Conflict Resolution in Engineering Project Teams Interpersonal Effectiveness Intermediate Level

1. Conflict Resolution in Engineering Project TeamsInterpersonal EffectivenessIntermediate Level Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

2. Acknowledgment of Support • The material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No. DUE-0089079: “Implementing the BESTEAMS model of team development across the curriculum.” • Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. • Additional support was provided by the A. James Clark School of Engineering, the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Morgan State University, the United States Naval Academy, and Howard University. Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

3. “Conflict is a form of interaction among parties that differ in interest, perceptions, and preferences.” • Kolb, David A., Osland, Joyce S., and Rubin, Irwin M., Organizational behavior: An experiential approach, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 6th Edition. Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

4. Examples of Team Conflict • Describe: • Factual situation • Effects on team members • How the conflict was handled • Effects of Resolution on Team Member(s) • “Why is conflict so difficult to deal with?” Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

5. Why Conflict Management? • Teams in engineering require both interpersonal and technical competencies • Breakdowns in either skill can cause team disruption • Therefore, conflict management skills are vital to team harmony and productivity • Many projects have been endangered because of feuding team members! Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

6. Constructive (functional) Conflict… Not all conflict is negative • Forces members/subgroups to discuss their differing viewpoints • Often results in mutual understanding • Helps a team to achieve its goals • Example: Member A wants to use Method I while Member B wants to use Method 2 to design a necessary component • Resulting discussion clarifies A & B’s viewpoints and a decision is reached Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

7. Destructive (dysfunctional) Conflict… • Is a hindrance to the team • Leads to reduced productivity and morale • Should always be addressed and never ignored • Example: Member A wants to exclude Member B from future meetings because Member B often is late to meetings • Resulting discussion reduces team resources for project completion Conflict that reduces effectiveness is negative Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

8. Major Reasons for Conflict1 • Differences in beliefs, values, & expectations often are the main cause of conflict. Conflict may arise when: • Two members or sub-groups use different sources or interpret the same source differently • Members or sub-groups have different or sometimes conflicting objectives • There are differing views on how logistics should be managed • There is a lack of authority structure or hierarchy • The team is in the “storming” stage of development Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

9. Competition assertive Collaboration Assertiveness Party’s desire to satisfy own concern Compromise unassertive Accommodation Avoidance cooperative uncooperative Cooperativeness Party’s desire to satisfy other’s concern Conflict Management Styles2 Style choice will probably vary by situation

10. 5 Conflict Management Styles: Preferences for dealing w/ conflict • 1. Competing • Individual forces his/her way by being aggressive, uncooperative, and autocratic • A win-lose situation is created • 2. Avoiding • Individual ignores the problem rather than negotiating to reach a resolution • Individual is unassertive and uncooperative • A lose-win situation is created Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

11. Conflict Management Styles (continued) • 3. Accommodating • Individual tries to resolve the conflict by giving into the other member(s) of the team • This person is unassertive and cooperative • A win-lose situation is created • 4. Compromising • Individual tries to resolve the conflict through give and take and making concessions • The person is assertive and cooperative • A win-lose or lose-lose situation is created depending on the concessions made Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

12. Conflict Management Styles (continued) • 5. Collaborative • Individual tries to resolve the conflict with the solution that is agreeable to all members of the team • Individual is assertive and cooperative • This is the only style that has a win-win resolution! Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

13. Increasing Collaboration: A Practical Tool • The “XYZ” model of conflict resolutiondescribes conflict in terms of behavior, consequences, and responses: • “When you do X (a behavior), • Y (consequences) happen, and then • I do Z (personal response).” Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

14. When you do X behavior, Y consequences happen, My response is Z. X=“When you come to meetings late, Y=the team has already started and decisions are being made that don’t have your input, Z=and my response is frustration and wanting to quit the team.” XYZ Conflict Resolution Tool Example Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

15. Role Play Conflict Resolution • Take one of the conflicts that has been mentioned • Using the structure that has been presented as the starting point, use the collaborative XYZ model as a way to begin resolving the conflict • Provide feedback (what worked, what did not, what influenced the process?) Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

16. Handling Deadlock • Deadlock is a special case of conflict: the team has come to a grinding HALT!3 • Ignoring the conflict is NOT an option, so instead try: • Having each individual/sub-group debate from the others’ point of view. This will help all involved to understand all viewpoints. • Looking for a possible solution by examining and analyzing the two sides for common ground. • Debating each side in context of the original task. After the allotted time is over for each side, toss a coin if it is not an critical issue and move on. Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

17. Choosing to Continue Teamwork • Conflict resolution may fail! • The team must choose: • What team consequences to impose on the uncooperative member(s) • How to continue project progress • The revised working terms should be clear to all team members Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

18. Summary • No team can function without some level of conflict • Being comfortable using conflict will enhance the work of the team and lead to a better engineering product • We discussed: • Reality of conflict and the need to resolve it • Intervening: Conflict Management Styles (Collaborative) • XYZ Model of responding to conflicts Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

19. Summary • Handling special cases of conflict: Deadlock • Although conflict always involves emotions at some level, strategies for solving the situation require cognitive skills (diagnosis, problem solving, leadership) and some degree of risk taking • Conflict Management is a transferable skill that can be used beyond the team setting: LEARN/USE /BENEFIT! Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

20. Optional Slides Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

21. How is Conflict Manifested in the Team? • Team conflict can be manifested in any or all of the following ways: • Attitudes: almost always poor • Behaviors: unreliable, inconsistent • Structure: team infrastructure is not working (meetings, communication frequency, jobs are not getting done) Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

22. Intervention in Team Conflicts • Intervention2 • To promote constructive conflict, intervention may be needed to reduce conflict in groups with too much conflict • Intervention among groups involves efforts to disrupt the cyclic behavior caused by the interaction of attitudes, behavior, and structure • These strategies for intervening among groups are given on the next three slides Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

23. Handling Attitude Issues • When it is necessary to change team members feelings and perceptions: • Emphasize the overall team goal • Share perceptions to clarify team dynamics (peer to peer feedback) • Encourage slackers to rejoin the group; re-assign tasks and rotate roles Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

24. Handling Behavior Issues • When individual performance in the team is not effective, try: • Skill training for the individual or whole team (technical or interpersonal dynamics training) • Bringing in a consultant with the missing skill set • If lack of skill is not the problem, use conflict management skills or a third party negotiator to get the non-participating individual to contribute to the team Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

25. Handling Team Structure Issues • When the context in which the team is working or the “rules” for guiding the team are not working, try: • Involving the larger system (instructor, customer) • Redefining the team charter and revisiting the team goals and deliverables • Reorganizing tasks assigned to individuals to require more cooperation/interaction Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

26. Exercise • Imagine a team conflict from your own experience: • Was it due to attitudes, behavior, structural (or a combination) of issues? • What would you to handle the conflict? • What else could you have done? Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

27. Third Party Negotiation • Called for when team led conflict resolution does not work • Negotiator can be any non-team member respected by the group or the instructor • Using “Principled” Negotiation,3 a negotiator will: • Separate the team members from the issue – be tough on the issue, not the members • Focus on the issue, not the different viewpoints • Develop different solutions that are satisfactory to all • Have objective criteria for selecting the solution Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

28. Redefining “Failure” • Some teams think “conflict=failure” • Conflict is natural in the context of a team with a deadline • A true “failure” is an event where everyone agrees that something went wrong and should be avoided in the future • All failures should be examined/analyzed by the group BEFORE the next phase of the project is started. • This way a mistake should only happen ONCE. • To show continued trust in the individuals involved in the original error, delegate the solution agreed upon by the team to these individuals. Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

29. Conflict Resolution: References • 1http://www.cooper.edu/classes/eng/esc000/Conflict/notes.html • 2Kolb, David A., Osland, Joyce S., and Rubin, Irwin M. (1994). Organizational Behavior: An experiential approach. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 6th Edition. • 3http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerald/Management/ • 4Felder, R.M., Felder, G.N., & Dietz, E.J. (2002).  The effects of personality type on engineering student performance and attitudes. Journal of. Engineering Education, 91(1), 3-17. Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004