Managing team conflict through leadership and accountability

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, pointing out the role of leadership in managing team conflict clearly.

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). The rules are usually formulated during the forming stage, which is the first stage of the group development process as per Bruce Tuckman\'s model (Margerison, 2003). Group 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, a certain member consistently defied the rules we followed 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 always had to be pushed to fulfill his part of the job. Even with warnings from the team leader, the member continued to disrupt the homogeneity through indiscipline. His behavior was a great detriment to the team and causal missed deadlines. Worse still, distrust and antipathy grew between the uncooperative member and other members of the team. Important meetings and discussions turned out to be unhealthy exchanges. Eventually, no one wanted him in the team anymore, compelling the team leader to report 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. In our case, the laxity of the disruptive, uncooperative member in fulfilling his part of the job turned out to be detrimental to the team, a clear indication of how lack of accountability at the individual level can hamper teamwork. The fundamental idea behind teamwork is to bring together a group of individuals to combine their efforts to accomplish team goals more effectively and swiftly (Pope, 2008). In other words, every member of the team is a collaborator, meaning that their individual input influences the outcome of the group substantially, even if apparently they might seem insignificant. Without collaboration, achieving team outcomes becomes difficult. Accordingly, the team leader, together with the team, must ensure establishing and sustaining a spirit of collaboration.

Literature suggests different approaches through which collaboration within a team can be forged. One effective, practical 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, plants, monitor evaluators, and completers (Margerison, 2003). Though not all Belbin\'s team roles were represented in the team scenario described above, there were team workers, resource investigators, coordinators, completers, and implementers. When a team encompasses disparate skills in, different capabilities, members complement individual efforts -- specialists learn from team workers, shapers learn from implementers, and grow from such experiences. Each individual\'s skills and abilities contribute 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. Even though in our case one of the members was not cooperative, collaboration and interdependence were generally important aspects of our work.

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, contributing in their capacity and executing assigned responsibility 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 experiences 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. If every member in our case had effectively fulfilled their individual roles and responsibilities, it is unlikely that the conflict that occurred would have been experienced.

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). Openness and inclusivity were particularly important in our team. The team leader portrayed a democratic (participative) style of leadership, allowing every team member to have a voice in every process or activity of the team. This was important for ensuring diversity of ideas and perspectives as well as enhancing teamwork and strengthening interpersonal relationships. Team collaboration can be enhanced further 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 and enhancing team functioning and effectiveness.

The conflict described in the above scenario is an example of a destructive 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). Destructive conflict occurs when differences in ideas and perspectives turn into blame games, attacks on personalities as opposed to issues, hateful verbal exchanges, and judgmental responses. An individual or some individuals demonstrate intolerance for diversity, adamancy to have their way in a certain issue, lack of empathy, and insensitivity to other people\'s feelings. In worst-case scenarios, there may be even physical abuse. Destructive conflict affects 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, the negative conflict deteriorated interpersonal relationships and undermined collaboration.

Destructive conflict resembles the competing style of conflict management described in Thomas-Kilmann\'s conflict management model (Raines, 2012). In the competing approach, an individual behaves assertively, disregarding the views and concerns of the other party or parties. They tend to be adamant, keen on having their way. The outcome is often a win-lose situation, where one or some of the parties are not satisfied with the outcome. This serves to deepen frustration on the part of the losing party, thereby worsening interpersonal relationships. However, the competing style of conflict management may be appropriate in some situations. For instance, during emergencies and situations of quick decision-making, it may be the most effective approach.

While conflict is often perceived as negative due to the frustration and antagonism it may create, it may sometimes be positive. In addition, referred to as constructive conflict, a positive conflict is a 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 (Bateman, Snell & Konopaske, 2016). Constructive conflict is seen 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 inter-personal relationships for the benefit of the team. This not only minimizes negative conflict, but also fosters collaboration, consequently enhancing team productivity.

Collaboration is indeed the most appropriate approach to conflict resolution as described by Thomas-Kilmann\'s model (Raines, 2012). Rather than one party winning, attention is paid to arriving at an outcome that satisfies everyone. All interests are considered and carefully balanced to achieve mutually beneficial outcome (a win-win end). This means there is open communication, consideration of everyone\'s ideas and concerns, and understanding of one another. In our case, collaboration was one of the guiding principles of the team. In everything we did, we sought to learn from one another and involve every team member in every process. Even for the case of the uncooperative member, collaboration was deployed as the first technique in resolving the situation. Team members held a number of meetings to discuss the conduct of the disruptive team member and its consequences on the team. Indeed, the decision to report the member\'s stubbornness to the management was not made by the team leader alone -- following a series of unfruitful warnings, the team collectively decided to refer the matter to a higher authority.

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, a considerable part of the leader\'s work involves avoiding and 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 (Bateman, Snell & Konopaske, 2016). 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.

For a leader to effectively manage team conflict, they must possess or exhibit certain behaviors as identified in the behavioral theory of leadership. Dissimilar to the trait theory of leadership, which asserts that leaders naturally bear leadership qualities, the behavioral theory of leadership asserts that leaders are made, not born (Lussier & Achua, 2012). The behavioral school of thought places leaders into three categories: autocratic leaders, democratic leaders, and laissez-faire leaders. Autocratic leaders tend to be authoritarian or dictatorial -- they expect their followers to follow orders and instructions without questioning. While autocratic leadership can quicken decision-making and reinforce accountability, it can create leader-follower conflicts. Followers may feel alienated, unrecognized, unacknowledged, and unappreciated, consequently harboring resentment towards the leader.

Democratic leadership is the opposite of autocratic leadership. The leader cultivates a climate of involvement (Bateman, Snell & Konopaske, 2016). Even though the leader has the final say, they allow team members to offer their input and articulate their concerns. This strengthens relationships between the leader and the team, consequently minimizing the likelihood of negative conflict. When a conflict occurs, democratic leaders do not impose their decisions unilaterally or demonstrate assertiveness. They bring everyone to the table to find a solution that favors every party. The leader allows every party to voice their concerns, and carefully considers both sides to arrive at a decision that satisfies every party (Bertocci, 2009). Our team leader was considerably democratic. He portrayed fairness, openness, and inclusion in the way he conducted meetings, communicated roles and responsibilities, provided feedback, and handled indiscipline. This created a family atmosphere within the team, where team members developed a sense of belonging. While democratic leadership is important for empowering and motivating team members, it may sometimes cause slow decision-making as different perspectives have to be considered.

In laissez-faire leadership, the leader leaves much of the decision making to the team -- they delegate (Lussier & Achua, 2012). This style of leadership is often applicable when team members are more capable or knowledgeable than the leader. Rather than imposing their seemingly less effective way of doing things on the team, the leader allows team members to deploy their more effective approaches. This can minimize conflicts between the leader and the team.

It is important to note that a leader may depict one or more styles of leadership. For instance, a democratic leader may sometimes use the autocratic or delegate approach. In other words, the leader may adjust leadership style depending on the situation at hand -- contingent leadership (Lussier & Achua, 2012). In essence, each situation demands a corresponding leadership style or even a combination of different styles, no leadership style can be appropriate for all situations. In fact, as earlier mentioned, the leader may sometimes use the competing approach to resolve conflicts as opposed to the collaborative approach.