Leading Teams and Navigating Conflict

This chapter brings together practices for leading teams and navigating conflict, which can be universal responses for non team experiences as well. In most organizations today, teams, the ability to collaborate with others, are a common occurrence especially in project-based organizations. So, getting used to working effectively and efficiently with others is a skill that everyone should develop and cultivate. So often, in this process, conflict can arise. This chapter provides discussion around building and maintaining teams and experiencing and navigating conflict. This chapter is just a primer to bring awareness to these commonplace communicative structures.

Learning Outcomes – after reading this chapter, you will be able to

1. identify the different kinds of teams that are typical in organizations

2. identify what impacts the nature and success of teams

3. be familiar with unique type of team, the Skunkworks, and understand how it is different from traditional teams

4. develop a deeper understanding of conflict in organizations

5. identify dysfuncitonal conflict strategies

5. identify healthy approaches to navigating and mitigating conflict

Thought-Provoking Questions

1. Have you ever experienced conflict within an organizational structure? How did you respond to the conflict? Was it an effective response? Why or How So?
2. Have you had consistent positive experience in group work, either in the classroom or in your workplace? If so, what do you attribute the success to? If not, why do you think that is the case?
3. Do you know what a social loafer is? This is discussed in the interpersonal communication section of this course. Have you ever been a social loafer during any group work?
4. What strategies can a group employ to diffuse the impact of a social loafer?

Chapter Outline

1. this chapter begins with a discussion around building and leading teams.

2. related to team work, this chapter discusses the nature of conflict and effective ways in dealing with conflict.

Team work and conflict have interconnections. While conflict can emerge outside of team settings, this chapter will only focus on conflict in team settings.

Building and Leading Teams – this section is informed by Get it Together: Leading with Intelligence (2017)

There are four main types of teams: work teams, parallel teams, project teams, and management teams (Beaufeaux, Joslin, Kostek, Mortenson, Ringhand, & Sufta, 2017).

Work Teams are focused around an ongoing task situated within a specific organizational setting. An example of this might be the Registrar’s Office at a University or College. The task focused on include a variety of small tasks contributing to the act of “registration” and all the related needs around the academic curricular experience.

Parallel Teams are different teams which have shared challenges and some overlap involving resources, tasks, or other items. These teams might use participants from several working teams. An example might be when you go see your doctor for a sore arm and you need an xray, physical therapy, and special pharmacy needs. Your healthcare team has different expertise by department but all of them are working together for a complete experience in your treatment. This is particularly important in places like Speare Memorial Hospital, Speare Primary Care, and the associated departments Radiology, Pharmacy, etc. All of these teams work together and in tandem working to help each individual patient.

Project Teams are focused around a one-time deliverable action or service. An example might be during a class, students are placed in teams and work on a project together. Once the project ends with a deliverable, the team disbands.

Management Teams are teams that oversee other teams. This could be a project management team coming together to management an ongoing and complex project.

Team success depends upon 1) training and support, and 2) alignment between incentives for work to be done and the interdependent functions and practices of other team members to achieve goals.  Coaching team members might also help with keeping the team on task and remain motivated.

Leaders should understand that team environments are impacted by the following factors:

1. delegation – assigning other people tasks; often these people are also qualified to do the job of the one who delegates

2. co-location – this refers to the interaction of teams by bringing them together in common spaces

3. clarifying roles – this is an extra measure to ensure members who is doing what

4. size and culture – tending to a balanced size and culture in a team ensures equity and diversity of perspective and experience

5. involvement in decision making – providing team participation in decision-making cultivates team ownership and increases  team motivation by giving teams voice especially around things related to the work or task they are doing

6. safety – this is more relevant in some fields more than other fields but it is to ensure against possible injuries and other safety hazards that can hurt or negatively impact team members in their environment

Leaders should also have a plan to deal with the phenomenon of the social loafer. A social loafer is a team member who fails to follow-through with their group work. This person might miss meetings, not respond to communication about meetings, or attend meetings unprepared, while at the same time, expecting to benefit from the fruits of the team work. Anyone can become a social loafer. Some people make it a habit. How do you think a team can counteract social loafing? Are there tings that can be done before the group work starts or during the time the group is working?

Nonverbal communication plays a tremendous role in successfully engaging in team interactions. These nonverbal cues communicate positive and negative feelings and emotions:

-Facial expressions

In some ways, they can be a catalyst for conflict in the team interactions.

Building a Team

Some workplaces create teams by engaging in team building exercises. Some studies suggest that this practice may not build stronger teams. In fact, some team-building exercises will not create well-designed teams, instead they only model the act of team work but they can’t create teams in that fashion. Teams should be more intentionally designed based upon the purpose of bringing them together (Beaufeaux, Joslin, Kostek, Mortenson, Ringhand, & Sufta, 2017).  Team building actually starts when you are searching for a new employee, before the team need arises or before the team comes together.  Hiring the correct people and hiring people who are excellent, clear, effective communicators brings positive, qualified employees who can join most any team and be effective at their charge. Leaders who must build teams should keep the following in mind before starting to build:

1. A team should have purpose. Having a clear purpose can help to identify the kinds of skills and experience you want on the team.

2. A clear sense of skill needs should be identified. These skills can be very specific, such as accounting skills and experience, to very open, innovative thinkers, such as people who think outside of the box. Either way, listing out the needed skills will help with selecting the right people.

3. An understanding of how much experience and the range of experience the team member should have should be established. Sometimes, you will know these quantities, and other times, you may need to guess or approximate them.

4. Whomever becomes a member of the team, make sure you understand specific needs of the individuals to ensure right alignment with the particular nature of the team.

5. Once a team is outlined, provide the specific support the team needs.

6. Finally, before commissioning the team to begin, prepare a team charter, the team should do this facilitated by the leader so that everyone is explicitly aware of the purpose and approach to the work flow.

A Skunkwork is a unique kind of team. Many organizations do not use this model. See if you know figure out why? Read about them here.

Here is skunkworks at Lockheed Martin.

Navigating Conflict in Human Interactions

Conflict Management can happen at the micro and macro level.

Conclusion

This chapter introduced concepts around team building and team leading. It also identified the emergence of interpersonal conflict and how to respond effectively to it within organizations. Conflict responses can be used in both public and private domains of work or personal experience because in both cases, conflict is situated within individuals and emerges in any context. It is important that leaders understand group dynamics, interpersonal needs, communication patterns, and how to engage others in difficult situations with compassion and care even when delivering negative messages. Leaders should engage in ongoing training around interpersonal conflict mitigation and learn to create boundaries around those with whom they work.