4.2 Managing Team Conflict

It’s important to recognize that whenever people work together in teams, there are bound to be challenges, and conflicts are likely to arise — and this is okay. People have different opinions, perspectives, and ways to doing things. Some conflict, if managed effectively, can be productive and lead to stronger ideas and unexpected innovations. Poorly managed conflict, however, can be detrimental, and can even derail a team and the project entirely.

Often, conflict arises from confusion over team members’ roles and team goals. For example, if one team member’s goal is to exceed expectations (get an A+) on the project, and anther’s is to simply make it “good enough” (B-), their goals are misaligned, and this will show in work ethic and commitment to the project. If team members do not share the same goals, or if members are unsure of what their role is in the team, this can lead to anxiety, confusion, or even anger. This in turn can cause the following unproductive behaviours:

Isolating: breaking away from the team and just doing work on your own without collaborating with others or with minimal interaction. This can lead to inefficiency in the team, as they don’t communicate sufficiently with the team, are not involved in decision-making, and other team members don’t know what they are doing.

Hijacking: taking over the project and doing work without consulting with the team. This may arise out of anxiety about grades, or lack of trust in team members; hijackers may revise or redo work already done by others without consultation or permission.

Hitchhiking: just coming along for the ride, but not contributing equitably. Hitchikers may simply not show up, or they may make excuses for not attending team meetings (I’m too busy, I have a midterm, a rugby game, a trip planned, etc). Not meeting expectations around commitment makes extra work for other team members, which leads to resentments.

Enabling: being overly helpful (a “people pleaser”), taking on too much of the work to try to make up for other team members. “Hitchhikers” can start relying on “enablers” to pick up their slack. This can lead to frustration and potentially burn out when they are not able to complete all the additional tasks they have volunteered to do. 

How to deal with team conflict? The first strategy is to develop clear processes that help to prevent conflict where possible (see the GRIP model in Ch. 4.1). You can do this in the forming stage by creating clear team guidelines and expectations. Creating a Team Charter can help you define team goals, expectations for equitable contribution, and procedures for communicating and producing work. You can also define problem-solving approaches that your team will use when conflicts arise, and determine what kinds of behaviour will trigger a consultation with the instructor.

Think about conflicts or problems you have had in the past when working in teams. Can you think of ways you could have planned ahead to prevent them? Being proactive can prevent a lot of issues. For example, defining the criteria and protocols for removing a team member from the team will often prevent issues from going that far. However, despite these preventative measures, conflict is bound to come up from time to time. You need to have effective strategies for managing it effectively when it does arise.

Here is a list of some effective conflict management approaches, derived from the information on Team Dynamics, to keep in your tool box:

• Acknowledge, understand, and value the diversity within your team; recognize team members’ various strengths and weaknesses, and play to your strengths, while acknowledging and trying to improve on your weaknesses.
• Avoid making assumptions about someone’s motivations or rushing to judgment; instead, approach differences of opinions with honest curiosity and explore why you see things differently. Listen actively to understand other positions and perspectives.
• Don’t “silo” (break up into smaller teams of “us” vs “them”); deal with issues as a team
• Don’t ignore problems or conflicts; deal with them head on; communicate issues quickly and directly with the whole team; maybe review the Team Charter to remind you of the expectations and protocols you agreed to follow as a team. (Have a regular “festivus” meeting where everyone can air their concerns.)
• “Don’t sweat the small stuff;” don’t get side-tracked by minor differences of opinion or approach that don’t have a significant effect on the project; be willing to make some compromises.
• But keep in mind that compromise does not always lead to the best solution; be a strong, but diplomatic advocate for what you think is the best approach. Persuade, but don’t bully. Use your rhetorical skills to convince your team to see your perspective. Your teammates will thank you for it in the long run.
• Separate the “people” from the “problem” (avoid “blame game”); don’t dwell on past actions and consequences; focus on coming up with solutions that benefit the whole team and allow you to move forward constructively.
• Focus on “interests” not “positions.” That is, focus on what is in the best interests of the team rather than on “being right” or “winning.”  Try having one team member play “devil’s advocate” or use a debate format to argue for/against ideas in an objective and neutral way.

Reviewing the models for Understanding Team Dynamics (Ch. 4.1)  may give you insights into some of the causes of team issues and ideas for solutions.

If your conflict management strategies are not working as well as you’d like, consult with your facilitator, instructor, or TA for additional support – before it’s too late to solve the problem. Especially if you feel like the problems is impacting the quality of your team’s work (your grade), you should alert the instructor as soon as possible. Your instructor will have additional “administrative” tools to help deal with the problem that are not necessarily available to you as students.

Working with other people can be satisfying and exciting, but will also inevitably lead to challenges throughout your academic and professional life.  Learning and applying these strategies for how to address these challenges will provide you with valuable skills needed for professional success.