Managing Conflict in team Building

Conflict and team building are terms to be considered as associated with each other. In a team, there are various concepts that affect having harmonious relationship, but with the effective management of conflict, team building can be achieved. The goal of this paper is to provide analysis of articles written about team building as attributed with management of conflict. Conflict Management and Team Building There are different studies and researches which have been written to understand the association of conflict management with team building.
According to Thompson (1998) conflict is defined as the conception of personal differences among individuals, specifically within a group. In addition, it is also known as the aspect of social interaction between contradicting team members over various matters which include beliefs, power, resource and preferences. In an organization, the types of conflict to be managed are categorized typically based on their causes and sources. For instance, the affective conflict is a form that arises because of the contrasting emotions or feelings of a team member.
In an article by Pelled, Eisenhardt and Xin (1997), it has been noted tha conflict can be described by interpersonal clashes (Calabrese, 2000), frustration and anger which happen in a group. In this regard, some conflicts occur, when the opinions of one member of the team or more group members contradict (Rahim, 2001). In addition, this conflict also happens when the interest of the members of the specific team do not agree with each other. It can be said that when social entities have different preferred outcome or decision results, conflict may also happen (Rahim, 2001).

Because of the presence of various personalities in a group, the occurrence of conflict is indeed very likely. As can be stated, conflicts among team members are now considered as inevitable or uncontrollable, endemic and in most cases valid. Managing conflict, specifically with the aim of team building also needs the right personality from the conflicting parties or members of the team. Both parties must have the ability to handle their emotions well and strong negative emotions like depression, despair, anger must be managed well in order not to worsen the condition.
Through efficient conflict management, respect will be considered in all parties. It is important that the managers will not verbally attack the member of the team who are attempting to solve the issues of conflict. In managing conflict in team building, rational behaviour should be considered and the management should realize that the team member should be considered all the times to be able to comprehend the condition as well implement the proper solutions.
The negotiation between the team members should then focus of the reduction of the members’ differences. Herein, the supervisor should let the employees relay their needs as well as demands. The management should also respect these points and think of othe approaches on how a settlement can be attained and achieved. In order to solve conflict of these team members, the management can establish a team building approach in which the members will have the time to know each other and understand each other (Wanguri, 1996).
To be able to facilitate this between the groups Of project team, communication line should be conducted. Conclusion By and large, conflict in a specific team is usual occurences. The ability of the management to handle conflict management enables them to imporve personal realtions, promote the acceptance of each individual difference as well as enhance work outcomes. By considering e conflict process diagram, the conflict’s rise and effect of had become more comprehensive.
In some reasearch, some solutions are being considered and these include the use of listening and communication skills, implementation of efficient internal and external business strategies, consideration of team-building activities, appropriate leadership style as well as modification of policies. Reference Calabrese, K, (2000). “Interpersonal Conflict and Sarcasm in the Workplace”, Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, vol. 126, no. 4, pp. 459-494. Pelled, LH, Eisenhardt, KM, & Xin, KR, (1999).
‘Exploring the black box: An analysis of work group diversity, conflict and performance’, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 1-28. Rahim, MA, (2001). Managing Conflict in Organizations, Quorum Books, Westport, CT. Thompson, L, (1998). The mind and heart of the negotiator, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Wanguri, D. M. (1996). Diversity, perceptions of equity, and communicative openness in the workplace. The Journal of Business Communication, 33, 443.