Chapter 8 Teamwork and Conflict Management

TEAMWORK
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER 8
TEAMWORK
• The most important aspect of teams is understanding responsibilities:
• Each team member should understand their duties, rights and responsbillitiles.
• Role overload should be avoided
• Team members should know and understand each others’ experiences, skills and talents to better work
in synergy
• Synergy between team members and other role-players is also important
Synergy is the concept that the combined output of different teams can lead to an output greater than
the sum of its parts
• Team members should be open to discussion, new ideas and innovation. Team work is not about ego,
but about working together.
• Clear and consistent communication is requirement.
• A leader must be chosen to ensure the team stays on target. The leader’s role can be a big or small as
the situation requires; and different situations will need different leaders.
TEAM DEVELOPMENT
The Team Development model is a theoretical model used for creating new team
Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning

FORMING
• Team members need to get to know each other, their skills, their talents and their experience
• Set boundaries – personal and work.
• The purpose and goal of the team must be clearly defined.
• Guidelines for decision-making and problem-solving need to be determined and communicated.
STORMING
• Team members have gotten to know each other and start to form relationships and cliques
• Competition for different positions begin – this can be positive or negarive.
• A good/strong leader should be able to lead members to making compromises, overcoming their
differences and working towards the common goal.
NORMING
• Members settle into their roles and commit to working together.

• Communication channels are cemented.
• More social interaction should also start taking place – allowing team members to respect each other
on a more personal level
• Managers will need to encourage team members to ensure continued successes continue.
PERFORMING
• Increased awareness and understanding of what needs to be done to reach the team goal
• Roles become more flexible as team members start to take responsibility for more aspects
• Manager/leader focus moves from support to helping individual members
ADJOURNING
• After the task has been completed or the goal reached – the team disperses.
• Even in on-going projects, some team members may find themselves placed in different teams/projects
• Remaining team members may become stressed and suffer from role overload in the transition phase.
• Manager/leader needs to support remaining members in this phase and remind them of the successes
achieved
TEAM DYNAMICS
• The interaction between team members’ personalities, characteristics and the working relationships
with each other.
• Team dynamics can have a positive influence (increased productivity) or a negative influence (poor
performance, conflict, etc.)
• There are many theories on how to handle team dynamics, but the most commonly cited is the Belbin
Theory.
BELBIN THEORY
• According to the Belbin Theory, there are nine different roles required for a team to function.
• These nine roles can be classified into three groups:
• People Orientated / Social (3 roles)
• Thinkers (3 roles)
• Action Orientated / Task Orientated (3 roles)
• The theory works on the concept of balancing these groups and roles to achieve the success in a team.
• Too few or too many can lead to a team struggling to meet its goal.
PEOPLE-ORIENTATED / SOCIAL
PEOPLE ORIENTATED / SOCIAL
• Resource Investigator
• Extrovert who loves talking to others
• Network and establish connections to assist in reaching the goal
• Team Worker
• Diplomat who listens
• Tries to resolve conflicts and keep everyone on task
• Coordinator
• Natural leader who knows how to delegate
• Focused on the goal and will intervene where necessary to ensure success
THINKERS
THINKERS
• Evaluator
• Monitors and looks for opportunities
• Thinks strategically about optimising opportunities effectively
• Plant
• Creative thinker
• Contribute new or unforeseen solutions to problems
• Specialist
• Valuable skill or experience not commonly available
• Shared knowledge with group to further goals
ACTION-ORIENTATED
ACTION ORIENTATED / TASK ORIENTATED
• Finisher
• Detail-orientated
• Proactively ensures mistakes or flaws are ironed out before the final product is delivered
• Implementer
• Try to turn ideas into action
• Practical and goal-focused
• Shaper
• Loves working under pressure
• Motivator and pushes people through obstacles
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
Reasons for Conflict
• Lack of clear communication
• Poor resource allocation
• Disrespecting rules and policies (either through ignorance
or intentionally)
• Power struggles
• Role confusion
• Cultural differences
• Personality clashes
• Personal goals/problems
• Performance
IMPORTANCE OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
• Conflict in the workplace/team must be turned into functional conflict

Function conflict is when a conflict situation is handled in such a way as to result in a positive outcome
• If the outcome is poor/negative; then it is called a dysfunctional conflict
FUNCTIONAL CONFLICT
The aim is to manage conflict to gain an advantage:

• Innovation, new ideas and creative thinking from arguments
• Improved team relationships from resolved conflicts
• Conflict, if handled correctly, can create a greater sense of group identity and loyalty
• Conflict usually stems from other problem that may be revealed
• Improved communication
DYSFUNCTIONAL CONFLICT
Dysfunctional conflict should be avoided and can lead to:

• Focus on being right rather than a solution
• Lower staff morale
• Resources are wasted on conflict
• Negative culture can start to arise
• Team members may feel they are on their own
• Hostile work environment
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT SKILLS
The ability to manage stress, deadlines and co-operate with team members is essential to minimising the
amount of conflict.
Some strategies include:
• Learn to say ‘NO’
Being overloaded with work will increase stress and the chances for mistakes.
• Stop saying ‘It’s not my job’
Team members need to work together to achieve success; if you are able then help
• Practice Self Care
Take care of yourself to mitigate the negative effects of stress
Crisis Management is ability to keep your cool in the midst of a crisis; to put the necessary plans in place to
mitigate the severity of a crisis.
Crisis Management can include:
• Time Management
• Prioritising Tasks
• Partition Large Tasks
Change is inevitable and can lead to conflict, uncertainty and low morale.
Learning to deal with change and mitigate its negative effects is important:
• Explain why the change is necessary
• Highlight the positive changes
• Ask for help and offer help

Chapter 8 Teamwork and Conflict Management

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chapter 8 Teamwork and Conflict Management

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chapter 8 Teamwork and Conflict Management

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

TEAMWORK

Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning

• Members settle into their roles and commit to working together.

• Conflict in the workplace/team must be turned into functional conflict

The aim is to manage conflict to gain an advantage:

Dysfunctional conflict should be avoided and can lead to:

You might also like