Team conflict is both a challenge and an opportunity for team cohesion and the long-term development of the team and the business.
I. What is conflict?
Conflict can be understood as opposition involving needs, values, and interests. It can be said that team conflict is a state of discord caused by actual or perceived opposition involving the needs, values, and interests of people working together.
1. Types of conflict by parties involved:
- Interpersonal conflict: usually occurs on a small scale, resulting from personality clashes or disagreements between individuals.
- Intra-team conflict: arises from issues related to interests, a win-lose mindset, competition, and the desire to have one's opinions and perspectives recognized.
- Intergroup conflict: arises from many causes, including conflicts between functional groups, hierarchical conflicts between employees and managers, or differences in the working styles of groups,…
2. Types of conflict by nature:
Team conflict is not always negative. Depending on the causes and how conflicts are handled, teams may experience constructive or destructive conflict in their activities.
Constructive conflict:
A team is built around the need to maximize and diversify ideas and creativity at work. Some opinions will conflict with others. This can be the beginning of conflict if it is not guided and handled in the right direction.
However, this can also be an opportunity to view an issue creatively, explore it in depth, and think about it from multiple perspectives.
Therefore, constructive conflict is an opportunity for team members to learn from one another and accept differences. This brings ideas at work to life. Team members seek to understand and persuade one another, resolving conflict on a constructive basis while recognizing the value of others. Together, they work toward the best outcome for the team after considering the issue from multiple perspectives.
Constructive conflict creates positive competition within the team. As a result, each individual and team develops its capabilities and demonstrates them through work results.
Destructive conflict:
Sources of conflict, if not properly guided and handled, can lead to serious consequences. It may take considerable time to resolve the issue and rebuild normal relationships between individuals or groups.
Destructive conflict first affects cohesion within the business and creates unhealthy competition. Over time, it can lead to mutual opposition and struggles for personal or individual-group interests instead of the collective interest.
Unhealthy competition creates pressure and discouragement. Empathy and a spirit of constructive cooperation disappear. Work quality consequently declines. Repeated conflicts and an aggressive, win-lose mindset cause delays in decision-making and create bottlenecks during work execution.
Above all, destructive conflict affects the working environment—not only those directly involved in the conflict, but also the quality of work of many other people or groups working within the business.
II. Individual conflict style tendencies according to Trait-Map.
Personality clearly influences how a person responds to conflict. Most people respond according to their habitual patterns. Recognizing conflict style tendencies can help you change those habits and make better, more conscious choices.
Mandatory: pursuing personal interests, even at the expense of others; standing firm in one’s own position and trying to control the situation. This style is proactive, assertive, power-oriented, and characterized by “win-lose” outcomes.
Collaborating: working with others to explore issues in depth. They try to clarify the concerns of all parties and create a “win-win” solution that benefits both sides. This style is proactive, beginning a dialogue focused on principles, and has the most positive effect.
Avoiding: trying to delay, stand aside, or withdraw from issues. This style is passive and characterized by a “do not discuss” approach
Accommodating: sacrificing personal interests to satisfy the concerns of others. This style is characterized by “win-lose” solutions.
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III. Several team conflict resolution methods for leaders.
By identifying the issues and the leader's capabilities, several basic approaches to conflict resolution are available:
1. Accommodate (Satisfy):
The leader restores the relationship by emphasizing agreement and downplaying disagreement in the conflict.
This method is useful because it takes little time to resolve and allows work that needs to continue to be handled. However, it does not resolve the root conflict. The conflict may recur if the team encounters a similar situation again.
2. Assert or force (Assert or compel).
The leader imposes a solution, choosing one side as the winner and the other as the loser.
This is useful during a crisis because it resolves the issue quickly, as well as when authority is being challenged. However, it does not provide a long-term solution because it relies on the leader's power.
3. Avoid (Avoidance).
The leader withdraws from or accepts the situation, leaving the conflict to be resolved by others or remaining unresolved.
The conflict may soon resolve without any direct intervention, or the conflict in the relationship may not be worth investing time in. However, it is important to note that avoiding conflict can weaken a leader’s role in the organization. This may harm the team by leaving an issue unresolved or allowing a poor solution.
4. Collaborate (Cooperation).
The leader and the parties in conflict accept that they disagree and seek a “third way”—a new solution to the conflict. Because both sides contribute to the solution, this can be considered a “win/win” approach to conflict resolution.
This approach requires time to find the most effective common solution. It is often chosen by people in senior positions, for whom maintaining a good relationship is important. Interpersonal communication requires tact and a spirit of cooperation. Using this approach creates an opportunity for a lasting, fair solution that satisfies both sides.
5. Compromise (Compromise).
The leader asks the parties in conflict to negotiate and modify their positions on different issues. In other words, those in conflict must consider the issue from the other person’s perspective. They propose solutions to the other person’s problem until a solution acceptable to both sides is identified.
This solution is based on concessions. It is useful for complex issues, when both sides are determined to win and when time does not allow the real problem to be resolved. The solutions may be temporary and only partially effective, but because both sides participate, everyone’s ego is protected as they all contribute to the final outcome.
Identifying conflicts within teams and businesses in order to resolve them effectively is essential. Some methods may need to be used temporarily because time constraints do not allow otherwise. However, long-term solutions are needed to turn conflicts into opportunities for team cohesion and healthy competition. Leaders need to understand their employees’ conflict-management tendencies and styles. They can then arrange personnel to avoid conflicts or create constructive conflicts in business operations.
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