Tool: Conflict Management Guide

HAME502: Building High-Performing Teams

Cornell University

Tool: Conflict Management Guide

Steering Your Team through Conflict

Instructions:

As Professor Walsh has described, there are two main types of conflict. You need to minimize dysfunctional conflict and address it when it occurs. On the contrary, you want to generate functional conflict to ensure your team does not remain stagnant at any point in time.

If you are faced with a dysfunctional conflict now, it’s important to diffuse it first. But how? Professor Walsh guides you through this process as you complete the grid below.

Dysfunctional Conflict

Addressing Dysfunctional Conflict
Use this chart to guide you in addressing conflict between team members.
Step 1:
Identify the source / Who or what is the source of the conflict? Is it between two individual team members? Or different groups within a team? Or even two teams within an organization?
Step 2:
Recognize contributing factors / Do the individuals or teams involved have different goals, requirements, or expectations? Are they aware of these differences?
Step 3:
Facilitate a two-way conversation / What are their concerns and ideas? Discuss what they'd like to see happen. (Make sure it's two-way because any time an individual feels attacked he or she isgoing to either shut down or argue back, and as a result not listen.)
Step 4:
Establish an action plan / What action needs to take place as a result of the discussion? List action items for each member involved.
Guiding Functional & Dysfunctional Conflict
Refer to this chart when planning a strategy to resolve a conflict you might be facing.
Conflict Management Strategy: / Often used when:
Avoiding:a deliberate decision to take no action on a conflict or to stay out of a conflict /

The problem is trivial
There’s no chance of winning
You need to delay to gather more information
Disruption would be costly

Accommodating: a style that reflects your concern that the other party’s goals be met but relatively unconcerned with getting your own way /

Team members realize they are wrong
The problem is more important to others than you
You need to build social/political “credits” to use later
Maintaining cohesiveness is really important

Competing:a style focused on satisfying one’s own interests; willing to do so at the other party’s expense /

Decisive or unpopular actions are needed

Compromising: each party gives up something to reach a solution /

All concerns are equally important
Power is widely shared
You need to arrive at a temporary or quick solution under time pressure

Collaborating: arriving at a solution agreeable to all through open and thorough discussion /

All concerns are too important to be compromised
Insights from different team members must be merged
Commitment is needed

Identify your predominant management style from the chart above. Or, if you are guiding a team member in their approach to conflict, help that person identify his or her primary style. Next, focus on the need or source of the conflict along with all peripheral details surrounding the issue. Determine which style best applies, then create and execute your strategy.

Functional Conflict

Generating Functional Conflict
Use this chart to create principles of engagement.
Set the guidelines for how ideas will be discussed. Is it clear how different ideas will be worked through?
Establish ground rules for timing. What is the timing for when people can introduce different ideas? Can you stop the process midway and regroup?
Recognize the weight of you input.Where does your opinion fall on the collaborative scale? Is it one of many, or does it carry more weight? What are the benefits and costs of you just deciding on the behalf of the team and moving on?
Determine the level of trust your team exhibits.What do you notice about the trust level in the group? What do people care deeply about? How can you tap into that? Is there safety around sharing ideas, even the wrong idea or the bad idea, and how do you know an idea is bad or wrong?
Reach consensus as a team. Can everyone move forward, even if they don't individually agree with the decision?Can everyone focus on the team's overall, or what is often calledsuper-ordinate, goal?

A high-functioning team can move forward and reach consensus, even when different ideas for resolution exist. When you reach this point, you have successfully implemented functional conflict into your strategy. However, as in any process, there are potential obstacles you may face. Groupthink and an escalation of commitment are two obstacles for which you want to be mindful of. Use the following chart to help you identify these challenges and effectively address them.

Recognize Team Obstacles / Address Team Obstacles
Groupthink:A deterioration of mental efficiency around decision making due to team pressure to conform. It often occurs when a teamis so cohesive, so bonded that nobody wants to speak up and say a decision is not the right one for the team to make. /

Appoint someone to take the opposite view of the group and play the role of devil’s advocate.
Encourage team members to thoughtfully question suggestions, changes, and existing procedures and practices.
Encourage respectful debate where individuals argue opposite viewpoints, and then switch roles.
Encourage and facilitate brainstorming as a group.
Collect team input and responses in an anonymous way (e.g., survey, Dropbox, or through a third party).
As the leader, avoid sharing your viewpoint until everyone else has shared theirs. Have several subgroups work on the same problem simultaneously.

Escalation of Commitment: occurs when an individual team member becomes so emotionally attached to his or her idea that the personfails to see when the idea isn't the right one or is no longer working and wants to commit resources to a losing course of action. /

Have team members share responsibility for decisions.
Help individuals gracefully exit out of a decision that is no longer the right one. Enable them to save face.
Prearrange group evaluation of progress and final results.
Discuss this obstacle with your team so they can identify and prevent it.

When you identify these obstacles, make note of them. Plan your strategy to overcome them and to prevent future occurrences.