Managing Conflict
Common Causes of Team Conflict
Team conflict is caused by factors related to individual behavior and disagreements about the team's work.
Learning Objectives: Identify the causes of conflict within an organization as a conflict manager.
Key Points
- Team conflict arises from how people perceive others' actions and from differing views of the team's work and how it should be accomplished.
- Common causes of team conflict include conflicting interests, incompatible work styles, competition over resources, failure to follow norms, poor communication, and performance deficiencies.
Key Terms
- Ambiguity: Something liable to more than one interpretation, explanation, or meaning.
- Affective: Relating to, resulting from, or influenced by emotions.
Conflict among team members comes from several sources. Some conflicts are based on how people behave. Others arise from disagreements about the nature of the team's work and how it is being accomplished.
Competing interests: Conflict can arise when people have mutually-incompatible desires or needs. For example, two team members with similar skills may both want a certain assignment. The person who does not receive it can be resentful toward the other.
Different behavioral styles or preferences: Individuals may clash over their respective work habits, attention to detail, communication practices, or tone of expression. While these differences can affect the coordination of interdependent tasks, they can also inhibit direct collaboration.
Competition over resources: Members may fight over the limited resources available to accomplish the team's tasks. For example, if two people both rely on the action of a third person to meet identical deadlines, disagreements might arise over whose work should receive that person's attention first.
Failure to follow team norms: A team member creates conflict when they display attitudes or behaviors that go against the team's agreement about how it will function. If a group norm calls for prompt arrival at meetings and prohibits mobile devices during discussions, ignoring these practices can cause conflict.
Performance deficiencies: When some team members do not contribute their share of effort or do not perform at the expected level of quality, these impositions can cause friction, which may be heightened when critical or highly visible tasks are involved.
Poor communication: When team members do not share relevant information, they may make decisions or take actions that others consider inappropriate or even harmful. Blame and questions about motives can result, creating discord among the team.
Ambiguity about means and ends: Lack of clarity about tasks, strategies, and/or goals can lead people to make assumptions that others do not share or agree with, which can result in conflict.