Teamwork Turmoil
TEAMWORK TURMOIL: A Case Study
Conflict is inevitable and at times stimulates beneficial or creative thinking. Often conflict is a signal that people are miscommunicating and making different assumptions about what has gone unspoken. The conflict in itself is not the problem. It is the team’s reactions to it that determines the impact, thus causing it to be a negative experience. Conflict or divergence can be destructive or it can be constructive. It is up to the people involved in the conflict to manage the outcome. This gives them an opportunity to articulate their assumptions and figure out a way to come to agreement. In a learning team situation, conflict can arise when the original agreement to work together does not address enough specifics about exactly how and when team members will accomplish individual tasks. This inhibits achieving overall team goals.
Understanding that conflict will occur puts a greater need for the team to have an established set of rules for resolving it. What conflicts can the team anticipate? How will the team deal with these and other conflicts that may arise? The “right” answers to these questions are as varied as the individual personalities serving on the team. This serves as a roadmap the team can use to arrive at its desired point. With this laid out, it would provide the team with an agreement about how conflicts will be resolved for the good of the team and possibly reduce the negativity associated with conflict. This exercise would allow the team to focus on the potential conflicts that may arise between or among team members in the course.
As an effective learning team, the individual team members need to agree on the decisions and come up with a collective resolution that all team members support. An important benefit of taking time to carefully complete this task is, that when conflicts arise, the team can manage them and resolve them in an effective and efficient manner. It is easier to agree on
Conflict is inevitable and at times stimulates beneficial or creative thinking. Often conflict is a signal that people are miscommunicating and making different assumptions about what has gone unspoken. The conflict in itself is not the problem. It is the team’s reactions to it that determines the impact, thus causing it to be a negative experience. Conflict or divergence can be destructive or it can be constructive. It is up to the people involved in the conflict to manage the outcome. This gives them an opportunity to articulate their assumptions and figure out a way to come to agreement. In a learning team situation, conflict can arise when the original agreement to work together does not address enough specifics about exactly how and when team members will accomplish individual tasks. This inhibits achieving overall team goals.
Understanding that conflict will occur puts a greater need for the team to have an established set of rules for resolving it. What conflicts can the team anticipate? How will the team deal with these and other conflicts that may arise? The “right” answers to these questions are as varied as the individual personalities serving on the team. This serves as a roadmap the team can use to arrive at its desired point. With this laid out, it would provide the team with an agreement about how conflicts will be resolved for the good of the team and possibly reduce the negativity associated with conflict. This exercise would allow the team to focus on the potential conflicts that may arise between or among team members in the course.
As an effective learning team, the individual team members need to agree on the decisions and come up with a collective resolution that all team members support. An important benefit of taking time to carefully complete this task is, that when conflicts arise, the team can manage them and resolve them in an effective and efficient manner. It is easier to agree on
References: Engleberg, I., Wynn, D., & Schuttler, R. (2003). Working in groups: Communication principles and strategies (3rd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin, p. 154. Thomas, Kenneth W. (2002). Introduction to Conflict Management: Improving Performance Using the TKI. Palo Alto, CA: CPP, Inc. Wisinski, J. (1993). Resolving conflicts on the job. New York: American Management Association, pp. 27-31.