Everywhere where People with different values, ways of working, cultural backgrounds and, quite simply, different personalities come together, there is potential for conflict. These and to create a productive dynamic within the team. lies with Executives. Our article is dedicated to the topic of Conflicts in the team, types of conflicts and approaches to resolving them for this.
How do you define a conflict?
The Gabler Business Dictionary defines Different types of conflict. We focus on the term Conflicts in organizations, as this is relevant for this article is. Conflicts in organizations are understood to be "Tense situations in which interdependent people try to achieve incompatible goals or realize conflicting plans of action".
When you hear the word conflict, you usually think immediately think of something negative. But conflicts do not necessarily have to be negative in nature be.
The Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon writes "Conflicts lead to social change: to the adaptation of social norms or the development of new social norms and rules. This gives rise to new social structures and institutions. Behind this position, which defines conflict as functional for society, is a conflict model of a society that is based on the assumption of a pluralism of different and also controversial interests, attitudes and values and in which the non-violent settlement of conflicts represents the central integration achievement. However, social conflicts cannot be fundamentally understood as functional in the sense of social integration (especially wars, revolutions, civil wars)".
Andres have expressed Conflicts make sense because they have the potential to have a cathartic effect on entrenched or toxic structures and to persuade them to change for the better.
Conflicts in phases
As there are different types of conflicts, there are also different phases that they go through. The division into 4 phases is suitable for our goals:
1. discussion
The first step here is to discussed at the content level.
2. overlay
There are already first verbal attacks and insinuations. These are no longer factual, but increasingly emotional in nature.
3. escalation
This leads to a Interplay of attacks and counter-attacks. People now want to harm each other and the rational level has been completely abandoned here.
4. chronification
Those involved lose energy. Conflict resolution is essential in this phase, otherwise there will be constant (chronic) dissatisfactionwhich resonates in the background and thus Performance of the individual participants and the entire team impaired.
Recognize conflicts before they escalate
Recognizing conflicts early on can prevent them from escalating. In fact, there are Signs that can be observed within a team dynamic or in interactions between individuals. may indicate conflicts.
These include, for example
/ excessively many sarcastic remarks
/ permanent Interrupt
/ Insulation from individual persons
/ Information on are no longer passed on
/ Rumors make the rounds
/ Non-verbal devaluationse.g. disparaging looks, rolling eyes etc.
/ Drop in performance
/ little motivation of the employees
How managers can resolve conflicts in a team
Managers should Ideally be impartial and allow all parties to have their sayto describe their side of the story. There are also some steps that managers can take to de-escalate the situation. to bring about.
Putting a stop to rumors
Rumors are like wildfire. They spread incredibly quickly and they remain in place until the conflict surrounding them is resolved. was achieved. Occupational psychologist Christa Schirl says that complaints are really nothing more than rumors. are. This means: Speaks If an employee makes a complaint, the manager must immediately bring all those involved to the table. and listen to nothing without that all persons involved in the matter are present are.
Do not give room to accusations and allegations
I-messages instead of you-messages is the right communication strategy for all conflicts. This also applies to Conflicts in organizations. It is therefore important in conversation, that everyone involved listens actively and does not throw accusations and allegations around. Of course, this is difficult when the conflict has already reached the emotional phase. That is why It is up to the manager to remind those involved to send "I" messages and say how they feel about the situation and not what the other person has caused.
What is behind the conflict?
The Finding out the reason for the conflict is therefore essentialyou want to get this out of the way. For this it is important As a manager, ask how it came about and what the parties involved need to solve the problem. One approach is to make the team members aware that everyone within the organization has a common goal and is pulling in the same direction draw. Because people often lose sight of this goal because of all the emotions and hurt feelings. The The manager thus brings the participants back to the rational level.
What do you want to achieve?
It often makes sense agree on a goal during the conversation with which you want to end the conflict. This could be "How do we want to work together in the future?" or "What do we need to be able to work together as a team or as team members?"
Once this has been defined, you can actively work towards this in conversation.
It all depends on the questions
Solution-oriented instead of problem-oriented questions is the be-all and end-all in the role of managers when it comes to conflict resolution. This means that We should find out how the conflict came about. Was there a miscommunication? Was there not enough information available? Or did the other person's behavior cause annoyance? Whatever the trigger(s) may be, in the end it is important that you work together to find a solution and not continue to harp on the problem(s).
Examples of problem-oriented questions:
Why didn't that work?
Why have you done this? needed longer?
Why did the not working again?
Examples of solution-oriented questions:
What do you need/needto make this work?
Do you think it would be better to plan more time next time?
How can we can make it work in the future?
Conflict culture
I have read the Most people are focused on conflict avoidance out. Especially when it comes to conflicts in the workplace, people tend to try to avoid conflicts. This is a normal human reactionwhen you consider how much time you spend at work.
But the fact is that you Conflicts can neither be avoided nor should. So that these do not escalate or grow into unsolvable problems, a culture of conflict should be established. introduce. What does this mean concrete?
/ Rules introduce rules according to which conflicts are resolved
/ These Rules should be jointly developed and transparent. be made
/ Introducing a culture of communication and listening, with the personal discussions - such as regular feedback meetings and check-ins. It is also advisable to Joint activities such as regular team breakfasts or internal workshops to be introduced in which relaxed atmosphere an exchange can take place.
Of course you can Every company and every organization can develop individual solutions and proposals with regard to a conflict culture. come up with. After all, this depends on various factors.
A The i-worx day at i-pointing is an excellent example of all employees coming together in a relaxed setting. Here you will find numerous Workshops and group activities take place, we eat together and also have the great opportunity to get to know our colleagues from the home office and to be seen regularly. And our next i-worx day is also coming up soon. We are looking forward to exciting activities, lectures and good food. Conflict culture works at i-pointing. And of course it will there will also be a separate blog post about this.
Sources:
https://www.karriere.at/c/a/konflikte-im-team
https://www.clevis.de/ratgeber/konflikte-im-team/
https://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/definition/konflikt-41120
