Solution For Conflicts Within Work Teams example essay topic

According to the book, Tools for Teams, it states that "not all companies benefit by forming teams but the ones that do, have found that there was an improvement in quality, customer service and all around productivity". There are different types of teams, the manager-led team, self managing or self relating, self-directing or self-designing and self-governing. These teams portray either work teams, task teams or management teams. When you have any of the above teams working together, you have a continuation of learning styles, intelligences and quadrants all combined, something that cannot be accomplished by an individual. Tools for Teams also states that "the team that pays close attention to process evolution and has the courage to push through breakpoints, has the best chance to reach excellence and to endure". But when there is a team that cannot battle through these breakpoints, the team can end in failure.

The majority of these breakpoints arise out of conflicts amongst the team members. If these conflicts are not addressed immediately, the team is facing a downhill battle. Conflicts will occur, whether within your work team or in your personal life. The real trick is how you deal with them. There are many factors that must be taken into account. The most important thing in our opinion is to have good leadership at the helm.

But not all team leaders live up to the expectations of the role. When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, some team leaders do not know how to handle conflict situations. The following are five possible ways of dealing with conflicts. Some are productive but others are not. Avoidance Accommodation Competition Compromise Collaboration AVOIDANCE - an act or practice of avoiding or withdrawing from something There are two forms of avoidance, one being protecting and the other withdrawing. By protecting, one would do anything possible to keep the conflict from arising.

If it should arise, the so-called protector completely ignores it as if it were not even occurring. Withdrawing would be in the same category as avoidance. If there were a conflict to arise, maybe only bits of it would be addressed but the rest was avoided. Avoiding a conflict is not an effective means of resolution. In fact it doesn't resolve any conflict. It is not a resolution.

That would only imply that a solution was found and then acted upon to transform the situation from bad to good. If it is not finished, but just avoided, it will eventually come back to haunt you, either in the form of a repeat occurrence or as a permanent regret that an opportunity to move forward was missed. ACCOMMODATION - the providing of what is needed or desired for convenience Think of a baby having a temper tantrum. You may give it a bottle, food or even candy just to quiet it down because you cannot deal with it.

This appeasement is also practiced in the corporate world when it comes to conflicts. It may be that the team leader / manager does not know how to deal with the situation or does not want to. Whatever the case may be the result is that team leader / manager just giving in to the conflict thinking he would be eliminating it. But in reality it could make it worse. Now what is being shown is that when a conflict arises, the team knows they will get what they want. COMPETITION - to strive consciously or unconsciously for an objective (as position, profit, or a prize): be in a state of rivalry There is always one in every crowd.

That one person who is out for themselves and has no regard for the feelings of any of their team members. They are only focused on their own goals and will step on any pair of feet that comes along to get there. Their future relationship with team members is not regarded as well. What it comes down to is the will to win superseding any concern for the positions of other members.

In speaking to someone I personally knew in the Human Resources department within my workplace and in reading different articles, I have learned that there are two forms of competition: forcing and contending. Forcing is where an individual will push for their position without regard for others or for their future relationships within the group, as I already mentioned above. Forcing can be viewed as competition at all costs. Contending is a milder form of forcing. Contending individuals still actively work to gain their position; however, contending individuals still try to win their position without sacrificing their relationship in the group. COMPROMISE: settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions.

The give and take of conflict. And then there are individuals who have a plan. Sometimes they have regard for the other team members but sometimes not. It involves negotiation, trade-offs, and a high degree of flexibility. When there is a conflict of some sort in regards to the settlement of a problem or whatever the case may be, the situation is taken advantage of by getting something in return for a settlement or having to give something for something you want...

I, personally, do not feel that this is a preventative measure; it is more like a quick fix. In fact, I feel that this would be the same as Accommodation listed above. Often, compromise produces an outcome that is less than ideal for the group. But then again, at other times, compromise is the best a group can expect to achieve -- especially if individuals are more committed to their own ideas than the groups' greater good. People often view compromise as "losing". Although compromise requires a loss of specific elements of each person's position, a compromise solution can still closely resemble a large portion of an individual's original proposal.

COLLABORATION: to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor. Trying to insure that everyone wins. Most likely the goal of every company. Trying to make everyone happy and if everyone is happy, production increases, time schedules are met, etc... This approach will probably be considered the best, but most difficult, method of dealing with conflict. It enables each person to examine and understand the other person's point of view as well as identifying areas where agreement exists and where there are differences evaluating alternatives and selecting solutions that have the full support and commitment of both people / sides.

This curtails a high degree of focus with the feelings of others at hand. What every team needs is a strong team leader. One who knows how to communicate, which I feel is the most important tool. A good leader will keep the team on track, promote motivation and inspiration, allow for creativity, reward individuals for a job well done, not be afraid to reprimand for a less than adequate effort, keep order within the team, set goals and assist with conflict resolutions. A leader should always know just when he / she should intervene. There are many factors, which need to be considered but if he / she keeps in mind that individualist mentality, personality clashes, leadership issues and power struggles, just to name a few, then we should be able to implement the proper techniques to find a solution for conflicts within work teams.