What: Conflicts are natural in teams. Not everyone thinks and resolves issues the same way, which is a good thing but sometimes this can cause conflict. Blanchard LeaderChat  says most conflicts come from positions, strategies or opinions. Conflicts also originate with trust issues within the team. Differences in personalities between teammates are another reason for conflicts. Often times, these conflicts go unresolved leading to a lack of productivity.

So What: The acknowledgement of these problems by the team is the first step in resolving these issues. OER Principles of Management  says There are two basic types of team conflict: substantive (sometimes called task) and emotional (or relationship). Substantive conflicts are more related to “tasks, goals and the allocation of resources”.  OER says emotional conflicts arise from things such as “jealousy, insecurity, annoyance, envy, or personality conflicts. It is emotional conflict when two people always seem to find themselves holding opposing viewpoints and have a hard time hiding their personal animosity”. Resolving/ failing to resolve these issues can make or break a team. 

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Now what: Now that we know where most issues in a team originate, we can go about finding ways to overcome them. In Group Dynamics for Teams,Daniel Levi makes some good points on conflict management and resolution. He points out how one can be cooperative by encouraging communication, or competitive, which discourages communication. The best way to solve issues within a team is to collaborate because everyone in the team wins, unlike the avoidance, confrontation and accommodation method, where there are winners and losers. According to MindTools, When a team “oversteps the mark of healthy difference of opinion, resolving conflict requires respect and patience. The human experience of conflict involves our emotions, perceptions, and actions; we experience it on all three levels, and we need to address all three levels to resolve it. We must replace the negative experiences with positive ones”. Mind tools has three steps to focus on while resolving a conflict. Step one is to prepare for resolution by acknowledging the conflict and agreeing on a cooperative process. Step two is to understand the situation. Clarify the positions of the team members and list “facts, assumptions and beliefs underlying each position”. Step three is to reach an agreement and celebrate the accomplishment of resolving the issue. 

Works Cited:

Witt, David, et al. “4 Types of Team Conflict-And How to Deal With Each Effectively.” Blanchard LeaderChat, 16 July 2015, leaderchat.org/2015/07/16/4-types-of-team-conflict-and-how-to-deal-with-each-effectively/.

Learning, Lumen. “Principles of Management.” Conflict Within Teams | Principles of Management, courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-principlesmanagement/chapter/reading-conflict-within-teams/.

Levi, Daniel. Group Dynamics for Teams. 2017.

BillT, et al. “Resolving Team Conflict: Building Stronger Teams by Facing Your Differences.” Team Management Training from MindTools.coms, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_79.htm.

What: Teams beginnings are a crucial phase in the first steps of a group becoming a team. In the forming stage members are just getting to know each other (Levi). During this stage, Gina Abudi says “they share information about their backgrounds, interests and experience and form first impressions of each other.” After introducing and getting to know one another, the team leader and each member of the team discuss goals and set plans for upcoming projects. After the forming stage, comes the storming stage. The Mind Tools content team says, “storming often starts where there is a conflict between team members’ natural working styles.” Storming is when the team starts learning and sometime disagreeing with one’s work style. Teams that make it through the storming stage end up being a strong, well established team.

So What: Once the team forms and storms, all issues are resolved and the team can set “norms”, this is known as the norming phase. In this phase, certain structures and rules of how the team will perform, as well as where and what time team meetings will take place. The team will discuss feelings, behaviors and tasks. Part of this phase is the idea of constructive criticism, where team members can provide respectful feedback to the other members, regarding different ideas or ways some ideas could improve or change for the better.  Judith Stein says “Constructive criticism is both possible and welcomed. Members start to feel part of a team and can take pleasure from the increased group cohesion.” By the end of the norming phase, there is an increase in team productivity that leads to the performing phase.

Now what: The performing stage would be ineffective if it weren’t for the forming, storming and norming phases. During the performing phase the team is strong and effective, knowing each member’s strengths and weaknesses. The members have trust for each other and all focus is on successfully completing tasks at hand. During the performing phase, there still may be some issues with performance or some disagreements. When a problem appears within a well-established team, it normally will be resolved quickly and without conflict. According to ER Services: Principles of Management, “Problems and conflicts still emerge, but they are dealt with constructively.” Teams can be together for years upon years, or for a short amount of time, it all depends on what kind of work they are doing. We know all good things come to an end, this is the adjourning phase. The adjourning phase takes place when the team completes final projects and it’s time for the team to split up and dismember. Every successful team goes through these important phases.

Sources:

Abudi, Gina. “The Five Stages of Team Development: A Case Study.” Project Smart, http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.php.

 “Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing: Understanding the Stages of Team Formation.” From MindTools.com, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_86.htm.

 “Principles of Management.” The Five Stages of Team Development | Principles of Management, courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-principlesmanagement/chapter/reading-the-five-stages-of-team-development/.

Levi, Daniel. Group Dynamics for Teams. SAGE, 2017.

Stein, Judith. “Using the Stages of Team Development.” Using the Stages of Team Development | MIT Human Resources, hr.mit.edu/learning-topics/teams/articles/stages-development.

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.