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Teams and Conflict

Presented by Sue Leonard

Organizational Effectiveness Consultant

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Outline

Definition of conflict

Sources of conflict

Preventing unproductive conflict

Managing conflict

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What is conflict?

What’s the difference between a conflict and a problem?

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Definitions from Group Facilitators

1. a great opportunity to discover the true measure of team members/mates. John Prins

2. productive, when channeled correctly. Undressed conflict seethes and rears its ugly later. Conflict can enable change. Use the power of conflict the strengthen the team, not destroy it. Ann-Marie Johnson, Computer Sciences Corporation

3. often rooted in misunderstanding of others' views. Peg Kelley

4. the source of the most creative solutions. Molly Samuels, The Molidori Group, Inc.

5. like a golf club. It can be used to move you forward. It can hook or slice you off to the side of the fairway. Or it can be used as a weapon. It all depends on how it's handled. Ned Ruete

6. often downplayed or ignored. Royleen White, RWA

7. often a sign that, if you hold your nerve, a breakthrough is coming. Richard Seel, Facilitative Consultancy & Development.

8. never about what it seems to be about on the surface.

9. both risk and opportunity -- we can choose.

10. inevitable, inevitable and option generating, a) Inevitable b) beneficial

11. the corollary (to the above) is ..so use it don't try to avoid it. James Holgate, Holgate Consulting Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia

12. the precursor to innovation, if properly managed.

13. natural and can result in creative, innovative solutions or disastrous business results depending on how it is managed.

14. likely to occur. It's outcome will depend on the kind of conflict awareness, emotional fabric, power arrangement and coping skills of the team members.

15. the sound of opportunity for integration made by an encounter of differing styles, stocks of information, perspectives, or sets of values.

Conflict in teams is...

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The positive sides of conflict

My favorite analogy is to a sailboat.It moves precisely because there is friction between the sails and the wind. Without that conflict, it is not properly functioning. The same can be said for us.

Strategic Conflict Management Associates

Conflict is normal and ever-present. It is their personal perception of it as negative or nonproductive and a lack of skills and mechanisms to manage it that causes people alarm.

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Role of emotion in conflict

Emotional reaction is brought on by the perceived or actual threat of losing something important (sometimes simply control).

“In fact, everything in business is personal, and it should be. It is the major place where we spend our lives, and we all care deeply about what happens at work, both with the work to be done and the people around us. We pay a high price when we deny self-expression…The source of all energy, passion, motivation and internally generated desire to do good work is our own feeling…” Peter Block, The Empowered Manager, page 28

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Redirecting emotion

Acknowledge the importance of the issue

Understand the potential loss/threat

Let the persons know you are seeking a win-win

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Role of styles in conflict

People have different preferences

– in what information they trust

– in their criteria for decision making

– in what motivates them to act

We tend to think our style is the ‘right’ way and overuse it

Styles/preferences can be a huge source of conflict

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Myers-Briggs Preference for Gathering Data*

Sensing – 70% sensory experience

concrete

facts

details

experience

present

literal

practical (to practice/here & now)

iNtuitive – 30%

impressions •

abstract •

symbols •

patterns – big picture •

theory •

future •

figurative; out-of-the-box •

theoretical •

* Myers, Isabel Briggs, Introduction to Type, CA, Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc., 1993.

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Myers-Briggs Decision-Making Preferences

Thinking – 50% objective

truth

analytical

clarity

non-personal

task

principle

what

Feeling – 50%

subjective •

value •

situational •

interpersonal •

harmony •

espirit-de-corps •

principals •

who •

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Prevention

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Setting and communicating goals, roles and expectations

Setting agreed-upon ground rules for teams and meetings

Understanding and clarifying the elements of an agreement

– conditions of satisfaction: standards of performance, time, cost, etc.

– person’s ability to fulfill : competence, sincerity, ability to commit

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Sample Ground Rules*

One conversation at a time

Accept and respect the views of others (seek to understand)

Keep discussion relevant

Consensus is ...

No smoking

Session leader chooses who speaks

Speak for yourself, say “I” not “we”

No finger-pointing

The group is responsible for the outcome; The team speaks with one voice after the decision is made

No idea is bad

Arrive on time and end on time

Keep discussion on issues over which group has control

Everyone has the responsibility to contribute

Ideas belong to the group, not the individual

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Shared Wisdom

Every person has a piece of the wisdom

Nobody has it all and we all have different pieces

We are not trying to convert others to our own views

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Tools You Can Use

Preventing unproductive conflict

– Advocacy versus Inquiry

– Ladder of Inference

– Polarity management

– Well-formed outcome

Managing conflict

– Conflict resolution styles

– Harvard Negotiation Project (Getting to Yes)

– Fools Rush In

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Advocacy versus Inquiry

Advocacy can close us off from learning

Advocacy without inquiry begets more advocacy: it snowballs

Most managers are trained to be advocates

When advocacy and inquiry are combined, the goal is no longer to win the argument, but to find the best argument

Stage 1: Learning how to inquire in other’s views when don’t agree

Stage 2: State own views so as to invite others to inquire into them

* Senge, Peter M, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, Doubleday, NY, 1990.

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Ladder of Inference*A common mental pathway of increasing abstraction, often leading to misguided beliefs

Observable “data” & experiences

(like video)

I select“data”

I addmeanings

(cultural & personal)

I makeassumptions

(based on meanings)

I drawconclusions

I adoptbeliefs

about the world

I takeactions

based on my beliefs

* Senge, Peter, Kleiner, Art, Roberts, Charlotte, Ross, Richard, Smith Brian The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, NY, Doubleday, 1994.

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Polarity Management: Using Two Perspectives*

* Johnson, Barry, Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems, MA, HRD Press, Inc., 1992.

A vase or two faces?

-If you see only the vase your perspective is accurate, but incomplete

-If you see only the faces your perspective is accurate, but incomplete

-To see both images, you have to extend some effort to switch back and forth

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Only half of the picture*

+

-

TAKING ACTION

PLANNING

•don’t see any action•never get anywhere

•get results•won’t know what really need until start

* Johnson, Barry, Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems, MA, HRD Press, Inc., 1992.

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Well-formed outcome*

1. What do you want and what will that do for you? (desired state)

2. How will you know when you have it?

3. Where, when with whom do you want it?

4. Ecology. What impact will (your desired outcome) have on other aspects of your life?

5. What stops you from having your desired outcome?

6. What resources do you already have that contribute to getting to your outcome?

7. What additional resources do you need?

8. How are you going to get there?

* Andreas, Connirae, Andreas, Steve, Heart of the Mind, UT, Real People Press, 1989. Pages 242-250

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Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode*

COMPETING COLLABORATING

COMPROMISING

AVOIDING ACCOMMODATING

UNCOOPERATIVE COOPERATIVE

UN

AS

SE

RT

IVE

AS

SE

RT

IVE

AS

SE

RT

IVE

NE

SS

COOPERATIVENESS

* Thomas, Kenneth W., Kilmann, Ralph H., Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, NY, XICOM Incorporated, 1974.

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Getting to Yes*

Separate the people from the problem

Focus on interests, not positions

Invent options for mutual gain

Insist on using objective criteria

* Fisher, Roger and Ury, William, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, NY, Penguin Books, 1991

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Intervening in Interpersonal Conflict Situations*

Confrontation means requiring another person to pay attention to something you think is important

When (and when not) to intervene

– Readiness

– Commitment

– Influencability

– Accessibility

* Jones, John E., Fools Rush In, Organizational Universe Systems, 1996 (article attached)