week 6: conflict in teams: a solutions-oriented approach

ITB002 IT Professional Studies Faculty of Information TechnologyFaculty of Creative Industries

Week 6: Conflict in teams: a solutions-oriented approach

Lesley Irvine

Media & Communication

Creative Industries

ITB002 IT Professional Studies


Doing and Knowing

What you need to know: How teams work together in stressful situations Learn about theory underpinning team dynamics What conflict is and how to resolve it

What you will do: Lecture 6

Conflict in teams Workshop 6

Ethics workshop and team analysis report Practical 6

Developing a professional portfolio


Conflict

The process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another.

O’Brien, Access Division, McShane and Locker (2003) Information Technology: Professional Studies.


The conflict process

Sources of ConflictGoalsValuesTasksResourcesRulesCommunication

Conflict perceptions

Conflict Emotions

Manifest Conflict

Conflict styleDecisionOvert behaviours

ConflictOutcomesPositive:DecisionsCohesiveness

Negative:TurnoverPoliticsStressReduced outcomes

.

O’Brien, 2003, p.361


Conflict spirals

Conflicts are a series of events or episodes that build on each other.

Once the conflict cycle has begun it’s important to recognise it and negotiate effective solutions.

Unmanaged conflict most often spirals upwards and outwards.


Sources of team conflict

Sources of Conflict

Communicationproblems: interests, preferences, values

Incompatible goals and expectations

Different valuesattitudes, and beliefs

Taskinterdependence

Scarce resources or information

Ambiguous rulesor procedures

Ethics Needs

Power and control


Our shared valuesThe way we get things done

We are passionate about customers.

We have trust and respect for individuals.

We perform at a high level of achievement and contribution.

We act with speed and agility.


Our shared valuesThe way we get things done

We deliver meaningful innovation.

We achieve our results through teamwork.

We conduct our business with uncompromising integrity.


hp Board calls for creative new ideas

Board funds

most

promising

projects

Selected ideas posted

on network Project managers

bid for projects

Selected proposals invited to make

persuasive oral presentation to Board

VC-Cafe

Work teams form

hp employees

bid for projects

Employees as entrepreneurs

Teams constantly forming,

shifting, disbanding

as projects come and go


‘You must make sure you have the mechanisms in place to raise an issue in the first place. If an issue reaches boiling point, it’s a lot harder to manage.’

Project Manager, Information Technology

From the workplace


‘If you get bent out of shape every time someone disagrees or asks a question; the group won’t be productive. It’s really hard. I’ve been doing this for years and when someone challenges your idea, it can naturally make you feel a little defensive.’

Events Manager

From the workplace


‘It turned into quite an argument about who was right and who was wrong.’

Marketing Manager

From the workplace


‘Her style of leadership was very different. Her approach was extremely confrontational. It’s quite amazing how quickly morale declined.’

Secondary School Teacher

From the workplace


‘Our team had to disband; we couldn’t finish the project. It got to a stage that any time someone offered an opinion, it was immediately discounted.’

Development Manger, Not-for-profit organisation

From the workplace


‘The final report was co-written by someone who had never been on the team and the recommendations lacked any substance. Overall, it achieved absolutely nothing.’

Communication Manager for scientific research

From the workplace


Task conflict can be productive.

Personal conflict can be destructive.

Productive Conflict

• Positive• Depersonalised• Substance or content oriented• Co-operative

Dysfunctional Conflict

• Negative• Personalised• Emotional• Competitive• Self-oriented.


Handling conflict

Collaborator Compromiser Accommodator Controller/competitor Avoider


Conflict management

Be a collaborator: think win-win for the team.

Ask questions to reduce ambiguity and misunderstanding.

Discuss the issues, including the process issues.

Avoid dominating the group.

Involve everyone and work to a consensus.


Conflict in teams

Common causes of conflict

Unequal work distribution. Problems with organisation. Failure to produce what is promised. Differences in understanding goals and tasks. Differences in perceptions of ‘quality’ Absenteeism. Dominance. Listening problems – lack of understanding.


Conflict in teams

Common causes of conflict

Failure to produce what is promised.

Differences in perceptions of ‘quality’

Listening problems – lack of understanding.


Why Don’t People Listen?Hugh Mackay (1994)

Listeners generally interpret messages in ways that make them feel comfortable and secure.

When people’s attitudes are attacked head-on, they are likely to defend those attitudes and, in the process, reinforce them.



People who are insecure in a relationship are unlikely to be good listeners.

People are more likely to listen to us if we also listen to them.



People are more likely to support a change which affects them if they are consulted before a change is made.

Lack of self-knowledge and unwillingness to resolve our internal conflicts makes it harder for us to communicate with other people.


Sources of conflict in teams

Minimise destructiveconflict

Clarify rulesAnd procedures

Improve communication and understanding

Reduce task interdependence

Increase support to each other

Gain member support for all decisions

Gain agreement on how you will proceed

Emphasise long-term & short-term goals

Emphasise group similarities.

Share power and control


Communication and Negotiation

Love and business are identical, a matter of negotiation.

Christina Stead, Letty Fox, Her Luck (1946)


What determines human communication?

We all have a natural tendency to judge.

When we form an impression of others, we are influenced by our own set of beliefs and values.



People often do not mean what you understand them to say.

People routinely fail to interpret what you say in the way you intend.



Communication is like soft clay which

can be shaped and reshaped as

different receivers make sense of it.

Putnis and Petelin (1998)



Conversations are often serialised monologues, with people not so much listening but thinking about what they will say next.

Bryan Bell, ttp://bbll.com/ch02.html


Resolving conflict

Identify what you each understand is the task to be achieved.

Discuss how this is to proceed. Critique the task, rather than criticise the person.

Gain agreement at every stage. Discuss how all members can get what they

want. Isolate the issues that seem irreconcilable.

Assess their importance to the common goals.


Resolving conflict

Assess the value of the conflicting issues to the achievement of the team goals. If they are important they must be addressed.

Talk through the issues to diagnose what is going on. Be as specific as possible.

Eliminate unimportant differences. Analyse people’s interest. What is motivating their position?


Resolving conflict

Find points in common within each difference. Work out compromises.

Agree on a solution that is positive and specific.

Work for fairness, equity and balance. Be generous and helpful. Recognise

positive aspects as well as negative ones. Maintain a sense of humour and

perspective.


Resolving conflict

Choose specific strategies most appropriate to the particular conflict.

There are at least three possible ways to approach the situation:

Ignore it.

Approach it indirectly or privately.

Confront the issue and negotiate a satisfactory solution.


Resolving conflict

Keep sight of common goals. Make suggestions about what can be done to improve.

The solution doesn’t have to be perfect – it just has to work for you, so that the project can go forward.

week 6: conflict in teams: a solutions-oriented approach

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