Team Dynamics-Conflict Resolution Strategies
Team Dynamics-Conflict Resolution Strategies
Bringing a team together is as easy as assigning individuals to be part of a group. The team is a small group of people who commits to a common task (Katzenbach & Smith, 1993). Generally, the team should be five to nine team members (Vernon, 2005).
Successful teams are those that perform well with tasks and at the same time foster team relationships. With every group that forms, a need is to be filled for an individual. Being part of the group provides each member with identity but they also need independence and recognition to work well with the other members.
The team can only be as successful as its individual members. The diversity in the team contributes to the team skills, knowledge and attitude towards the tasks and productivity, while backgrounds and culture will affect the whole team relationship.
In an environment where working in teams is encouraged, groups must consider the diversity of their members, their cultural backgrounds and the fact that conflicts will arise because of member's diversity. The way members manage such conflicts and the techniques used to resolve conflicts would determine the success of the teams. The strategy of a leader or mediator is to learn the nature of the conflicts and be aware of the dynamics of conflict resolution.
Stages
A newly formed team will go through five stages (Harvison, 2003):
Form– Individuals agree to become part of the group. The members initiate their activities as an immature group trying to know each other and finding out if they have membership. The contributions to the team are already decided, once their membership is recognized. Tasks behaviors focus on understanding goals while relationship focus on establishing membership and understanding roles (Vernon, 2005).
Norm– In this stage, the group will agree on goals, leader selection, expectations of team members as well as the...
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