Leadership and Conflicts LADERSHIP AND CONFLICTS

Teamwork has increasingly become a common aspect within the organizational setup. Organizations in varied sectors and industries are ever more reliant on teamwork in the achievement of their goals and objectives. Nonetheless, teamwork presents a breeding ground for conflict, in large part due to differences in background, views, beliefs, personalities, objectives, and priorities (Toegel & Barsoux, 2016). Indeed, if not properly handled, conflict within a team can considerably hamper team morale, motivation, collaboration and productivity. This section highlights a team conflict scenario, and discusses approaches for dealing with team conflict, clearly pointing out the role of leadership in managing team conflict.

One instance of team conflict I have experienced during my professional life relates to disrespect for team norms on the part of some team members. Every team often has rules that determine how members of the team behave and interact with one another during the course of teamwork (Pope, 2008). These rules relate to aspects such as attendance of meetings, articulation of views during meetings or discussions, as well as responsibility for individual roles and responsibilities. At one point, there was a certain member who consistently defied the rules we had set as a team. Contrary to team norms, he frequently arrived late for meetings, chatted during meetings, talked rudely to other members, interrupted others while talking, missed team building activities, and had always to be pushed to fulfill his part of the job. Even with warnings from the team leader, the member remained stubborn. His behavior was a great detriment to the team as we sometimes missed deadlines. Worse still, immense enmity grew between the uncooperative member and other members of the team. Important meetings and discussions turned out to be exchanges. Eventually, no one wanted him in the team anymore, compelling the team leader to escalate the matter to the management for disciplinary action.

For a team to work effectively, every member of the team must effectively accomplish the duties assigned to them. They must fulfill their obligations relating to not only their part of the job, but also the rules of the team. The fundamental idea behind teamwork is to bring together a group of individuals to combine their efforts so as to more effectively and swiftly accomplish a certain goal (Pope, 2008). In other words, every member of the team is a collaborator, meaning that their individual input substantially influences the final outcome of the group. Without collaboration, the existence of a team would actually be meaningless. Accordingly, the team leader, together with the team, must ensure a spirit of collaboration is created and maintained.

There are a number of ways through which collaboration within a team can be forged. One way is to learn from one another (Gratton & Erickson, 2007). A team often brings together individuals with diverse skills, abilities, backgrounds, and perspectives. Such diversity is the essence of a team. Indeed, Belbin's team inventory model asserts that an effective team is one in which members play diverse roles -- a team should have team workers, specialists, implementers, shapers, coordinators, resource investigators, and so forth (Margerison, 2003). This way, different capabilities complement one another -- specialists learn from team workers, shapers learn from implementers, and so on. Each individual's skills and abilities are taken advantage of to the benefit of the team. When there is a spirit of learning from one another, team members see each other not as rivals, but as collaborators or partners.

Learning from one another means team members share resources and knowledge, and help one another to accomplish their individual roles and responsibilities (Gratton & Erickson, 2007). Though a team involves collaborative effort, individuals often have their part to play. Each individual is like an element working alongside other elements to achieve the objective of the group. Nonetheless, collaboration tends to succeed when individuals help one another while still accomplishing their own duties. For example, when a team member is stuck with their task or is experiencing some difficulty, the other team members should be the first to offer assistance by lending them their knowledge, skills, expertise, resources, or any other form of help.

Another way through which collaboration within a team can be improved is by ensuring openness and inclusivity. This involves encouraging diverse ideas, giving every member a chance to contribute, valuing every member, allowing room for the expression of concerns, building friendships, and ensuring honest and transparent communication (Parker, 2009). Team collaboration can further be enhanced by rewarding and acknowledging collaborative behavior, encouraging socialization outside work, as well as incorporating team building activities that involve collaboration. These efforts cultivate an atmosphere of collaboration, ultimately minimizing or avoiding negative conflict...

Also, known as a negative conflict, a destructive conflict is a conflict that does not add value to the team -- it destroys the team (Toegel & Barsoux, 2016). It deteriorates interpersonal relationships within the team, kills enthusiasm towards the team, diminishes individual commitment to the team, and undermines collaboration and the flow of work. This can eventually stifle creativity and hamper team productivity. In the above scenario, for instance, the negative conflict deteriorated interpersonal relationships and undermined collaboration.
While conflict is often perceived as negative, it may sometimes be positive. Also, referred to as constructive conflict, positive conflict is conflict that is beneficial to the team -- it generates productive ideas (Parker, 2009). It is characterized by flexibility, open-mindedness, acknowledgement of diversity, positive disagreement, and the belief that every member of the team can win. An ideal example of constructive conflict is when team members have different, equally creative ideas or approaches about how to go about a certain task. Rather than viewing one approach as superior to the others, the team evaluates the various ideas and settles on the most suitable, acceptable, and feasible idea. In other words, divergence in perspectives does not escalate into a feeling of dominance, power struggles, blame games, unhealthy exchanges, threats, or a tone of hostility. Instead, team members reinforce relationships between one another for the benefit of the team. This not only minimizes negative conflict, but also fosters collaboration.

Though every team member has a role to play in maintaining a climate of positive conflict, the biggest burden is on the leader. In any setting, the leader serves as the guide of the group. The leader provides direction and models the acceptable behavior for their followers (Pope, 2008). Accordingly, as differences are likely to be experienced often, part of the leader's work involves solving conflicts. This work involves identifying conflict as soon as it occurs, demonstrating willingness to resolve the conflict, knowing the most appropriate approach to use based on the nature of the conflict at hand, and ensuring the conflict does not become negative. It is common for most leaders to evade tension when conflict occurs, often in an attempt to exhibit harmony. While this approach can work sometimes, it may often cause hostility between the parties in conflict to pile up. With time, the hostility can break bonds between team members, eventually impeding team productivity. Therefore, a leader must never allow a negative conflict to go unresolved.

The role of the leader in forging collaboration and resolving team conflict has important ethical connotations. The leader has a role to create an atmosphere of equality where every member is treated equally irrespective of their background, views, personality, and/or closeness to the team leader (Parker, 2009). It is not uncommon for prejudice and favoritism to thrive in a team. An ideal example would be the team leader favoring some members in the assignment of tasks, enforcement of team rules, and evaluation of performance. In the above scenario, for instance, the team leader may have exhibited unfairness by failing to warn the uncooperative member and reporting his behavior to a higher authority. That would have heightened the conflict, consequently deteriorating relationships not only between the uncooperative member and other members of the team, but also between the team leader and the team. Therefore, a team leader has an ethical responsibility to act in the best interest of the group as a whole.

On the whole, the importance of teamwork in today's increasingly complex workplace cannot be overemphasized. For the most to be made out of team effort, however, an environment of collaboration and positive conflict must thrive. It is imperative for team members to work together as a team, always helping and learning from one another. There should be the understanding that every member plays a unique role, which ultimately contributes to the achievement of the overall goal. More fundamentally, rather than creating tension and conflict, diversity should be seen as an opportunity for creativity. Allowing divergence in views and perspectives opens the group to numerous ideas, which can lead to more innovative ways of doing things. The leadership should play an integral role in the achievement of this outcome. As the head of the team, the team leader must set a good example for the…