- Mild team conflict such as disagreement,
inconsiderate or derogatory remarks, or difficult behavior
among a few team members may increase tension in the
whole team and slightly reduce productivity and effectiveness.
- Team-wide arguments or hostility driven by deeply-held
beliefs may significantly reduce team effectiveness
and delay or disrupt the team’s output – be
it manufacturing, a product introduction, a marketing
effort, or internal functions such as human resources,
finance, or public relations.
- A senior leadership team may be dysfunctional and
fail to provide needed leadership for the entire company.
Typical approaches to conflict management in teams include
diversity training, conflict management training, re-organizing,
new accountability processes and objectives, and team building.
Frequently these fail since they do not address the core
issues.
You need an effective team conflict resolution
strategy for managing all aspects of conflict to restore
relationships and increase productivity, innovation, and
creativity.
Solution
Team conflict is not inevitable. It
can be resolved. It can be avoided. The underlying differences
in perspectives may be turned to competitive advantage. Effective
conflict management strategies address peoples' different
cultural backgrounds and help the team develop its internal
operations. This is about managing inclusion and developing
intercultural competence.
Conflict of any sort stems from people having different
perspectives, opinions, expected behavioral norms, and
communication and working styles.
When people
lack the skills and experience to manage conflict effectively,
it may become destructive.
When teams and work groups have the right knowledge,
skills, and experience, these same differences become the
source of increased creativity and
productivity, yielding sustainable competitive
business advantage.
We adapt our conflict management intervention
strategies to each situation to help ensure
the right outcome. A typical successful resolution will
involve some combination of these techniques:
- Interviewing the directly and indirectly involved
parties to identify the core issues
- Individual coaching
- Assessment of cultural competence (i.e. how people
think and feel about cultural difference)
- Team facilitation
- Team interventions
- Development and learning
Frequently we find that inability to communicate
and work effectively with people of different cultural
backgrounds is at the heart of an individual, team, or
organizational conflict situation. These
cultural differences may relate to any dimension of diversity.
In such situations, the most-effective solution is to develop
peoples' ability to experience "cultural difference" more
completely so they can make better decisions, thus communicating
and working more effectively.
Where cultural difference is a contributing factor, we
use the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) in several
ways. IDI helps diagnose the situation so that the most
effective solution can be implemented. It also provides
a developmental framework from which the involved parties
may develop their ability to communicate and work well
with people of different backgrounds.
IDI is a theory-based diagnostic instrument that measures
how people experience (i.e. think and feel about) cultural
difference. It indicates their level of competence in communicating
and working with, and understanding the needs of, people
of different backgrounds, cultures, or perspectives. IDI
provides a guide to individual and team development plans.
For further background on IDI:
Intercultural
Development Inventory.
MDB Group is certified to offer this outstanding instrument
as part of a comprehensive approach to managing team conflict
and increasing productivity.
See also: Team
building and team development. Or just
call
us or
send
us a note to start discussing your situation!
Sample results
See representative results achieved by MDB Group's principals
at
conflict
management strategies for the workforce and work place.
Related links
Workplace conflict affects many aspects of the workplace.
Click the links below for further insight:
