Team Conflict Management and Dynamics in the Workplace

Introduction

Organizational tasks are becoming increasingly complex and more involved; as a result, teams have become valuable for easier and more effective accomplishment of work (Chekwa & Thomas, 2013). Teamwork has emerged as a crucial driver of organizational productivity in the contemporary workplace (Breugst et al., 2012; Martinez-Moreno et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2015), which largely explains why employers are increasingly seeking individuals with outstanding teamwork abilities. Nonetheless, owing to differences in needs, objectives, opinions, interests, priorities, values, and beliefs among team members, conflicts are bound to emerge frequently (Brown et al., 2011). Without proper handling of these conflicts, both individual and team productivity can be significantly hampered (Fusch & Fusch, 2015).

This paper provides a review of literature relating to conflict management in teams. The review pays particular attention to team development and dynamics, team conflict and conflict resolution, the role of the team leader in resolving team conflicts, and the importance of developing an ethical and diverse culture within the team setting.

Team Development

Team development essentially denotes the process of mobilizing a group of people and motivating them to achieve a defined goal or objective (Raes et al., 2015). Accomplishing tasks in teams has become important due to the associated advantages: greater synergy, quicker and more effective execution of tasks, better problem-solving, increased morale, and improved organizational productivity (Chekwa & Thomas, 2013; Jiang et al., 2014). To achieve these developmental goals, the right fundamentals must be put in place. These fundamentals include effective selection of team members, clear communication of team goals and objectives, proper allocation of tasks and responsibilities, continuous training and learning, and effective leadership and conflict management (Chekwa & Thomas, 2013; Raes et al., 2015).

Successful team development also calls for effective motivation of team members through both financial and non-financial techniques, an atmosphere of inclusive and participatory decision-making, and involvement in activities that foster team spirit and healthy interpersonal relationships (Chang & Lee, 2013). These processes occur across the various stages of team development, which include forming, storming, norming, and performing (Raes et al., 2015).