lecture - 4 team conflict

7/31/2019 Lecture - 4 Team Conflict

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Successful managers can effectivelymanage conflict.

This ability is considered a corecompetency and is required ofmanagers who want to grow andadvance.

Unfortunately, it is also one of themost difficult skills a manager candevelop.


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When dealing with conflict, there are

1. What are the symptoms of team conflict?

2. What are the causes of team conflict?

3. How do I address the team conflict?

4. What tools and aids can I use to help my team deal

with conflict quickly and effectively?


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Activity: Symptoms of Team

Conflict

Kindly list individually thesymptoms of team conflictthat you have everexperienced in your team.

Combine your list with your

group to come up with aconsolidated list ofsymptoms.


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S. No Symptoms S. No. Symptoms

1 Not completing work on-time or

completed work does not measure up to

quality goals

10 Not responding to requests for

information

2 Office/team Gossip & drama 11 Hostility towards the team members

3 Not returning phone calls or e-mails 12 Hoarding information that should be

shared

4 Aggressive behavior 13 Complaining about things

5 Disagreements, regardless of issue 14 Finger pointing and blaming6 Lack of clear goals 15 Verbal abuse of others in team

7 Desire for power 16 Filing grievances or lawsuits

8 Failure to keep time lines 17 Physical violence

9 Absenteeism and tardiness


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Each behavior, by itself, does notnecessarily indicate conflict.

People dont always complete work

on time or answer all phone calls.Sometime they miss meetings ordeadlines.

These individual behaviors might

be acceptableunless a behavioris taken to an extreme and causessevere or irreparable damage.


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We can see multiple symptoms of teamconflict in one case.

Sometimes or mostly situation will not resolve

itself and so requires intervention beforeserious damage occurs to the teams andprojects.

The best way to identify the symptoms ofteam conflict is to be aware of the kinds of

behaviors that lead to conflict.

When we identify extreme behaviors ormultiple symptoms, we know we need toinvestigate.


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Conflict occurs because of an inability toaddress needs or goals, or because goalsare unclear, unacceptable, unrealistic, orare in opposition to the parties involved.

Together, we could create a long list ofthings that cause team conflict.

Kindly list some of the common

causes of team conflict that youhave experienced in your teams:


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S. No Causes of conflict S. No Causes of Conflict

1 Poor or no communication 8 Lack of leadership and management

2 Lack of problem solving skills 9 Boredom

3 Lack of clarity in purpose, goals,

objectives,

10 Team members not challenged, not

interested

4 Lack of team and individual roles 11 Lack of skills and abilities in team

members

5 Lack of resources and sources for

help and support

12 Personality

6 Poor or lack of time management 13 Personal problems

7 Turnover 14 Differing objectives, Etc.

Some of these can be seen as both cause and result of conflict.


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As a Line manager, what do I do to address team conflict? Weve listedcauses; now lets generate a plan to deal with the causes.

We will use the following steps to address team conflict:

A. Define the problem

B. Gather data

C. Analyze the data

D. Choose the best solutionE. Implement the solution and continue to

refine it


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Defining a problem is the hardest part of the solution.

Most of us jump into solving the problem rather than takingthe time to first clearly defining the problem.

It is very important because, the process of defining theproblem also contains the seeds of the solution.

kindly list the problems the team is facing on the

next slide:


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A project team is focused on a new product that has to be rolledout within the next three months.

Some team members have been late with deliverables and team

meetings are negative and sometimes degrade to shouting matchesamong members.

Project features and functions that should have been included havebeen omitted or missed.

In addition, team members do not always attend meetings or reporton status, and it is very clear that cliques have formed withagendas that are not in the best interests of the team.


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The project team is missing assignments Team meetings are non-productive Some team members are not doing their jobs Some people are always late to meetings

Team leadership is not strong enough The team is not working together effectively

In Scenario on the previous slide, we see that each of the statements describesa part of the problem.

We might agree that the last one is a good general description of whats goingon.

Each of the other statements helps us to break down the problem into moremanageable chunks for work assignments.


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The team is not working together effectively (problemstatement)

The project team is missing assignments. (sub-headings)

Team meetings are non-productive.

Some team members are not doing their jobs.

Some people are always late to meetings.

Team leadership is not strong enough


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The second step to addressing

team conflict is to gather data on what is actually occurring.

This means collecting facts that can be substantiated, nothearsay or opinions.

The intent is to gather facts that are actual, observable, and

measurable. We need to know about individual performances,

Whos meeting deadlines and goals,Who works independently,Who comes up with good ideas, who initiates,Who takes on extra work or goes that extra mile,

Whos inside or outside of the group,Who lunches together, andWho are our informal leaders

Data- gathering is the managers job and requires discretion.


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Another part of data gathering is

to review what you, as Manager, have been doing.

How do you communicate with your team?How do they communicate with each other?Are team members clear on roles and responsibilities?Have you been providing regular performance feedback to them?

Have you been visible, available, and supportive?Do you know your employees?Do you have a good understanding of individual job roles, skills,

experience; andWhat motivates each employee?

We as line managers have to be confident and objective enough tolook at ourselves as part of the problem and part of thesolution.

This is hard to look at, but you have to do it as part of understandingwhats wrong and how to fix it.


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We have defined the problem, and have gathered the facts. Beforewe begin to analyze the data, lets be sure that everything wevegathered so far makes sense.

Do we have observable and verifiable facts?Are we clear about symptoms and potential causes?Have we separated management and employee causes and issues? If

so, we are ready to analyze.

Analyzing the data means we can diagnose what is going on with

the team itself, and determine, the role the manager is playing.

To diagnose team dynamics and performance, lets use the list onthe following slides to stimulate our thinking.


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Poor or no communications:

What kind of communications isoccurring?

Is it effective or non-effective?

Have I established a style and/ormethodology for communications toensure that everyone on the team isupdated on a regular basis?

Do I have a communications plan?

Do I model good communicationswhen I work with the team or withindividuals, (i.e., do I listen andcommunicate effectively)?

Do I, or my team, need help withcommunications? What kind of help?

Lack of problem-solving skills, orgetting to the root cause:

How do we approach problemsand issues?

Do we approach them in a logicalway?

Do we capture data as we

problem-solve or is it ahaphazard, uncoordinated sessionthat does not resolve issues anddoes not seek input from all teammembers?

Do we need to change how we tryto solve problems?

Do we really address root causeor do we deal with symptoms?


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Lack of clarity in purpose,goals, objectives, team andindividual roles:

Do all understand their individualroles and the role of each teammember?

Does each team memberunderstand his/her roles andgoals (what they were hired to do

and tasked to accomplish)?

Do team members understandhow individual roles and goalssupport group goals?

Do they understand how thegroup goals support the largergroups goals and all the way upto support Corporate group goals?

Uncertainty about or lack ofresources and sources forhelp and support:

Do team members eachunderstand their strengths andwhat they contribute to the team?

Are they clear about where to gofor help and support, whichinvolves clarifying team roles

regarding special skills andhelping each other?

Are they committed to helpingeach other within the scope oftheir responsibilities, (i.e.,providing assistance or guidance)?

Do team members rely on me asthe manager to ensure they havethe resources they need to meetindividual and team goals?


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Poor time management:

Are team members usually able to

meet goals and deadlines?

Do they have time managementskills or are they always late oralways behind?

Are they clear about what kind oftime management is expected?

What kind of mentoring orguidance do I as a managerprovide to individuals to ensurethey meet goals?

What could help them to improvetheir time management skills?

Lack of leadership andmanagement:

As a manager, have I been clearregarding my expectations ofindividuals and the team?

Do I give feedback regularly thathelps them to understand howtheyre meeting my expectations?

Do I provide corrective guidancewhen its necessary?

Do I support them in public andreprimand in private?

Do I model the kind of behavior Iexpect from my team?


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Team members bored, notchallenged, not really interested:

Does each team member have acareer plan?

Can I detect a lack of interest orcommitment?

Where is boredom or lack of interestor commitment coming from?

Am I, as manager, sufficiently awareof individual career plans andperformance to determine if anindividual needs a change, achallenge, or corrective action?

Do I delegate effectively?

How am I motivating my team?

Lack of skills and abilities ofTeam members to meet goals:

Are team members matched wellin their roles?

Do they have the skills andabilities to perform their assignedtasks?

Do they need special training andhow is this in line with careergoals?

What kind of guidance can I, asmanager, provide?


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Personality conflicts:

Are team members able to workeffectively with each other?

Are there any who just cannot getalong?

Do I treat all team members fairly

regardless of my own personalfeelings about each?

Have we, as a team, developed aconflict resolution process orstrategy that we can understandand use effectively?

Personal problems:

Are personal problems interfering with

job performance theirs or mine?

Am I aware of personal problems ofindividuals?

Am I encouraging individuals to go toHuman Resources (HR) or to find the

help and support they need, (i.e., Imnot trying to solve problems outside ofmy expertise)?

How am I working with theseindividuals to get their work donethrough flexible schedules, reducedworkloads, assistance from others,

etc.?

Am I, as a manager, working with HRto be fair to the individual, to thecompany, and to my group?


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What is my turnover rate?

What are the causes of turnover?

What is the impact of team conflict in causing people to leave?

Are the causes of turnover beyond my control (i.e., economicfactors, competition, etc.)?

Are the causes within my control, i.e., some of the above factors?

If some of the above factors are observable in my group, how will Iproceed?


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As we perform our diagnosis, we develop a more preciseunderstanding of team dynamics.

Instead of just saying we have poor communications,we can focus in on details.

As we analyze each area, we can see two things:

further problem definition, and the beginnings of our plan to fixthings.


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As we gather and analyze our data, we begin toseparate it into discrete areas such as communications,turnover, etc.

This helps us in differentiating between root causesversus symptoms. We are really defining whats wrong.

By providing and collecting answers to questions in eacharea, we can focus in on distinct areas of the problem.

We can try to find various solutions and then choose thesolution, or solutions that will help solve the problem,and lastly to implement.


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Tools & skillsS.

No

Tools & skills S. No Tools & skills

1 Clear articulation of thoughts and ideas

(Clear Thinking)

8 Stick to facts and issues, not

personalities or personal issues

2 Active listening 9 Develop the ability to work effectively

as a team member

3 Give effective feedback 10 Cross training

4 Think and analyze in a methodical and

systematic way

11 Use of rules of engagement where

helpful or necessary

5 Set clear, reasonable, achievable

Objectives (Set SMART goals)

12 Delegating and mentoring for senior

employees

6 Identify risks and assumptions 13 Time management

7 Build contingencies to counter risks and

assumptions

14 Conflict Management


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How do you, as a manager, help employees to

develop these skills and tools?

One way is through modeling the behavior desired.

Through coaching.

Another is to directly state what is required.

Still another is through training.

As a manager, we can work with our team to

develop a process that is acceptable for conflictresolution.


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Below is an

example of a simple conflict resolution process.

Step 1:The first step is for individuals to try to resolve the conflict witheach other.

This will help each individual to sort out their thoughts and feelings beforethe one-on-one.

Being able to resolve conflict with each other helps individuals to learn howto confront each other, clearly state the issue, listen to each other, andwork together to find a mutually acceptable solution.

The benefit is that individuals learn a highly critical skill for now and thefuture, and become more valuable team members.


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Below is an

example of a simple conflict resolution

process.

Step 2: If the two individuals are not successful with a one-on-one meeting,

we will need to intercede.

We will meet with each person, then

We would bring the two people together with clear goals and anexpected outcome.

There should be rules or guidelines as to how the meeting will beconducted and how they are expected to behave.

Step 3 If Step 2 doesnt work, the next step is to involve Human Resources.


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These tools and skills may also be helpful and may beused as part of Rules of Engagement (ROE):

Attack the problem, not the person Focus on what can be done, not on what can't be done

(positive thinking) Encourage different points of view and honest dialogue Express feelings in a way that does not blameAccept ownership appropriately for all or part of the problem Listen to understand the other person's point of view before

giving your own Show respect for the other person's point of view

Solve the problem while building the relationship

When conflict arises during a team meeting, it isimportant to address it as soon as possible.


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A supervisor with six years' experience is informed that she will be responsiblefor overseeing a new department. Of the four new employees she is to

supervise, one is labeled as having a poor attitude. While reading through thisemployee's personnel file, she finds that various reviews describe suchbehaviors as numerous confrontations with peers and management, tardiness,average work performance, occasional complaints of rudeness with clients, anda very bad temper.

On her first meeting with this employee, the supervisor attempts to establish afriendly working relationship by letting her subordinate know that she is there toassist him in any way possible and that she hopes their relationship will be aproductive one. His response is minimal, indicating that he has little investmentin her or the company.

As the supervisor discovers, management has a special interest in this employee

because his brother-in-law has extensive political connections. During the pastnine years, because of these connections, other supervisors have been eitherafraid to fire him or reluctant ever to give him a low evaluation appraisal.

Two weeks later, another subordinate comes to the supervisor and informs herthat the employee in question is spreading rumors about her professionalcompetence and her ability to work with people. What would you do?


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(Multiple options are possible.)

1. Confront the employee directly.

2. Note the incident in the personnelfile of the problem employee.

3. Ask your supervisor for assistance.

4. Have the subordinate who broughtyou the information confront theproblem employee.

5. Confront the employee indirectly.

6. Attempt to fire the employee.

7. Attempt to have the employeetransferred.

8. Ask the problem employee whatyou might do to make him feel morecomfortable.

9. Ignore the situation.

10. Get revenge by requiring a heavierworkload of the employee.

11. Request a transfer for yourself.

12. Call a department meeting with allyour subordinates to discuss thesituation.

13. Laugh the situation away with ahumorous comment to the problememployee.


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Do you feel it is possible to motivate others? If so, how do you accomplishthat task?

How do political elements enter into your work?

If you are in a situation in which you feel your hands are tied, whatrecourse do you have?

How important are personal versus professional feelings in circumstancessimilar to this example?

How do you cope with rumors in your own work setting?

Are there any options, in addition to those listed in the above example, thatmight be effective in resolving the situation?

lecture - 4 team conflict

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