Leadership. Conflict resolution. Teambuilding

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Lectures

Leadership. Conflict resolution. Teambuilding

1. Leaders by definition are those who can make others perform tasks without being coerced through force or formal authority.

Charisma or trait theories of leadership suggest effective leaders are those born with the appropriate characteristics; style and situational theories suggest that effective leaders arise as a consequence of employing the appropriate styles and techniques for a given goal or context.

The abilities of visionary leaders:

1. Their perception of a confusing environment is more accurate than that of the people around them.

2. They are very articulate in verbalizing their perception.

3. They show a very strong belief about what should be done and provide the drive to do it.

4. They show a very strong empathy with their potential followers, and an understanding of their needs, hopes and fears.

5. They show resolution to succeed, through showing determination, enthusiasm, courage, and refusal to quit.

Leadership styles

? Autocratic

? Democratic

? Free reign (laissez-faire)

2. Conflict might be perceived as negative, but as the English philosopher David Hume claimed, “truth springs from argument amongst friends”. In fact, any team experiences conflict, disagreement and difficulties. Almost 30% of the decision-making processes end up in conflict, but the challenge for every team is how this conflict is solved and its conflict resolution strategies.

Different Types of Conflict

Conflict can occur in one of the following situations:

* Intrapersonal - conflict within oneself;

* Interpersonal - conflict between two individuals;

* Person-Group - conflict between one person and the rest of the group;

* Person-Organization - conflict between one person and the organization;

* Inter-Group - conflict between two groups;

* Group-Organization - conflict between a group and the organization;

Conflict Management Styles

In their conflict resolution studies Thomas and Kilmann identified five modes that individuals use as conflict management strategies. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument or TKI is often used in problem solving and conflict resolution training:

Avoiding - an individual who prefers to avoid conflict lacks assertiveness skills and does not like to cooperate with other team members. People who prefer to avoid conflict tend to ignore their own rights and fail to assist other persons. An avoider typically leaves the room when conflict occurs.

Accommodating - an accommodator is an individual who also lacks assertive communication skills and attempts to cooperate whenever conflict occurs. However, an accommodator tends to ignore his or her needs and ignores personal interests as long as the conflict is resolved. An accommodator resolves conflict by accommodating the other person.

Competing -- a competitor is the opposite of the accommodator. Whereas the accommodator seeks to appease the other person, the competitor lacks cooperativeness but is extremely assertive. This means that the competitor evaluates his or her own needs without considering the needs of others. A competitor seeks to win conflict without cooperation.

Compromising - a compromiser can be perceived as the median of the accommodator and the competitor in that an individual who handles conflict by compromising. The compromiser attempts to find a middle ground by considering both his or her needs along with the needs of others. The compromiser displays a balance between assertiveness and cooperation.

Collaborating/Integrating - The collaborator display developed assertive communication skills and high cooperativeness when resolving conflict. Collaborators consider their needs as well as the needs of others like the compromiser. However, unlike the compromiser, the collaborator does not consider giving something up in order to resolve the conflict.

Collaborators display developed conflict resolution skills in their attempt to evaluate and to understand the problem at hand and achieve a win-win situation where neither party involved loses anything. The optimum way to conflict resolution is by achieving a win-win situation and hence collaboration is the best mode when approaching conflict resolution management.

3. Working in teams is inevitable. For years now, organizational leaders have recognized the added value that comes from having employees work in formal or informal teams, but over the last two decades even greater emphasis has been placed on work teams. Several studies indicate that more than 80 percent of organizations employ multiple types of workplace teams.

Team-building and teamwork skills are essential in the workplace and highly desirable skills to possess when seeking a new job or promotion. Teams working at their potential generate more productivity and better solutions than if all the individual members had worked independently.

1. Foster Open Communications. The best teams are those in which every member shares their thoughts and opinions with the group, and where decision-making is based on dialogue and not dictatorship. But open communication is not just about having an atmosphere in which people can talk freely -- it's also about team members listening to each other and valuing each other's opinions. If your team lacks open communications, bring it up at your next team meeting.

2. Build Trust. Trust is the cornerstone of all effective teams. Without trust, there really is no team, just a collection of individuals working together. Teams need to develop to a point where every member trusts that every other member will do the work required and be an active member of the team. One of the trendy methods of trust-building is having team participate in a ropes-challenge course, where teams work together to solve problems.

3. Set Clear Goals. A team without specific goals will not nearly be as effective as a team with goals. Goals should be specific, including a deadline for completion. But goals should not necessarily always come from the leader of the team; all goals should be discussed by the entire team, especially in situations in which deadlines will be tight.

4. Review Progress. Once goals have been set, the team frequently goes off to complete all the tasks to achieve its goal. This scenario is perfectly fine, except that in too many instances, new information or actions can affect the goal's completion. Thus, teams benefit from conducting regular check-ins with all team members -- perhaps something as often as weekly -- to review progress and iron out any wrinkles or overcome obstacles that have arisen.

5. Encourage Cooperation, not Competition. Despite being placed in teams with co-workers competing with you for your next promotion, you must find a way to collaborate with every member of the team. One of the worst labels in the workplace is that of "not being a team player." You will be plenty of time to showcase your personal accomplishments, but without your cooperation, your team may not succeed. Collaboration is a must.

6. Focus on Professionalism. The reality of life is that we all have certain types of personalities that clash with our own, but for teams to work, you have to put aside these petty differences and focus on the positive aspects of all team members. Remember that you are not forging lifelong friendships with your team, you simply need to work together to achieve your goals. Downplay people's negative traits and focus on their positives -- just as they will yours.

7. Celebrate Differences/Diversity. One of the best trends in society, as well as the workplace, has been a growing diversity of people -- by race, ethnicity, gender, and age. Diversity introduces new ways of thinking and leads to new ideas and better decisions. Rather than feeling uncomfortable that most of the team does not look or act like you, celebrate their individual differences and the value that each brings to the team.

8. Be Enthusiastic. Even if you generally prefer to work by yourself, the reality you are face is that teams in the workplace are here to stay. One way to make the best of the situation is to jump into the team experience with as much enthusiasm as possible. Enthusiasm is contagious, so not only will your enthusiasm help you feel better about being a team member, it will lead other team members to also become more enthusiastic.

9. Share the Work/Do the Work. The best teams are those in which each member plays a vital part in work that results in superior performance; thus it is imperative that each member not only feels he or she plays a vital role, but actually does so. But sharing the work is only part of the equation. The other part is that once the work has been assigned, each team member must be accountable to complete the tasks. Much as been written about the "free-rider" problem within teams, but with individual accountability within the team, people cannot hide from their team responsibilities.

10. Clarify Responsibilities to the Team. Often one of the main causes of team members not completing their work is not because they are "slackers," but because they simply do not understand their role on the team -- or the importance that their work will lend to the team. The key here is that each team member must totally understand his or her role on the team and responsibility to the team so the team can succeed.

leader conflict teambuilding

List of literature and Internet resources

1. Bell Ф.Р., Smith D.M., Management communication, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,1999

2. Culp G., Smith A., Managing people (including yourself) for project success, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1992

3. Diamond L., Teambuilding that gets results, Sourcebooks, Inc, 2007

4. Lathrop P.G., A study of Hawthorne, Indy Publish, 2007

5. McGhee K., Teamwork: moving beyond teambuilding exercises, Outskirts Press, 2007

6. Michels R., Teambuilding: the road to success, Reedswain, 2002

7. Mona A.Clark, Interpersonal skills for hospitality management, International Thomson Business Press, 1995

8. Peddler M., Burgoyne J., Boydell T., A manager's guide to self-development, Mc-Graw-Hill Publishing company, 2001

9. http://www.businessballs.com/leadership.htm

10. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_LDR.htm

11. http://pinetreeweb.com/whatis.htm

12. http://www.businessballs.com/leadership.htm

13. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_LDR.htm

14. http://pinetreeweb.com/whatis.htm

15. http://www.suite101.com/content/managing-conflict-conflict-resolution-management

16. http://managementhelp.org/grp_skll/teams/teams.htm

17. http://www.teamsystems.ru/teambuilding/

18. http://wilderdom.com/teambuilding/

19. http://www.quintcareers.com/top_quality_teamwork_tips.html

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