conflict is managed as it greatly affects the team. Less effective teams will view a trade off between the satisfaction of team members and performance then behave in a reactive manner escalating the issue, leading the team into constant firefighting mode. Effective teams are proactive when it comes to the management of conflict, anticipate it and develop a manner in which to deal with it leading to a resolution or prevention from the offset.
One concept they subscribe to within both large and small group dynamics is conflict is not avoidable. If fact they subscribe to the theory that Conflict is not avoidable, but if managed correctly can fortify stronger relations, propagate unity and heighten performance. The common concept of group dynamic taught surrounds the phases of Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing with focus on moving the group from the storming phase to the performing phase. However, the success of the group is dependent on how the leader manages the conflict during the storming
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
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
In this writing, we will explore and explain strategies of conflict resolution and, encourage teams, individuals and society as a whole to use some of these ideas for their own resolution purposes. “In many cases, effective conflict resolution skills can make the difference between positive and negative outcomes.” (Conflict resolution, 2008). With this in mind, individuals will have hope for a more positive team experience.
We are all wired with the ability to have our own opinions, ideas and sets of beliefs. Conflict, an inevitable part of life, pertains to the opposing ideas and actions of different entities. We often find ourselves in conflict in different scenarios; whether it involves other individuals, groups of people, or a struggle within our own selves. Consequently, conflict influences our actions and decisions in one way or another.
As we have seen during this course, working in a team can often lead to conflicts. In particular there are three types of conflicts that we described in class: task conflicts, cognitive conflicts and affective conflicts.