Conflict Management Team Members - Term Paper Example

Conflict Management Team Members Members of problem-solving groups are usually selected because of their knowledge of the subjects being discussed. An ideal team should cover the entire range of expertise needed to understand and analyze the issues under discussion. In assembling a team to design a strategy for entering a new geographic market, for example, management would probably appoint experts in the major product lines, people familiar with the new market, possibly a human resources professional, someone from the financial area, an information technology specialist, and so on. The team would also be likely to include someone who is familiar with scheduling the tasks, preparing budgets, and monitoring progress (some members might cover several of these tasks). Such a group would have a degree of diversity based on their content knowledge. A group made up of people selected only for their content knowledge might or might not have other differences. We have already argued that groups have more creative potential if they are diverse, so we would suggest trying to build in diversity based on gender, culture, age, and profession. It may be helpful in some situations to include outsiders to the organization. A diverse group has the potential to be very creative, but it might just as easily turn out to be pedantic and unimaginative or contentious and uncooperative. The following are some additional attributes that leaders might look for in order to promote creative contention: • Participants should share the important objectives of the team, even though they may have very different perspectives and ideas on the best ways to achieve the objectives. A team composed of people who disagree significantly about the objectives of the team will soon be embroiled in dysfunctional conflict. • Participants should be confident in their own ability to succeed in new situations. One reason that people might resist others' ideas is a concern that they will suffer personally if those ideas are accepted. For example, they might be afraid that they do not possess the skills needed to cope with a particular solution. However, if participants believe they can adapt to change, they will be less likely to oppose ideas their teammates put forward. • Participants should be reasonably representative of and respected by their constituents. This ensures that they can present the interests of the constituents to the team and that they can help sell the team's decisions to their constituents. Remember that this is one of the strengths of diversity. People who lack confidence in their ability to do this will be reluctant to accept creative ideas. • Participants should be able to view issues broadly and with a future perspective. During brainstorming sessions participants must be able to let go of the present constraints and allow their imagination some free rein. People who are too detail oriented and analytical often find it hard to be creative or to accept creative leaps by others. • Participants should be welcoming of differences and open to new ideas. Creative contention requires that people see the value in diversity. They must be prepared to suspend their critical faculties until all ideas are on the table and to evaluate ideas based on their merits rather than on the identity of the person putting the idea forward. • Participants should be good interest-based negotiators. They must be willing and able to advocate for their ideas and interests even when they know that others disagree. They must also have good listening skills so that they can hear and understand the essence of other people's ideas. The creative contention process is a negotiation process. It is not necessary for individuals to be particularly creative in their own right. If they are able to apply the skills and attitudes listed, the process will generate creativity. Of course, individual creativity can be helpful, but even a whole team of creative individuals may not be able to generate and implement creative ideas if the other attributes are not present. It is easy but painful to imagine a room full of inventive geniuses, all putting forward novel concepts without listening to the ideas of others and therefore unable to integrate the individual concepts and unwilling to help implement anything other than their own proposals. Members of a diverse team have many areas of potential contention with one another: • They may have different educational and professional backgrounds. • They may have had different experiences and may view things through different lenses. • They may interpret information differently. • They may represent different constituencies. • They may be bound by different professional codes of ethics. • They may come from different cultures and thus may have different values and beliefs. This potential contention is not a bad thing; in fact, these differences are the very reasons for deciding to use such teams. The challenge is to encourage people to put these important differences on the table, argue their merits vigorously, and at the end of the day develop creative, high-quality solutions that all members can buy into and sell to others. The Leader The second critical component of creative contention is a leader who has the attitude and ability to take the participants through the process. We are using the term leader as a catchall to include anyone who directs a group of people to accomplish common objectives. Leaders might be managers or executives at any organizational level, task force or project managers, or committee chairs. Leaders need management skills and some content knowledge. They should also have the same skills and attitudes described earlier for participants in creative contention. In addition the leader should have the following attributes: • The leader should understand and believe in the creative contention process. He or she should be confident in the usefulness of interest-based processes to generate creative solutions. • The leader should adopt a participatory, consensus-building style of leadership. An authoritarian or hierarchical leadership style will likely short-circuit the exploration or stifle the participation necessary for creative outcomes. • The leader should be comfortable with conflict. Many of us are very uncomfortable in situations involving conflict, so we try to avoid contentious situations or minimize conflict when it arises. We also tend to resent those who raise contentious issues. But creative contention is a process that actually requires that people raise and debate their differences. Therefore the leader must be comfortable with contention, see its value, and, dare we say, welcome the challenge! Human Research Management Research Quarterly (Allen and Hecht, 2004) reports that surveys from 223 employees representing twenty-four teams in four large companies showed that “conflict management was correlated to both perceptions of team effectiveness and team satisfaction. This means that team members who were able to resolve their conflicts perceived themselves to be more effective and were more satisfied” and vice versa (p. 3). • The leader should have the mediation skills needed to facilitate the process. Mediation is a form of facilitation used in brokering agreements between people who are in conflict. In an ideal world team members would be such skilled negotiators that they would not need mediation, but it would be very rare for everyone on a team to be equally good negotiators. And sometimes even excellent negotiators need a helping hand. The idea that a leader should be a good conflict resolver is not a new concept, although it is slow in taking hold. Dean Tjosvold, who writes about the value of conflict in organizations, says, “Rather than be a judge and arbitrator, a leader is a mediator who assists” (2005, p. 186). Mediation skills include excellent communication skills, which are needed in order to help others listen and express themselves. Other skills include the ability to build trust, to anticipate and unblock impasses, and to balance the power differences among team members, thus ensuring that the team as a whole achieves the best possible results. In addition, a mediator must have the patience to fully explore the needs and perspectives of all participants without rushing to a solution. A leader may employ a trained (internal or external) facilitator to guide certain important problem-solving meetings, but if creative contention is to become part of the culture of the organization, leaders must develop their own mediation skills. • The leader should be able to model the behaviors expected of the participants. These include speaking and listening respectfully, not interrupting, putting organizational interests first, separating ideas from identity, and so on. It is all well and good to set out expected norms at the beginning of the process, but people tend to believe those rules if the leader follows them. Some people come by these attributes naturally, but most of us have to learn at least some of them. And the good news is that they can be learned. Many organizations are now providing training in conflict resolution, interest-based negotiation, communication skills, and mediation for team leaders and others in management positions. A leader using a creative contention process may have to instigate conflict, not just resolve it. If the group seems to be too quick in reaching consensus or too dismissive of outside concerns, the leader should raise the issues and try to generate some controversy. Like a chemist trying to get just the right chemical reaction, the leader of the team must decide whether it is time to heat up the mixture or cool it down because it is overheating. Richard Tanner Pascale (2003) describes how Ford Motor Company in the 1980s succeeded in turning a culture that bred dysfunctional conflict into one that fostered positive conflict. It did so by training people in conflict management and by reconfiguring its compensation policies to reward collaborative behavior. In fact, the company's first step was to encourage contention about its own negative practices. For many organizations that may be the best first step toward cultural change. Conclusion The final component necessary for successful creative contention is a supportive organizational culture. You cannot just insert a process that values creativity, diversity, and conflict into an organization that is not receptive to them. A supportive organization culture includes the following attributes: • Creativity is valued. Creative contention will work best in an organization that is always looking for inventive ways to deal with continual changes in its external environment. • Risk taking is encouraged. People are encouraged to take intelligent risks, and mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities. • Diversity is welcomed. The organization has a workforce that is diverse in many ways, and it values that diversity. • Decision making is shared. People are expected to participate in making decisions in their areas of expertise. • The wisdom of groups is respected. It makes regular use of diverse teams to solve problems or deal with complex day-to-day issues because of a general belief in the creative potential of such groups • Conflict is normalized. Members of the organization accept the inevitability of conflict, understand the importance of managing that conflict, and are confident in their conflict management skills. People are not afraid to disagree with one another, but they do it respectfully. They do not personalize disagreements. They understand that collaborative negotiation leads to better, more acceptable and more creative decisions. An organization that demonstrates these qualities tends to attract and retain the kind of people who can lead and participate in creative contention. It also gives people the assurance that they are participating in a process that is consistent with the values of the organization and that their work will be taken seriously. Organizations vary in their possession of these attributes, but that should not be an excuse for avoiding creative contention. Instead they should strive to enhance their receptivity in order to take advantage of the potential benefits. References Allen, N., and Hecht, T. D. “Team-Organization Alignment and Team Behavior: Implications for Human Resource Management.” Human Resource Management Research Quarterly, 2004, 4(3), 1–5. Pascale, R. T. Managing on the Edge: How the Smartest Companies Use Conflict to Stay Ahead. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. Tjosvold, D., and Tjosvold, M. M. Psychology for Leaders: Using Motivation, Conflict and Power to Manage More Effectively. New York: Wiley, 2005. Read More