Teamwork, internal conflict and how it can be managed MBA

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Introduction

The aim of this assignment is to examine the case of internal team work the emergence of conflict and its management within organizations (Bradley et al., 2012). The assignment discusses how teams represent an effective organizational form with which members are able to share ideas and also to identify common goals (Dealarue et al., 2008). However, teams can also become a cause of organizational conflict as members develop their sense of identity and seek to protect their own social image (Gilson et al., 2015). The first part of the assignment discusses the importance of teams. The second part discusses the reasons that often lead to conflict within internal work teams. The third part discusses how an organization manages instances of conflict.

Internal Teams

According to Humphrey and Aime (2014) the use of teams is one common method by which the management of an organization is seeking to identify optimal methods for the completion of its objectives. Organizational objectives represent generalised aims that require a more optimal structure (Malhotra, et al., 2007). The breaking down of objectives is useful for streamlining the process in which objectives are achieved. The structure of the team can differ according to management’s intentions. For example, teams can be designed through an external party that decides on the decision making coordination between members (Kristin et al., 2010). However, teams can also be self-organized, operating as autonomous units with little control from the outside.  The structure of a team remains important because it can determine the level of communication channels with which information is distributed between members. According to Greer, Jehn and Mannix, (2008) the popularity in the use of teams is based in managerial aspirations for generating a greater efficiency in the way goals are performed. However, this view is also challenged in the literature with Kristin et al (2010) suggesting that teams generate a greater level of complexity that contributes to misunderstanding and conflict. In particular, the management of an organization does not account for how the diversity and competition between members should be managed so that team does not become dysfunctional (Janicik and Bartel, 2003). For this reason Janssen and Bartel, 2003) suggest that the design and use of teams often remains problematic and does not deliver against the initial managerial intentions with which it is used (Hackman, 1987)

Conflicts within Teams

Team conflict remains an inevitable aspect of any interaction between organizational members as interests are negotiated in the way tasks and activities are carried out (Janicik and Bartel, 2003). Conflict can exert challenges onto the cohesion of teams with the result of threatening the efficiency with which activities are conducted. Janssen van de Vliert and Veenstra (1999) identify that there can be different sources of conflict. However, the more prominent sources include task, relationship, and process conflict.

Task conflict is defined a having some awareness of differences in viewpoints and opinions about the group’s task (Jehn, 1997). Relationship conflict is interpersonal animosity, tension, or annoyance among members. Even though this distinction carries some simplification it identifies that conflict is situated in the making of core assumptions and expectations of behaviour by the individual as well as the others (Jehn and Chatman, 2000). Process conflict is the more specific methods with which tasks are linked to organizational goals. Conflict associated with task comprise of already existing structure and operations with which an organization has been operating and which have become part of its culture. For example, in some instances the recruitment of new employees can generate a new source of knowledge for how a tasks need to be performed challenging prior ways of performing them. Jehn (1997) suggest that diversity can be a positive source of conflict in order to generate enthusiasm and a greater sense of engagement. However, Jehn Northcraft and Neale, (1999) also suggest that the management of conflict is a delicate process as it can affect the members’ relationships and the absence of a management strategy can make the interaction stagnant. Team related difficulties include the creation of explicit or implicit divisions between members within a team (Pelled, Eisenhardt and Xin, 1999). In case that an organization is using different internal teams that need to operate between them then divisions can threaten cohesion and collective commitment. Bradley et al., (2012) identify that the struggle for power and control is situated in the way expectations are met and through the way tasks are produced. This is an inherent quality that cannot fade away. It remains prominent in the way members identify with their own interests. Hence, the members’ lack of compliance to team expectations can be perceived as encouraging but also threatening to other members (Dealarue et al., 2008).