Team Conflict

Team Dynamics and Conflict Resolutions in Teams

Team Dynamics and Conflict Resolution in learning teams are two terms that are very familiar when you attend the University of Phoenix. As part of the curriculum the university uses learning teams to mirror real world scenarios where you have to participate with multiple individuals in the classroom to accomplish presentations and other projects. Since first starting this class we have experienced first hand in dealing with these aspects of learning teams. Team Dynamics is very important aspect of a team. How individuals relate to one and other is a very important element when defining strengths and weaknesses. If team dynamics is successful than hopefully conflict resolution will be an easy task to perform, but not living in a perfect world there is always something negative that can arise and teams have to work through those problems. Both team dynamics and conflict resolution are very important parts to a learning team and how well they function.

When you have a group of people together you cannot get around the fact that you are going to have many ideas and many different ways to solve them. Team dynamics should be the first thing that is discussed when a group of individuals come together. A type of hierarchy must be established to figure out the personal strengths and weaknesses of each individual. In order for a team to succeed there must be a team leader and people that follow the direction of that leader. Being the leader of a group does not give them power over the other team members. A leader has to be someone that can bring the group together to fulfill a common goal, and resolve any problem that arises. Another very important aspect of team dynamics is that every person in the group should have equal status as the next person. This will eliminate jealously and people not doing their part of the work because they think that they have more influence over what happens in the group than the next person. The main purpose of the leader should be is to keep the group focus at the task at hand, and help bring all the ideas together in an orderly manner.

In our team for instance we failed the first night of class as a team because we did not establish a leader in the group that would follow up with all team member to make sure than things were going well with the class, and that all are contributing to the group. Too much time went by with no direction and it has put the team in a bad situation with the class coming to an end, and the final projects are due and now we are playing catch up to get our projects done. Team B discovered this past Friday that we were missing two out of the four team members. If as a team we had established a leader and had that person follow up with the team on a daily or even every other day we might have had more success as a team.

The biggest mistake that we made as a team is that we never set goals when it came to our class. Stewart (2001) states,” One way to ensure that the vision driving the project is that it should communicated throughout the project process to clearly identify the assumptions on which the project is built and by developing a comprehensive charter that includes many for the following clearly and precisely thought out and defined.” The first night of class we filled out the Learning Team charter, but as a team we did not fully understand the impact of what we were doing. We did not realize how important that this piece of paper was to the success of our team. Since no goals or objectives were set the first night of class the other member did not know what to expect from the other members of the team. In the article Balanced Scorecard for Projects it is laid out in a very simple way to understand. “Goals are passed down from the management to the line managers. The line managers than put together a team to perform the task of defining and completing the project. At the worker level, project plans and planning are created to assemble all the pieces necessary to complete the project”. (Stewert 2001). Team B failed to set up the chain of command that would help complete this project in an organized and timely fashion. Due to the fact that we were not prepared as a team to undertake the task that was expected of us we ran into many conflicts.

Conflict resolution is another very important part of team learning. Bringing many people together in a group you are bound to run into varying ideas and opinions. Where people come from and how they were brought up may influence how they think, act, and work with other people. In the corporate environment you also may run into the people who do not work well with other people due to egos and other personality defects. This again where is where a good leader or manager should come into play to keep peace and understanding in the team. In the article Five Tips for Individuals to be effective team members, from the Fort Worth Business Press, by Ben Adkins he describes five ways to deal with Conflict resolutions when it comes to small groups. One is that you have to be a team player. Mr. Adkins says, “It is easier not to be a team player at times, so it usually is best to make a personal commitment instead of doing your own thing.” What Mr. Adkins is getting at is as a member of a group the individual must put the team before themselves. Be aware of how effectively you are working with the other people in your group. Another tip that he gives in his article is, “understand you personality style and the style of others on your team.”(Adkins 2004). By understanding and taking time to learn about the other members of your team and how best to interact with them you may head off arguments down the way. Learn who the outgoing people are and how best to work with them and with people who are not outgoing maybe be more aware and make sure that they feel that they are part of the group. “Deal with conflict and disagreements in a professional way” (Adkins 2004). As working professionals we have to understand that there are many different ways to solve problems in a professional manner. Learn to deal with argumentative people in a positive manner. Never give the impression that you are attacking them when you have a differing opinion.