Conflicts in a team: ways to resolve them, classification, causes and effective methods for solving problems

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The problem of conflicts in the team and ways to resolve them is relevant for people involved in various fields and areas. A specific feature of a person is the complexity of interaction with other persons under certain conditions. The larger the team, the higher the likelihood of conditions that are followed by tense conflict relations. Let's take a closer look at this topic.

General information

As psychologists who specialize in conflicts in a team and ways to resolve them say, as long as our community exists, the same number of people suffer from conflict situations. Any process of communication is fraught with the risk of such a problem. A modern person devotes the main percentage of his life to work, where he is forced to interact regularly with both management personnel andpeers and subordinates. The task of a persona is to ensure the maximum efficiency of the workflow by interacting with other people. The tighter the communication schedule, the more reasons that allow individuals to misinterpret what others have done or said. Misunderstandings breed controversy. The situation may be relatively safe, but sometimes it threatens the achievement of the goals of the enterprise.

The problem of conflicts in the team and ways to resolve them is observed when misunderstanding and dispute between persons threaten the achievement of someone's goals, desires. Conflict denotes active actions directed by the parties of confrontation against each other. These actions have a specific goal - achieving more power, obtaining financial security, or something else. In addition to purposefulness, conflict actions are distinguished by a significant emotional coloring, provoke strong feelings in all involved individuals. As studies devoted to this problem have shown, up to 80% of all conflicts between people appear because people are dissatisfied with their financial situation or that of another person. From the outside, it sometimes seems that the root cause is in the simple quarrelsomeness of the characters, in the views inherent in the person.

Dangerous or not?

In general, conflicts in the team and ways to resolve them for the management staff is a source of headache. Any controversial situations that lead to such consequences cause a strictly negative attitude among managers. Moments of conflict provoke tension in the working community, lead to a drop in process performance indicators, and can spoil the effectiveness of the department. One of the reliable methods of conflict prevention is the introduction of pen alties for participation in such situations. This practice is more characteristic of Western enterprises, but in recent years it has become more widespread in our country. The fine is charged for actions due to which the enterprise incurs economic losses.

It is difficult to ask those who come up with and implement such pen alties in their company. It is not always possible to resolve the situation, the conflict in the team so that "both the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe," and the situation itself creates disorder. Accordingly, a fine that encourages employees not to start disputes is a reliable preventive measure. It is used to eliminate the instability of the enterprise. In addition, due to conflict situations, the adoption of decisions vital for the company almost always slows down.

Are there any benefits?

According to psychologists, the conflict in the team, ways to resolve this situation is a very difficult and multifaceted topic. Even such a seemingly absolutely negative phenomenon has positive aspects. Often, the management personnel of the enterprise do not take into account the positive aspects at all. The fact is that any conflict situation is a potential impetus for progress, a source of innovation. Because of the conflict, changes are more active, and the parties are clearly interested in them. If the conflict is completely forbidden,at the same time, the management personnel will put a ban on the development of the enterprise, its growth. Among the positive aspects, it is also worth noting: thanks to the conflict, the expressed tension between the parties dissatisfied with each other is removed. You can study the opponent, determine what problems exist within the company. By evaluating conflicts, managers can come up with new approaches and rules that will discipline employees and rally colleagues. One of the tasks of a wise manager is to extract the maximum benefit from current conflicts, so that people direct their forces not against each other, but to fight external aggressive factors.

About the reasons

The problem of resolving conflicts in the workforce is so relevant, because it is not possible to exclude conflicts, to insure oneself from them absolutely qualitatively. There are a huge number of reasons for the occurrence of such situations, and each of the factors only inflames the situation even more. The limitation of the resource that is shared between persons is always a source of tension. The dissemination of data that is acceptable to some and not to others is another potential source of problems. Such information becomes a variety of gossip. Under the influence of these phenomena, individuals show inappropriate behavioral responses.

Goals, meaningful values for hired persons and the enterprise may not coincide. This is another potential source of conflict. There are reasons related to behavior, communications. Others have certain expectations that are notcorrespond to individuals. Conflicts are escalated by problems of social status and official powers. They are determined by the behavior of the staff, responsibility and willingness (and unwillingness) to take it upon themselves. This broad list makes it clear how unrealistic it is to exclude conflicts in advance. So that they do not damage the enterprise, you need to be able to manage them, use them for the benefit of the company.

How to manage?

If there are two ways of management, which are to some extent ways of resolving conflicts in the workforce. For each individual enterprise, you can create a list, an action program that will minimize the causes of a conflict situation. The second way is aimed at changing the behavioral reactions of people involved in the confrontation. It is necessary to teach all staff to interact in a civilized manner with each other.

Developing measures to manage conflict is the responsibility of a psychologist. The best solution is to hire such a specialist on the staff. Many enterprises in recent years have introduced the position of conflict management consultant. You can get the services of such a professional by contacting a consulting company. Special trainings are held. There are companies whose main field of activity is business support. The goal of the program is to maintain a normal level of interaction between employees, in which the company can develop, and conflicts adhere to the established framework.

Causes and consequences

The most reliable way to resolve conflicts inthe labor collective - the exclusion of problems that provoked a tense situation. They organize events aimed at the distribution of powers and the design of the work process, the introduction of a fair incentive system. At the same time, they start from the fact that any team is formed by people with all the specific features of the representatives of our society. Formation, setting, if necessary, correction of the personnel system - this is a reasonable way to prevent a conflict situation. To correctly determine the criteria for selecting personnel, it is necessary to fix the key goals of the enterprise, company values, behavioral norms, and working principles. These criteria are used to assess the behavior of employees, as well as potential applicants for vacant positions.

It is impossible to apply conflict resolution methods in a team if work with employed and potential employees is carried out only at the documentation level. Of course, it is very important to review documents, especially accepted ones, but it is no less important to organize two to three interviews to assess skills, professionalism, and personal characteristics. There are special methods by which values, goals of a person, behavioral strategies that a person resorts to in everyday life are revealed. At the interview, they test the ability to respond to changes in the situation in a crisis. If the values of the company and information about the person match, the person is hired. If there are no matches, accepting the person is likely to be the first step towards conflict.

Clear and clear

In order not to have to deal with conflict resolution in the military collective, labor, pedagogical and any other, the management personnel must immediately determine and inform everyone of the “rules of the game”. Explaining the requirements for the work process is an effective, reliable, effective way to manage people while preventing conflict. If a boss tells a subordinate that he has big plans and hopes associated with this person, he will probably be disappointed sooner or later. To avoid an unpleasant situation, it is necessary to convey to each person how exactly she should realize these hopes. To do this, they report on what criteria the work is evaluated, clearly define the duty, scope of responsibility, boundaries of authority. To consolidate use a stimulating system.

According to experienced specialists in this field, conflict resolution in the teaching staff, any other workforce through the stimulation system is one of the most reliable ways to manage the confrontation between employees. It is necessary to evaluate and calculate the capabilities of such a system in advance, otherwise the results will be opposite to those planned. For example, many businesses give sales bonuses to managers, thereby incentivizing them to offer discounts to any potential customer, which drives down average profits. This leads to conflict, gives rise to disputes between departments. In order to neutralize such, it is necessary to determine common goals for all. For greater efficiency, the evaluation system is being revised.

Communication

If you turn to specialized publications that tell about the conflict in the team and its resolution (with examples of the real implementation of certain methods), you will notice that many enterprises resort to corporate events, festivities. It is believed that this is a good way to improve relations between people. Since the best way to resolve a conflict is to prevent it, activities to bring workers together should be organized before tensions arise. Management helps staff find common themes that extend beyond work issues.

People who specialize in conflictology point to the presence of a rational aspect in any confrontation. Conflict is a kind of inflammation. It can be eliminated by firing one of the parties or demotion. This is a stressful option, painful for people, but allowing the enterprise as a whole to become he althier. The best approach is not to delay until firing is the only option, but to identify the conflict at the stage of minor disagreements and teach people to communicate without turning to confrontation. As part of employee training, staff are trained to talk about points of dissatisfaction without focusing on the personal interests of others. Some consider the "I-statement" to be the best option. This is a format for transferring information to another person regarding the current issue, aimed at changing the person's attitude without confrontation.

On examples

Very often in everyday life in the office there are situations that giveunderstanding of the importance of proper interaction. Consider an example of a conflict in a team and its resolution. A person comes to work and sees that all the items on his desk have been moved by someone else - probably a colleague was trying to find something. The employee, dissatisfied with the picture he saw, reports that he can get angry, break loose if others touch his things without notifying him. He says out loud that every time he returns to work, he wishes to see his desk in the state he left it in when he left his seat.

In such a situation, the "I-statement" includes the event, the reaction of the person, and the determination of the optimal outcome. Such a statement will be useful in different situations. Especially good results are observed if a person is angry, angry, dissatisfied, seeks to express it, but does not want to start an open confrontation and tries to express his emotions as civilized as possible.

Is there an alternative?

It is possible to resolve interpersonal conflicts in a team using innovative approaches. These are the ways in which people express dissatisfaction, indicate their opinion about the weaknesses of the company's activities, while not trying to name someone guilty, but looking for ways to solve the complexity. First, the problem to be processed is formulated from the problem. They identify the benefits that an individual person, the company as a whole, will receive if the problem can be solved. The next step is the formation of motivation, so that the staff wants to solve the difficulties. To create a zone of mutual understanding,the debaters change camps and view the relationship from the opposite point of view.

An important aspect of resolving interpersonal conflicts in a team along this path is to determine the key common values of the enterprise and hired people. These values will form the basis for defining solutions. Employees determine the options for getting out of a contradictory situation from the side of a competent third-party person. That is, the persons proposing the solution are well aware of and have researched the problem, but are not inside it. They become compliant arbitrators. The purpose of the staff involved is to come up with several solutions that will benefit everyone.

The implementation of such a sequence gives an excellent and effective solution to the conflict. It is carried out at the expense of employees who assume corrective measures. This allows you to eliminate the shortcomings of the company, to reach a new stage of development.

About types

Before talking about ways to resolve conflicts in children's groups, creative, labor, military, you need to turn to the classification. The following forms are distinguished:

• business dispute;
• formalization;
• antagonism.

Dispute is the most constructive, often useful format. Participants disagree on a specific issue, have a well-defined area of communication, seek agreement. Formalization of relations is not so constructive. Disagreements are varied and relate to numerous issues. If people avoid interaction and communicate in a strictly official format, we can safely talk about the development of this type of conflict. The third option, psychological antagonism, is considered the most destructive. Disagreements are unlimited, people cannot agree on anything, they always hold opposite points of view on the designated problem.

About the confrontation in the military environment

Since the problem of various conflicts occurs quite often among the military, numerous ones have been developed capable of resolving them. In a military collective, conflicts can be intergroup, affecting individuals, as well as developing within one person. The unit commander must analyze the circumstances, collect as much data as possible about the situation, evaluate the information received, the degree of its reliability, and evaluate the circumstances. Next, they determine the method of settlement, clarify the data, implement the planned measures, after which they begin to fight the post-conflict state of people who recently opposed each other.

Methods for resolving conflicts in a military team (interpersonal and intergroup) are considered meditation, auto-training. Sometimes there is a need for the use of drugs. Among the options for solving the problem are training, exercises. A course of multiple trainings is possible. Sometimes it makes sense to organize a situational game or a business event.