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Summary Common dysfunctions in teams
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Sessie 4: Common dysfunctionsin teams
Want Collaboration?: Accept- and Actively Manage- Conflict (Weiss &
Hughes)
Collaboration such initiatives yield the occasional success story, but most of them have
only limited impact in dismantling organizational silos and fostering collaboration – and many
are total failures.
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Three Myths of Collaboration
1. Effective collaboration means “teaming”
a. Many companies think that teamwork training is the way to promote
collaboration across an organization usually the right solution to the wrong
problems:
i. The most critical breakdowns in collaboration typically occur not on
actual teams but in the rapid and unstructured interactions between
different groups within the organization.
ii. Breakdowns in collaboration almost always result from fundamental
differences among business functions and divisions.
b. People who need to collaborate more effectively usually don’t need to align
around and work toward a common goal. They need to quickly and creatively
solve problems by managing the inevitable conflicts so that it works in their
favor.
2. An effective incentive system will ensure collaboration
a. You can hardwire collaboration into your organization by rewarding
collaborative behavior unfortunately, the results of such programs are
usually disappointing.
b. Why such poor results? To some extent, it’s because individuals think – for
the most part correctly – that if they perform well in their own operation they
will be “taken care of” by their bosses. In addition, costs.
3. Organizations can be structured for collaboration
a. Many managers look for structural and procedural solutions to create greater
internal collaboration. But bringing people together is very different from
getting them to collaborate.
b. People’s inability to deal effectively with conflict has undermined a new
process specifically designed to foster organizational collaboration.
………………………………………………………………………………………………......
Most companies respond to the challenge of improving collaboration in entirely the wrong
way.
You can’t improve collaboration until you’ve addressed the issue of conflict.
Executives underestimate not only the inevitability of conflict but also – and this is key
– its importance to the organization.
Clashes between parties are the crucibles in which creative solutions are developed
and wise trade-offs among competing objectives are made.
1
, There are a number of straightforward ways that executives can help their people – and their
organizations – constructively manage it. These can be divided into two main areas:
1. Strategies for managing disagreements at the point of conflict
i. Conflict management works best when the parties involved in a
disagreement are equipped to manage it themselves.
b. Devise and implement a common method for resolving conflict.
i. Without a structured method for dealing with issues, people get
bogged down not only in what the right result should be but also in how
to arrive at it.
ii. Often, they will avoid or work around conflict. When people do decide
to confront their differences, they usually default to the approach they
know best.
iii. Establishing a companywide process for resolving disagreements can
alter this familiar scenario.
iv. For a resolution method to be effective, they should offer a clear- step-
by-step process for parties to follow. They should also be made an
integral part of existing business activities people can devote their
time and energy to exploring and constructively evaluating a variety of
options for how to move forward.
c. Provide people with criteria for making trade-offs.
i. The task (make zero-sum trade-offs) is made much easier and less
contentious when top management can clearly articulate the criteria for
making such choices provides an objective focus and sends a clear
signal from management that it views conflict as an inevitable result of
managing a complex business.
ii. Example with Blue Cross and Blue Shield: build, buy, or ally?
d. Use the escalation of conflict as an opportunity for coaching.
i. Managers should treat escalations as opportunities to help employees
become better at resolving conflict (instead of quickly resolving the
problems presented to them).
1. Example: IBM: Coaching for Conflict executives get training
in conflict management and are offered online resources to
help them coach others.
2. Strategies for managing conflict upon escalation up the management chain
a. Establish and enforce a requirement of joint escalation
i. The best way to avoid a kind of debilitating deadlock is for people to
present a disagreement jointly to their boss or bosses.
ii. Joint escalation helps create the kind of accountability that is lacking
when people know they can provide their side of an issue to their own
manager and blame others when things don’t work out.
b. Ensure that managers resolve escalated conflicts directly with their
counterparts
i. Solution: a commitment by managers (codified in a formal policy) to
deal with escalated conflict directly with their counterparts. Resolving
the problem early on is ultimately more efficient than trying to sort it out
later, after a decision becomes known because it has negatively
affected some part of the business.
c. Make the process for escalated conflict resolution transparent
i. Clear communication (by managers) about the resolution of the conflict
can increase people’s willingness and ability to implement decisions.
2
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