Research Positive and Negative Effects of Team Conflicts (Research Paper Sample)

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February 6, 2017
Positive and negative effects of team conflict within organizations
Introduction
Currently, there is a debate of opinions between the effects that group conflict can bring when we talking about performance. On the one hand theorists in the past focused just on the negative effects of team conflict; on the other hand, most recent studies indicate that conflict might be beneficial for teams under certain circumstances. Usually when people hear the word conflict they think of it as something negative. But if we are talking about the workplace conflict is not always a bad thing. There is no doubt that there will always be conflict within work teams because of the combination of different people, characters, ideas, and reactions. Conflict within teams is one of the challenges organizations must face in the process of meeting goals. Team conflict most of the time have a negative connotation, but the reality is that conflict can have negative and positive effects. Scholars define conflict as “the process resulting from tension between team members because of real or perceived differences” (DeDreu, Harinck, & Van Vianen, 1999). There are three distinct types of conflict: relationship conflict, task conflict, and process conflict (Thompson 183). Depending on the type of conflict that the team confronts, and the way in which is been handling this can bring either positive or negative results to the performance of the team. Some of the most common causes of team conflict are lack of communication, competition, incompatible work styles, and performance deficiencies.
Causes
Lack of communication in the work team may cause team members to make incorrect assumptions, or interfere with the employee’s emotional status; hence the productivity of the team can decrease. Competition about resources in the workplace is another cause of conflict. Some positions encourage competition as part of the job, for example a sales department will reward the employees with the higher number of products or services sold, and in this case competition will be positive for the team performance. On the contrary if the team members spend time fighting for resources, or arguing about insignificant issues this has a negative effect since it will create individualism, a hostile environment and decrease productivity. Because employees come from different backgrounds and have different personalities this is another issue to deal with in work teams. The interaction between people with different personalities must be handled very carefully; trying to accept each other if we want to preserve an atmosphere of mutual respect. There are various factors that can lead the members of a team to be deficient in their performance. For example, maybe they did not have enough training, lack of motivation, the position demands too much for their abilities, or they are simply taking advantage of the team by becoming a social loafer. Obviously, this contributes greatly to having conflict within the team. If management fails to identify these causes in a timely manner and does not create a plan to resolve these issues, it will lead the team to eventually crash. Taking into account the above it is definitely possible to detect the causes of team conflict in time and avoid negative consequences.
Types of conflict and their relationship with performance
Conflict has been suggested to interfere with team performance because it produces tension, antagonism, and distracts team members from performing the task (De Dreu and Weingart 741). But what types of conflict are actually beneficial and what types are harmful for team performance? At first glance we would think that all types of conflict are detrimental for team performance but this assumption is incorrect.
Research has shown that relationship conflict, which is a perception of interpersonal incompatibilities among group members, and typically includes tension, animosity, and annoyance, can have a negative effect on team performance. Whereas task conflict, which is a perception of disagreements among group members about the content of the task been performed, and includes differences in viewpoints and opinions can have a positive effect on team performance (Jehn 258).
Consequences of team conflicts
Conflict in an organization has the effects of a double edged sword. When conflict arises, there can be both positive and negative consequences. However, the process of resolving conflict determines the benefits it renders to a team because whether team conflict is productive or not, it depends on how team members within an organization perceive it, and the impacts it has on the team towards achieving the teams or organization’s goals.
Positive Consequences
Conflict is known to have negative implications on performance but when conflicts eliminate barriers resulting from misunderstandings and assumptions about the strategy, goals, and tasks of a team, the results are beneficial to the organization. When conflict creates broad awareness about the experiences of a team, there is improved productivity and performance. Similarly, conflict leads to process improvement when the deficiency in team communication is revealed and corrected. On the other hand, conflict is beneficial to an organization because it spurs creativity and innovation by finding creating problem-solving tactics. Furthermore, conflict acts as an inspiration to team members to brainstorm ideas and evaluate problems from different angles.
An evaluation of the organizational goals and objectives helps to meet the needs of the parties in conflicts which is beneficial. It leads to the achievement of objectives congruence and coherence in the operations of an organization. Therefore, conflict streamlines the leaders of an organization to align their objectives towards achieving a common goal for teamwork to be fostered within the competing parties (O' Niell, Hastings and Allen 236-260).
Communication is an imperative attribute that can improve team interaction or lead to conflicts. However, when conflicts units team members in an organization, it helps them learn about each other. They understand ones strengths, weaknesses, opinions, and preferred style of communication. Thereby, a teamwork conflict inspires the necessary problem solving instruments like efficient communication.
Negative Consequences
One of the bad consequences of relationship conflict is termination (Thompson 183). If the team loses a good employee due to conflict this will result in a decrease on the productivity of the team or a work load while replacing the member who escaped from the problem. A good characteristic of team conflict is that challenges team members to be creative and make them analyze from a different point of view the tasks and projects of the team.
Conflicts within an organization lead to wastage of time and decrease in productivity of employees. Members use a lot of time during conflicts that their concentration on the organization’s tasks and goals is lost. Conflict causes less focus on the organizational projects and waste time venting about their frustrations or even gossiping about the conflict. Therefore, the organization may end up losing money and accessibility to vital resources. Another negative implication of team conflicts in an organization is that it brings more problems. Enmity between employees leads to discord which reduces the cohesion of team members and their ability and willingness to work together. On extreme cases, workplace conflicts lead to violence when it escalates without a mediator. It is very unfortunate but conflict in an organization can lead to violence and legal problems to both the employees and the organization.
Moreover, conflict affects communication within the organization as employees withdraw their participation leading to poor task coordination. Besides, heightened emotions and tension lowers the satisfaction of team members, increasing their frustrations, and leading to poor call of judgments. In some cases, conflict can cause members of a team to withdraw mandating the assignment of new members into the group which may lead to poor performance due to resource scarcity. In other extreme situations, conflict can be lethal if left unattended because it can completely disable the functioning of a team, leading to its disbandment (O' Niell, Hastings and Allen 2013).
Case Study: Shared goals among team members
Kelly Johnson the sole-proprietor of Eco-Lodge in Belize deals with team dynamics regularly. She has employed twenty five full-time who work onsite for a fortnight, in a close-knit situation that can spark conflict if unaddressed. The business has four managers, Katja a front office expert who supervises the staff when Kelley is not at site. There is also Carl...