...Allied Academies International Conference page 15 CONFLICT IN WORK TEAMS: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS Brittany Sikes, Florida Institute of Technology Robert D. Gulbro, Athens State University Linda Shonesy, Athens State University ABSTRACT Conflict is almost certain to occur in work teams due to the fact that they are comprised of different people possessing different perceptions, personalities, and behaviors. Although incredibly effective, work teams may stumble upon barriers which must be overcome to allow for growth and continuation towards the common goals of the group. It is quite possible that a work team may perform without the presence of conflict, but oftentimes certain measures have been implemented to prevent such conflict from occurring. Occasional conflict, if managed appropriately, can lead to creativity, better decision-making, and improved results. However, too much conflict can lead to a decrease in performance and group cohesion. In global organizations there is an opportunity for cross-cultural differences that may increase conflict. Contained herein are both the positive and negative consequences of conflict, as well as courses of action to understand, prevent, and resolve conflict that occurs within work teams or groups. THE VALUE OF WORK TEAMS A work team is defined as an organized group, committed to the individuals within the group, whose members share the same intent of accomplishing a common goal. Managers have become more inclined to utilize work...
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...Riordan Manufacturing Team Building and Conflict Management MGT/311 October 28, 2013 George Beaini Riordan Manufacturing Team Building and Conflict Management Riordan Manufacturing is working to launch CardiCare Valve heart valves and in doing so is designing a new team to proceed with the product launch. The company is looking to use many current employees along with some new hires to build the team needed to manufacture this new product. The company will be using team building strategies to determine how to build the new team for this product and will also be looking at conflict management and conflict management strategies to handle any possible problems that may arise. Part I: Team Strategy Plan There are different strategies that can be used to identify employees for a team. It is very important that when putting a team together the people used have complementary skills and are able to work together. Reviewing employee files would be a good place to start. Looking at performance reviews and employee’s strengths and weaknesses can help to determine what people to use in the team for this new product. This will only work for the existing employees. With the new employees that are coming in to work on the project for the new product the data from the interviewing process and past job experience will help to determine how these employees can be best used in the new team that is being developed. There can be a variety of challenges that arise while developing...
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...for conflict resolution will enhance. Conflict occurs from differences within team members. Different values, attitudes, beliefs are all factors in conflict in a group setting. Creating methods of resolving conflict resolution is critical in the success of any team-oriented organization. Conflicts begin from several sources within a group setting, structural, communication, and personal factors. This document will elaborate on how mediation will provide resolution to conflict management on these sources. An operational structure is ideal in team activities but unfortunately some orginazation create group project without careful consideration. These can potentially cause conflict within a group. Structural problems such as the size of group, level of participation and rewards is a few factors in structural problems. If resolution cannot be resolve within group, then mediation process is activated. Prior to mediation process, teams members will agree to let the mediator determine the solution. The mediator will be the professor or someone who has a neutral claim in the dispute. Information from both parties is presented to the mediator; he or she will listen to both parties and negotiate on a reasonable solution to the problem. Communication and personal factors are detrimental within a learning team. Team members with poor listening skills, different interpretation and perception in what is expected between team members and the nonverbal communication can cause conflict. Without...
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...of team conflict and its effect on individual performance. Team conflict is not always a negative aspect of job performance. In fact, conflict can be used as a catalyst for change that is more satisfying when differences among people cause feelings to run high, managers need to understand the nature of these differences in order to deal with them systematically and in such a way that both corporate harmony and individual initiative are preserved (McClure). Team conflict is important to leadership and development because it can expand employee’s viewpoints, increase management’s leadership to mediate and resolve conflict, and if managed correctly improve productivity. Problem statement At some point in our work careers, we must work with others to achieve a certain goal. Teams are collaborative unit of people joined together to accomplish a common goal, capitalizing on and respecting the skills and knowledge of all individuals. At times these teams are picked by management, others individuals are able to pick team mates on their own. The efforts of the team should exceed those of individual members. Each individual has their own way of doing things, have different work ethics and different personalities. Relationships in teams can become conflicted when team members disagree on how their goals can be reached. Conflict can arise from numerous sources within a team setting and generally falls into three categories: communication factors, structural factors, and personal...
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...visual/spatial. Having the same top multiple intelligences can be good or bad depending on what we are doing. We both had verbal/linguistic for our bottom area. Natalie’s second choice was naturalist where Nicole’s was intrapersonal. Even though we have similarities and differences we can use our strong areas to help our team achieve our goals and assignments. Team members can learn from each others strengths to help them become stronger in their weaker areas. No matter how similar or different each of us is we can still come together and work as a team and accomplish what needs to be done. 2. What are the advantages of having diversity on a team? What challenges might the team face because of diversity? 3. How might factors such as diversity, attitude, learning, and work styles affect team building? Diversity can sometimes play a key role in the group. It can be a learning experience for...
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...Article Review Conflict Management Laurie Alva American Public University Abstract This paper will present an overview of this lecture about conflict management. The lecture describes different types of conflict, how it affects the workplace, the different views of conflict, different stages of conflict, and how to resolve conflict with different methods. Keywords, conflict management, methods, views, resolutions. Introduction Conflict happens in most business at some point. How a company handles conflict depends on how well the managers are trained in conflict resolution. This lecture reviews how different types of conflict can resolve conflict management. Summary This lecture describes how the use of different types of conflict can resolve problems or business. The lecture focuses on four different types of conflict. They are, goal, affective, cognitive, and procedural conflict. While each type of conflict differs from each other, they all deal with conflict. Goal conflict is when each party has a different perspective of how to reach the goals that are set forth. Affective conflict can be explained by one person having agtainism towards the other party. Cognitive conflict is when thought or ideas are incompatible with each other. Finally, procedural conflict is when both parties cannot agree on how to do a project. Most of the content of the lecture is based off of Robert Bacal's book Organizational Conflict, The Good,The Bad, and The Ugly. According to Bacal...
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...Chapter 01 The Nature of Negotiation Fill in the Blank Questions 1. People ____________ all the time. ________________________________________ 2. The term ____________ is used to describe the competitive, win-lose situations such as haggling over price that happens at yard sale, flea market, or used car lot. ________________________________________ 3. Negotiating parties always negotiate by __________. ________________________________________ 4. There are times when you should _________ negotiate. ________________________________________ 5. Successful negotiation involves the management of ____________ (e.g., the price or the terms of agreement) and also the resolution of __________. ________________________________________ 6. Independent parties are able to meet their own ____________ without the help and assistance of others. ________________________________________ 7. The mix of convergent and conflicting goals characterizes many ____________ relationships. ________________________________________ 8. The ____________ of people's goals, and the ____________ of the situation in which they are going to negotiate, strongly shapes negotiation processes and outcomes. ________________________________________ 9. Whether you should or should not agree on something in a negotiation depends entirely upon the attractiveness to you of the best available _______. ________________________________________ ...
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...dealing with its fundamental causes ****.[1] Thus, although the particular *** hole dispute might be settled permanently, another similar or related dispute may arise again later if the underlying causes are still there.[2] Conflict Resolution Incompatible interests are not the only things at issue in more severe conflicts. Conflicts last longer and are more deeply rooted than disputes. They tend to arise over non-negotiable issues such as fundamental human needs, intolerable moral bitchy differences, or high-stakes distributional issues regarding essential resources, such as money, water, or land. To truly resolve a conflict, the solution must go beyond just satisfying the parties' interests as in dispute settlement. To end or resolve a long-term conflict, a relatively stable solution that identifies **** and deals with the underlying sources of the conflict must be found. This is a more difficult task than simple dispute settlement, because resolution means going beyond negotiating interests to meet all sides' basic needs, while simultaneously finding a way to respect their underlying values and identities. However, some of the same intervention processes used in dispute settlement (i.e., mediation) are also used to achieve resolution. True conflict resolution requires a...
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...Conflict, Decision Making, and Structure Paul McKenzie Strayer University Leadership and Organizational Behavior Bus 520 Dr. Keith W. Langner December 20, 2012 Conflict, Decision Making, and Structure From the inception of time, the human race has been experiencing and grappling with conflicts of all kinds—both internally and externally. In most recent years, however, conflicts in the workplace have become more prevalent due to diverse cultures, organizational structures, and workplace dynamics such as stress, discrimination, cultural difference, idiosyncrasy, pay inequality, grievance and dispute, and others. These prevailing conditions have and are affecting organizations of all sizes. As a result, many companies are forced to implement guidelines and strategies so as to mediate, mitigate, manage, reconcile, and resolve such existing conditions in a more effectively manner, while creating better-working environments. Having said that, this paper intends to objectively address four given scenarios surrounding conflict, decision making, and organizational design. Those scenarios will be addressed in the following sequence: (1) negotiation strategies used to address potential conflicts in the workplace, (2) evidence-based management and its relevant application, (3) analysis regarding effective methods and creative-decision making, (4) and environmental and strategic factors that affect the organizational design of a researched company. Negotiation...
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...Conflict Resolution in High School Youth conflict resolution has been around for a while and has been very successful in some schools. The biggest problem has been keeping a program going. Training, funding, and finding time to keep it a part of a school are difficult challenges. Conflict resolution means teaching young people new and different ways to resolve disputes without resorting to verbal or physical violence. Many adolescents today are caught up in situations of teen conflict that they cannot manage – jealousy, name calling, teasing, gossip, stealing another’s property, dating and friendship issues, and bullying and outright aggression. Schools are frequently the center of many of these tensions. Conflict can also branch out from the school and lead to problems in the community. Conflict resolution education is an important component in violence prevention and intervention program in schools and youth communities. It is used in approximately 15% of schools in the United States. The most successful programs seem to be those that offer a comprehensive approach to problem-solving, teaching effective listening and communication skills, and critical and creative thinking with an emphasis on personal responsibility and self discipline. Sweeney and Caruthers (1996) define conflict resolution in a concise way, “the process used by both parties in conflict to reach a settlement.” Conflict is basically the result of two or more people possessing differing opinions...
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...Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking PSY/400 March 2, 2015 Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking According to Myers (2010), whenever two or more people, groups, or nations interact, their perceived needs and goals may conflict" (p. 499). Social dilemmas come upon when one side fails to understand with the others' viewpoint and incorrectly attributes reason to the other's behavior. Divergence can be power-driven by competition, seeming unfair, and by mix-ups and misunderstandings of the other's behavior. Peace is an equally beneficial relationship, which has non to low levels of violent behavior and aggression. Peacemaking is used in effort to resolve conflict. To give an end to conflict. Before peacemaking has an influence on any circumstances there needs to be a conflict an issue, something that is not agreed upon. One type of conflict is the Iraq War. A group of people create camps in the war zones helping the people fight in contradiction of the war, by developing relationships and giving a sense of authorization to the Iraqi people. Peacemaking is bringing a conflict to a resolution not just suppressing it or coverin it up. Peace comes when the two different sides can reconcile alterations and reach an agreement. Peacemaking is what brings toxic forces and damaging conflict to a beneficial resolution. Peacemaking is making peace by settling disputes between groups, individuals, nations, communities, and even within families ...
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...Date of Evaluation: Remarks (By Faculty): ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ASSIGNMENT 3 Prepare a 3-4 page report on intergroup interventions recently used in any company of your choice. The data collected from various sources should be read and rewritten in your own words and in point format, with each point thoroughly explained. Interventions The term intervention refers to all the planned programmatic activities aimed at bringing changes in an organization. These changes are intended to ensure improvement in the functioning of the organization-in its efficiency and effectiveness. The changes are brought through the employees in the organization while consultants facilitate the change process. Any OD intervention, therefore, involves close interaction between the consultants and the client organization. Intervention basically refers to an intended activity to bring change in the organization and the consequent activities within the organization. In a general sense, intervention refers to activities that happen in the organization's life. Interventions are carried to move organizations from its current position to a desired position and to achieve the desired change a number of techniques are used. Often two or more independently working groups have to coordinate tasks, on either a temporary or permanent basis, to achieve the...
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...Conflict Management Plan Doug Rose MGT311 Organization Development 3 July 2012 Eve Barnett University of Phoenix Material Conflict Management Plan 1. Identify the available conflict management strategies and their strengths and weaknesses. |Strategy |Strengths |Weaknesses | |Competing |High degree of assertiveness |Win at all costs | | |Used in emergency situations |Hurts others feelings | | |Good for unpopular decisions |Viewed as abusive | | | |If used in less than urgent situations could| | | |cause resentment | | |Parties show respect to each other |Takes longer to resolve | |Collaborating |Works well in team setting |Both parties may not be open to | | |Resolving previously unresolved conflicts |collaboration | | ...
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... Chittagong University, Chittagong. Conflict management- its nature, significance and impacts in BD firms Executive summary Whenever people talk of conflict or say that a conflict has developed, the usual impression is that there is something frightening. This notion prevails despite the fact that people know there is no organization which is altogether free from conflicts. Even non-profit and service organizations such as educational institutions and hospitals are not devoid of conflicts. Which is inevitably is recognized by an individual only when individual is faced with a conflict situation. In all other cases, one refers to it as bad and avoidable and regards it as a failure of parties in conflict. But productively engaging in conflict is always valuable. Most people are willing and interested in resolving their conflicts; they just need the appropriate skill set and opportunities in which to practice this skill set. Without a conflict skill set, people want to avoid conflict, hoping it will go away or not wanting to make a “big deal out of nothing.” Research and personal experiences show us that, when we avoid conflict, the conflict actually escalates and our thoughts and feelings become more negative. Through conflict self-awareness we can more effectively manage our conflicts and therefore our professional and personal relationships. Furthermore, by...
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...it helps us to identify the differences between us and to embrace them. Diversity is important because it can enhance the organization's responsiveness to a diverse world of customers, which can improve relations with the surrounding community and increase the organization's ability to cope with change, and expand the creativity of the organization. Diversity within a group can be an important advantage when it comes to getting things done. Within a group, there will always be people who are stronger in certain areas and weaker in other areas. Having a diverse group limits the areas of weakness when it pertains to certain tasks that need to be completed. 3. How might factors such as diversity, attitude, learning, and work styles affect team building? Different factors within a group could go both ways, good or bad. Within every group the will arise problems. Things like attitude and work styles could cause problems. Some people may not agree with...
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