Team Conflict Resolution

A team is made up of a group of people working together to achieve a common goal. Unfortunately, many teams are formed by techniques that are less desirable than hand picking the best of the best. Often team members get assigned to a team because he or she had bandwidth and could take on another project. Additionally, there could be a situation where a team member was assigned because of his or her knowledge of the application or the history of a process. Regardless of how the team ends up with one another the common goal is to create an effective team.

When the project allows the opportunity to hand select team members, there are two choices to be made. The first is to select a team of high performing skilled employees. The other
method is to select a less skilled team, but work well together. One might think that building a project dream team would be the way to go, but if a team does not work well together, arguments and disagreements can create a ripple effect that dramatically impede the projects progress. Some key questions that need to be asked by the person or the team when evaluating potential team members are: What Skills does this person bring to the team? Will he or she be a team player? What type of personality does this person have? Will he or she fit with the personality and the momentum of the project team? Will this person be enthusiastic about the project?

Conflict, if properly managed, can drive change and foster new ideas, and offer team members a chance to expand their knowledge.
On the other hand, if conflict is not managed correctly, and the project manager suppresses or suffocates conflict it can lead to project delays, a decline in employee moral and team energy, not to mention the restriction of the flow of ideas. The key to managing conflict is for a team to mediate those conflicts internally. One of the main contributors to conflict in a diverse environment is communication. All team members need to understand the group's communication process, and the team's mediation process. If one or two of the team members do not understand the process or just choose not to follow the defined processes, the benefits of conflict breakdown. A second potential area of conflict occurs when boundaries or lines are crossed. The Project Manager must monitor and enforce these personal boundaries, and each team member must understand and support these
boundaries.

Conflict can also destroy a team and drag the project down with it. There are ways to reduce the probability of negative conflict and grow a team that has a culture of trust and respect for fellow team mates. Number one is to define the goals and objectives of the team in clear and concise terms. Communication around the project that includes objectives, timelines, customers, sponsors, deliverables and critical success factors will remove any uncertainty and uncertainty feeds conflict. If the goals are well defined, there is less of a chance that there will be conflict around the over all direction or the tasks that need to be completed. Next, clearly define the team ground rules and implement policies and processes that allow positive debate and discussion but also protect the team members from personal attacks. Additionally, spending time identifying the team's capabilities, strengths and weaknesses will help to identify any skill-set gaps also making it easier to assign tasks based on the strengths of each team member.

Meetings are an important part to mitigating destructive or dysfunctional conflict. Conducting effective team meetings show that the time the team members spend in the meeting place is an effective use of each person's time. Meetings can be focused on information sharing, brainstorming a problem, resolving a problem, or decision making. Meetings can also be used to collaborate and share information from one person to the group. The meeting time can also be used to reiterate team ground rules as well as time to give each other constructive feedback, and review actual results compared to the objectives or goals.

With all the prevention in the world, there will still be problems and having a plan to resolve conflicts will be the final chapter in the best practices packet around the team environment.
One of the key elements in resolving conflict is to focus on a win-win solution. In conjunction with the win-win approach, another solution is to develop good listening skills. Listen to each side of the conflict, repeat what you think you heard, ask questions, and summarize the problem and the desires of each person. When the issue causing the conflict is clear to everyone involved it is easier to get to a win-win solution. In a time of conflict, the potential for emotions to run high is always there. Managing emotions will help focus the conflict away from "the other person" and on to you. Making statements such as "I feel like the communication could be spread to a wider audience" is much more pleasant and less confrontational than "You did not communicate effectively and to the right audience". Lastly, getting both sides of the conflict to understand the other side and to work toward negotiation and mediation will help to achieve the ultimate goal of a winning solution for both
sides.

References
Kerzner, H. (2006). Project Management: a System Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and controlling, Ninth edition [University of Phoenix Customer Edition e-text]. Retrieved June 7 2007 from University of Phoenix website: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.asp
Meredeth J. and Mantel S. Jr. (2006). Project Management: a Managerial Approach, Sixth edition [University of Phoenix Customer Edition e-text]. Retrieved June 7 2007 from University of Phoenix website: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.asp
Conflict Resolution Network. 12 Skills Summary. Retrieved from the internet on 07-02-2007 from: http://www.crnhq.org/twelveskills.html