Case study 1: What causes conflict?
Florence and Shirley were team members in the bakery department. Both had the responsibility to clean the display unit, but Florence felt that she was doing it much more often than Shirley. She mentioned this to Shirley, but Shirley felt that they were cleaning the unit on a fairly equal basis. There was a difference in perception that was unresolved.
To keep peace in the team, Florence didn't press the issue. As time went on,
however, she began to resent the fact that Shirley still didn't do her share. Finally one day, while cleaning out the display, she stopped what she was doing and
stormed into the other room to confront Shirley. This time she was very angry and emotional, which then caused Shirley to react the same way. Each took a position and locked into it. The argument continued until the team leader stopped it and moved them to another room. After talking through the situation, it was finally resolved.
The seeds of this conflict were planted when the issue was originally discussed but left unresolved...at least to Florence. Florence stuffed the emotions into her belly and didn't really deal with them. Eventually, her feelings grew in intensity and finally "blew" all at once.
Case study 2: What causes conflict?
Pierre was a consultant with a successful business who had started doing work for Sam, another consultant. Sam would hire out Pierre's services and take a fee in the process.
One day Sam called and said he had a lead if Pierre wanted to take it. Sam indicated on the phone that "this isn't the kind of work we are interested in, so if you want to bid it and get the work, just pay me a finders fee." Pierre was successful in getting the work and communicated this to Sam. Sam immediately began telling Pierre how he wanted him to do the work. Pierre thought the work was his alone because of what Sam had said and communicated this to Sam. Their discussions were cordial and businesslike.
Two weeks later, Pierre received a nasty letter from Sam's lawyer indicating he had stolen the work from Sam. Pierre attempted to contact Sam, but Sam wouldn't talk with him.
Pierre was hurt and angry, and began talking to lawyers. Then he realized that more money would be spent on the conflict than the contract was worth, so tried another method. Pierre wrote Sam an email telling his rendition of the story, and offering to do the work under Sam's company name, and pay Sam the agreed finders fee. After some continued discussions, Sam agreed. The work was performed, everyone received their appropriate share of the fee, and the problem was resolved. After the work was
complete, Pierre decided never again to work with Sam.
Case study 3: What causes conflict?
Two supervisors, Bill and Don, had been given instructions to reduce their group size by two people. Having only 10 people in each group, this was a sizeable reduction. Bill's personality tended to favor people. He was generally more sensitive to people, and was a caring,
thoughtful supervisor. Don was just the opposite. He was more concerned with group production, and considered people's feelings secondary to the work.
They met to discuss the staff reduction. Bill discussed that he had assembled his group and discussed openly with them the need for the reduction. He said the group talked about what could be done for the people who would be leaving. Could they help with job searches, resume writing, and referrals? The group even discussed reducing everyone's hours and maintaining the ten people for a while. Bill said that he had finally asked for volunteers, and, in fact, two people said they would allow themselves to be "downsized"
out. Bill was happy with the outcome.
Don was outraged. He couldn't believe Bill had done something so irresponsible. "What," he said "if they were your two best people, or people you had just invested training dollars in?"
He said Bill should be more concerned with what the group will look like after the dust settles. They argued about how this downsizing should occur with all the emotion and passion they could muster. It was a real conflict.
Personality differences are a primary cause of conflict
Adapted from Ferguson (2009), Teamwork Skills, Third Edition, Ferguson Publishing.
Adapted from Ferguson (2009), Teamwork Skills, Third Edition, Ferguson Publishing.
Case study 3: What causes conflict?
One day in 1983, a young worker and an older worker were discussing the state of the country's economy over lunch. The subject turned to automobile production, and the young worker stated that he had just bought an automobile manufactured in Japan. He said that the quality of Japanese cars was far higher than that of American cars, and proceeded to quote some data to prove it.
The older worker was visibly angered by this and began to defend American cars and the need to "Buy American" . He argued that to buy foreign cars was anti-American, and,
"besides, Americans always made good products“. They continued arguing until the older worker couldn't take the discussion any longer. His hand was shaking as he said "Look, I lived through World War II, and I would never buy anything made in Japan!"
The young worker, however, didn't pick up on the signal and continued citing facts that supported his argument. The discussion led to some hard feelings between the two, and it was some time before they could resume their relationship.
What the young worker failed to recognize was that there were significant events (perhaps the bombing of Pearl Harbor). The older worker wasn't hearing the young worker's argument because he was filtering the entire conversation through his "anti- Japanese" filter. Finally, this erupted the beginning of a conflict.
Reactions to conflict
Reactions to conflict
Avoiding: those who avoid conflict, denial is never a good way to resolve any conflict, since it is just a way to hide and not facing. Communication is important and sometimes you need to be really sharp and sensitive,
observe your teamwork.
Competing: means domination, and therefore another way to make conflict management another issue itself.
Accommodation: means the member is going to be less committed and involved since feeling left behind leads to isolation
Collaboration: having team members ready to collaborate always
empowers effectiveness, since they are willing to get involved in conflict as much as in work and achievements.
Compromising: once a member feels part of the team and understand its role and value, making him aware of the conflict relevance is easier so that he can commit to help resolving it.
How to manage conflict?