Min 2000 words

Section 4: Managing Conflict

A major concern for effective team functioning is the amount and type of conflict present in team interactions. Teams often engage in either too much conflict or too little conflict, which can have important implications for outcomes such as satisfaction, cohesiveness, motivation, communication, power/influence, performance, etc. Some thought questions for this section include:

• What is your dominant conflict-handling style (from the survey in your book)?
• What are the potential benefits and problems associated with your dominant conflict handling style?
• What problems might occur when you attempt to interact with people who have a different dominant conflict handling style? What might you do to resolve these problems?
• How does your conflict handling style affect your team or organization's level of conflict and your team or organization's ability to deal with conflict?