Conflicts in Team Work

Conflict Resolution in teams

No man in the world is said to be the all rounder. All rounder is a man who can perform any kind of task or work which is assigned to him. It is an almost impossible thing but one must need someone else for his/her help. This will be easier for him to perform and the task will be done more perfectly. If one performs some task while working together, then it is called a team work. In a team work different responsibilities are divided among those members of the team which are consider more eligible for that specific responsibility.

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This may increase the perfection of the task. Building a house is a good example of team work in which every expert in his field perform his task, like carpenter does the wood work, welder does the task related to iron and like this other members do their respective tasks, in the end a beautiful house appears. The most important personality in any team is the team leader. He is responsible for all the tasks being done by his team. He keeps eye on every member and if someone feels some problem of any kind, he helps him by offering some advice.

A leader is chosen for any team not only on the basis of his experience but also because of some other qualities which are known as born leader qualities. As there are many benefits while working as a team but there are also some problems occur while working as a team. The main problem arises in the form of conflicts between the team members and the head. It is a natural thing that when some people get together or work together, all of them cannot be agreed on one point. Every one will have its own opinion and it generates the conflict but mostly this is taken in constructive manners. Conflicts are either constructive or destructive.

The main responsibility is on the team leader to resolve these conflicts in such manners that it should not affect the real aim of that team. In the current times, organizations are facing stiff competition in order to manage the project of teams. Making effective decisions at the right time is the most important in any kind of project. The main achievement for any team is to resolve its conflicts and achieve its goals(Brooks 2001).

There are different causes that can results in a number of conflicts. When a team is created to perform a task, different individuals are set together who have different experiences, difference in attitude, power and every one has his own opinion, these all factors create conflicts. Decisions making is directly affected by conflicts in any team. It is an essential benefit to have different opinion f the team members. It shows that all the team members are active and have better ideas to perform their work. It is a positive approach. It also depends upon the nature of conflict, whether it is beneficial or destructive.

A conflict is said to be beneficial when the team member discuss their opinions individually about the task they are given and by this common discussion some decisions would be taken. These decisions will be better than individuals' effort and opinion. To trust each other is very necessary in any team. It creates positive and constructive activities which are helpful for achieving the goals. Constructive in manners when it helps a team to achieve its targets, and destructive when it puts some barriers in the way to success On the other hand if the team members become emotional during giving their opinion and make it personal and are of the view that only they are right, then this type of activity puts bad effects on the decisions and said to be as destructive conflict. Also there are destructive conflicts which affect in negative ways and lead the team to destruction. It creates disappointment among individuals, causes the tension and stress, and divert ones abilities in negative thinking. It affects a team to get away from its goal and creates disappointment and tension in team members. It is very necessary to avoid destructive conflict and to encourage constructive conflict for the team management. Now there is also a problem to separate destructive and constructive conflict. (Capozzoli 1999).

According to expert's opinion if there is some kind of constructive conflict in a team there will be a destructive conflict as well of the same nature in that particular team. Another benefit of conflict in the team is that they can solve any problem better by debating on the defects of their work and thinking together for its possible solution. By this group activity it also saves the time and productivity of group increases. It is also a benefit associated with the conflict that it helps to identify the problems and improve the efficiency of the project and also helps to reorganize the framework of that particular task for better results.

This activity also helps to improve self-awareness in team members individually and also helpful in the development of personality. Good relationships are developed between group members due to conflicts and it helps to release the stress and tension by discussing ones problem in his work to other members. It always remained a challenge for any management to resolve conflicts in a team. Resolving conflicts means to avoid the negative impacts of conflicts on the team work and sort out the benefits to achieve goals out of them. It is a common defect in management which is observed that management often does not give attention on resolving conflict in a team, although it is a part of their training. They are trained to promote positive debates and discussions in a team. There are other ways also present by using which management can get benefits from the team. One of them is the diversity of a function by which team members exchange their diverse opinions and develop their abilities to perform the required task. It helps to enhance their experience. (Capozzoli 1995)

To resolve the conflicts in a team first of all management has to find out the major reason behind the conflict. It can be one in number or can be more than one reason. Most common factors are lack of communication among the members. Poor listening and lake of information sharing include in it. Another factor is the structure of organization in which participation of individuals, system of rewarding and environment provided to the member are included. There are some personal factors present like personal values and needs. These are some major factors which should be observed by the management. Then there come sources of conflict which includes diversity of functions, it means that every member of team Posses a specific area of experience but he interferes in the function of other team members. Important thing for an organization is to set an aim for which the team is organized. If the team is established without any base then members would have nothing to coordinate with each other. The major source of conflict in teams is the lack of leadership abilities. This problem occurs in many ways. If there lacks leadership in team then it is very difficult for the members in coordinating or communicating to each other so there should be an appropriate leadership.

Style of leadership also matters in team coordination. Leader of the team should never go in favor of any member due to personal relations or for any other reason. This will disappoint the other one and affects his abilities. Misuse of powers by the leader is also a main cause of conflict and this activity is very harmful for the performance of team. If we take a look upon the results of conflicts which are not managed, different situations are created. In some cases one member or party wins and other loses. In some cases conflicts continued even after the project is completed. Some of the conflicts are resolved by management or by the mutual agreements. If the conflict is destructive then it should be solve very carefully.

Different methods are used to solve according to the nature of conflict. The team leader should approach directly to the members, who are responsible for the issue, discuss their problems, give them advices and then let them to solve it their selves. Here constructive criticism can play a vital role. If some members have best solutions for the problems which there team is facing, “then the leader's role is here to satisfy both the parties by some give and take method depicting a take something from everyone's idea” (Gratton &Townsley 2007).

There are always rules to be followed by a team in every organization. These also help the team leader to resolve the conflict. But, if he forces someone to follow them, then it could create hard feelings about him in the team members. Using power can creates the problems like resistance by the member and also causes the resignation of the member. Leader should be very careful and only use his power when the situation will be going out of control.

Some problems are so small to be mentioned and the use of power in such cases can yield to destructive results. It means that a sensible team leader does not involve him in some problems and allow the team members to resolve them their selves by the time. He only manages to provide the suitable environment to solve it and this result in the easy solution before it become a real problem. Sometimes it becomes necessary to compromise on the decisions or solutions make by other members. It happens in those teams where the team members have same or very low difference in powers to implement.

Another solution is used in corporations to discuss problem with the individual person which are responsible for the conflict, discuss all the issues and agree all the parties to resolve it. If this technique does not work then involve a third party or mediator who is trained for this purpose, and will try to bring both parties to a reasonable solution on the basis of his training can be feasible. If both the solutions do not work and problem remains as there then it becomes necessary to put it next to the whole team. Inviting all the team members to discuss on a particular issue ,“definitely helps to resolve the conflict, but it should be as the last step when above mentioned steps did not work” (Reimold 2007).

When two or more than two people work together to complete a task or to achieve a goal, then it is called a team. A team always has to choose a leader who is wise and experienced and have leadership qualities, which is responsible to lead a team and manage problems, occur during the project. Every one in the team has its own approach and opinion, which causes the conflict in a team. It affects the performance of the whole team in both ways. It can be constructive or destructive. Abilities of team members are also affected by the conflict. It encourages the members to explain their opinion. It creates an environment of competency, increases the spirit of individuals to work hard, improves the productivity in tasks, and makes easier for the team to solve problems. All these conflicts should be managed in proper ways by the manager.

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In the resolution of conflicts within a team the greatest emphasis has top be laid on the perception of the members themselves. This forms a foundation basis on how the relevant issues will be solved. The person also carrying out the conflict resolution should be vigil and stand firm such that he or she is not swayed by the two sides. team in building can therefore be enhanced when the need of every member in the particular party issues is addressed an that the same members are able to for an active resolution of the stipulated solutions.

Take an example of a football team. The overall performance of the team will reduce in a case where there entails difference within the team. This is because there will be lack of proper communication and cooperation to affirm a strong support of what the team is all about. Applied to the workplaces teamwork is a system that brings the employee mindsets in a supportive and more often than not unselfish manner, towards a precise purpose. Nowadays organization and groups talk about the want and importance of teamwork in the workplace. At the same time as the concept of teamwork and its payback are well determined since the overall impact clearly shows how the relevant efforts that were made have been achieved. In general one may often perceive what appears on the surface as teamwork is not actually teamwork internally. Majority of ideas and aspects cannot be proficient by people working for their sole benefit in that more determined goals more often than not need all the participating people to work together to bring a strong foundation of the overall objective of the determinant factors that led them together. As an impact of the stipulated ideas, teamwork is a preferred objective and goal of vary many organizations in the current developing world.

The well set projects over and over again require that people effective participation is enhanced in order to achieve a general goal. Even though detractor regularly dispute that, in the business world teamwork has become an empty exhortation, or a figure of corporate-speak, this attributes are clearly outshined by effective participation which is the sole facilitator of teamwork .Effective joint skills awareness are essential to work well in a team environment.

As organizations turn out to be larger or classier a lot of employers challenge to develop their employees' mutual efforts through training in order to assist them make the rational decisions and successfully work together in a more unified group and achieve shared goals. The active involvement of training programs and facilitators with ideas of team building at all the sectors of the society will result to an overall change in the perceptions of people's minds about the true reality of how this idea of team building can assist.

The move about teamwork in industry and services has show the way to a superior amount of peer pressure, recital management, and stress. The management control is observed by detractors to be altered by shifting the corrective aspect of management to the employees and the team members themselves this is however not the case since team building is a cooperative aspect and that the team members consider each other into totally embracing the efforts to achieve a significant goal.

REFERENCES

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Wiley. (2002). Dictionary of Conflict Resolution. Retrieved July 15, 2008, from xreferplus. http://www.xreferplus.com/entry/2121764

Capozzoli, T.K. (1999 November). Conflict resolution ? a key ingredient in successful teams. SuperVision. Retrieved on July 15, 2008, from http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com

Capozzoli, T.K. (1995 December). Resolving conflict within teams. Journal for Quality & Participation, 18(7), 28-30. Retrieved July 16, 2008, from EbscoHost databse

Gratton, L. & Erickson, T.J. (2007 November). 8 Ways to build collaborative teams. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved on July 14, 2008, from EbscoHost online database Business Source Complete.

Reimold, S. & Reimold, P. (2007). Resolving team conflict. Paper 360?, 2.11, 34. Retrieved July 14, 2008, from Thomson Gale PowerSearch database

Townsley, C.A. (n.d.). Resolving conflict in work teams. The Team Building Directory. Retrieved on July 16, 2008, from http://www.innovativeteambuilding.co.uk