Conflict Management and Resolution for Teams

Conflict Management and Resolution for Teams

When a group of individuals with varying experiences, thought processes and expectations work together as a team, conflict is inevitable. While many people see conflict as a sign of failure, teams can potentially use conflict as an asset. Understanding conflict dynamics and cultural approaches to conflict management help teams to distill key points vital to a successful and productive resolution of team conflict.

John Dewey (1934, p. 207) once said, “Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheep like passivity, and sets us at noting and contriving”. What did he mean by this statement? The thought of actually being stirred into observation and memory suggests something has to occur to get someone moving. The question has always been what motivates anyone into action?

Types of Team Conflict

Research has shown that there are all sorts of conflict and each conflict varies depending on the person conducting the research. In the book Tools for Teams, Leigh Thompson, Eileen Aranda, and Stephen P. Robbins (2000, p. 514) suggest there are four basic types if conflict: emotional, cognitive, constructive and destructive. Emotional and destructive conflicts lead to an inability to resolve issues. Cognitive and constructive conflicts are a necessary part of finding successful solutions as a team.

Emotional Conflict

Emotional is “personal, defensive, and resentful”. (Thompson, Aranda, & Robbins, 2000, p. 514) and of is based on anger, personality clashes, ego and tension. Emotional conflict occurs when individual interests trump the interests of the team as a whole. This type of conflict interferes with the effort of a team to resolve a problem.

Cognitive Team Conflict

Cognitive conflict occurs when team members voice different ideas and is “largely depersonalized” (Thompson, Aranda, & Robbins, 2000, p. 515). As opposed to emotional conflict, his type of conflict is based on arguments about the merits of ideas, plans and projects. Because cognitive conflict is not based on personal feelings, it forces team members to rethink problems and arrive at a collective decision.

Constructive Team Conflict

Constructive conflict, as the name suggests, helps teams resolve problems and uncover new solutions to old issues in a productive manner (Thompson, Aranda, & Robbins, 2000, p. 515). It allows change and growth to occur within a team environment.

Destructive Team Conflict

Destructive conflict, like emotional conflict, causes dysfunction when a “lack of common agreement leads to negativism” (Thompson, Aranda, & Robbins, 2000, p. 516). This disrupts the process of all group members. Destructive conflict in teams diminishes the possibility of any problem resolution.

Understanding Conflict

Understanding and defining conflict terminology and conflict management is a first and important step in successful conflict management. Since conflict is inevitable in any team or group situation, groups must cooperate to reach a successful resolution of any issues.

Since more than one issue, and more than one type of conflict, often is involved in the conflict, successful conflict management and resolution depends on a number of factors. Among them, teams must understand the different responses to conflict among team members.

Consequently, there are many theories on the topic of conflict management. While they will find no single definition of conflict management, many theories have been produced that attempt to explain conflict and ways to avoid or resolve conflicts.

Jeffery Krivis (2006, October, p. 6), a mediator and author, writes “In a world where relationships matter more than ever, mediation skills matter more than ever. Companies can locate anywhere. People can work anywhere. Clients can stay with you or go with a competitor halfway around the globe. So whether you manage employees or clients or both, it’s critical to learn the art of bringing harmony out of conflict”. (Jeffery Krivis, October, 2006, p. 6)

As stated in the beginning, we must look at the different variables that may cause such conflict and how to resolve them. By breaking this down into different areas and showing exactly how the conflict can arise and how one’s actions can hinder or help the project. Online learning places individuals into arenas that have never been experienced by the student. Here is a place where they must make their statements count without body language, gestures or tones. A simple meeting in a learning forum begins by introduction and quick