Dyer Chapter 10 “Handling Conflict and Confusion in Teams”

I.) Team in Conflict

·The basic problem in a work unit is the prevalence of highly disruptive conflict and hostility.

·Why do such conflicts occur, and how can a work group resolve such differences? Most common explanation is the is the theory of conflicting personalities.

A.) Expectation Theory of Conflict

·Useful way to understand conflict is to view it as the result of a violation of expectations.And if no agreement is reached it becomes a continued cycle of violated expectations.

·Eg. One group of researchers felt another group got more favors, facilities, and more rewards.Therefore this groups expectations were being continually violated and when their expectations were not met they reacted negatively and there were unpleasant feelings of hostility between the two groups.If the expectation theory is applied to this example, then the one group of researchers should identify the behaviors or actions that violate their expectations and then perhaps agreements could have been negotiated.

B.) Negotiating Agreements – that need to be met

  1. Agree to come together to work on problem
  2. Agree that problem exists, problems should be solved, and that all parties have responsibility to work on issues
  3. Accept that the end result of the teambuilding session in not to get everyone to like each other but to understand one another. Rather accept the fact that differences exist and that they need to work out agreeable solutions.

C.) The Start-Stop-Continue Format

·In a team building session each party makes listsof things they would like to see the other groups to start doing and then they share the lists.Then within that team they decide what they need to start, stop or continue doing.

D.) Negotiation

·     Each group assigns a person from their group to identify what each party wants form the other and then those two people agree on what one party will do in return for an equal behavioral alteration on the part of the other.This design reduces time the groups spend finding fault, placing blame, or looking for causes of the problems.

·This design can be used between individuals, like employee and manager.

·Negotiation- is often a compromise situation.Each party give up something to receive something of similar value form the other.Instead of negotiation people usually 1.) Ignore and pretend no disagreement exists2.) Smoothing, which is trying to placate people and attempting to get them to feel good even though an agreement has not been reached3.) Forcing, which is getting an agreement from a position of power.

II.) The Team in Confusion

·This when a group has worked together for years, but either basic assignments were never clarified or conditions have changed and old role definitions are no longer adequate.When this occurs you can uses a team building model known as.

A.)The role-clarification model-used if the following conditions are prevalent:On page 117.

Planning-

1. Time commitment- for this training session would be for a staff of eight to ten people would be 8 to ten hours of meeting time.

2. Resource Personnel- May or may not need outside assistance from a consultant or facilitator.But the meeting should be conducted by a senior administrator or boss from the organization.

Program Design-

  1. Has a Goal for the role relationship team building program and that is to arrive at that condition where all members of a work unit can publicly agree that they….At the bottom of page 118
Preparation- is done prior to the session and each person should prepare answers to the following questions: On page 119 in the middle.

Meeting Design-

  1. Goal of the team building meeting should be presented, clarified, and discussed. 
  2. Ground rules – should be written down and some suggested rules are on page 119-120.

Role Clarification- each person will be the focal point and allow these steps:On page 120.

Conclusion-This is when the session has ended and the team-building program should be critiqued by answering the following questions….On page 121 at the top

***Overall this team development meeting is said to be the easiest to manage and one of the most productive to improve team effectiveness.The clarification of roles is a useful process for any working group.

III.) The Boss as the Center of Conflict.

** This happens when center of conflict is between a team member and the boss.Sometimes the boss is unaware of the emotional impact that has occurred because of the problem..

In a power relationship subordinates become skilled at masking negative feelings and pretending everything is going well when it is not.If the feeling are not masked then the a form of passive-aggressive resistance may occur and the boss does not understand why.

If the boss questions whether he/she is responsible for these problems then he can find an answer by following these steps: on page 122 

  1. Ask the team members- at a team meeting or in a one on one interview. Ask directly if they are responsible for the creating a negative reaction in the group. Give them an option to answer openly or in a memo. If the boss asks for feedback it helps if they identify things that have already come up.
  2. Use an outside resource- to interview team members and then this information is fed back to the leader. 
  3. Use instruments- these can be anonymously if necessary and they would be used to get perceptions of the leader. This data would need to be gathered and analyzed by someone besides the boss, like an HR person.
  4. Undertake laboratory training- a method used more often several years ago. But this involves manager going to a training program like at the National Training Laboratories, and this program gives feedback on their interpersonal style. The manager then brings the summary of his/her feedback and check the validity of it with the team. Then they work out a program to improve it.

What happens when the leader is unaware of their impact what do the team members do?

* Look on page 124

  1. Suggest a role-clarification session- that allows team members to identify action they need from the leader.
  2. Give direct feedback- an example would be……. “ “
  3. Use an outside person- like an internal resource person from HR who can go to the leader and suggest a set of alternative actions

IV.) The Problem Member

** What do you do when one member of the team continually blocks the rest of the team?For example this person would always take the contrary point of view, vote against proposals that everyone else supports, takes negative or pessimistic positions on everything, frequently misses meeting, or does not follow through on assignments.

Then after hearing this person’s qualities you are probably asking “Why do you keep a person like that in your organization?The answer is usually because they are kept for some needed competency, or they are a long-time employee.

However if the manager is trying to build a team and that one person wont buy into the process then the some successful steps that can be taken are as follows: on pager 125

  1. Direct confrontation between the team leader and the problem person- which provides an opportunity for leader to clearly lay out the problem behaviors as well as consequences if the behaviors do not change.
  2. Confrontation by the group- so that it just doe not seem like a personal bias of the boss. Team members must be descriptive and evaluative and identify negative consequences of the behaviors. 
  3. Social Responsibility- this involves giving the problem person a more controlling role in the team which seems to increase their commitment to the team process. Eg. Positions would be team recorder, agenda builder, or summarize discussion of issues. 
  4. Limited participation- Ask the problem person to attend meeting but not to participate in team activities and then to have one on one session with the leader where he/ she expresses issues.
  5. External assignment- Give the problem person an assignment outside the activities of the rest of the team. Such as individual based work.