Conflict resolution

1. Conflict resolution How to avoid (or deflate) conflict in the team

2. Conflict is good and bad • Conflict can • Help a team to clarify goals and aims • create better ideas and decisions • But can also • Hamper team effort • Lead to lower productivity • Basically does not help!

3. Game Theory • Game Theory is one approach to solving conflict • It uses the concept of “payoff” • Everyone playing a game wants some sort of “pay off” or reward for their effort e.g. • Recognition of effort • Financial reward for effort • Getting it out of the way

4. Typical scenarios Compromise

5. Types of Game • Competitive • For you to get your pay off some else must lose e.g. Game of golf • Co-operative • For you to get your pay off other members must also receive reward e.g. football game • Can happen in parallel (think of a relay team)

6. Problems • Problems occur when • You play a competitive game co-operatively • One on one computer games • you play a co-operative game competitively • Think of a “greedy” striker in football • Most team work is co-operative • There are reasons why co-operative or collaborative games are lost…..

7. Problems 2 • each party makes assumptions or does not understand the other parties position • Where everyone knows what the win positions are, the parties denigrate each others' win positions • One party tries to convince the other that their expectations are unrealistic • 2 four year olds saying “That’s just silly” • Where the win positions are mutually agreed and accepted, each party focuses on the problems and/or apparent differences instead of trying to work together to come up with solutions

8. Overcoming conflict • There are methods to overcome conflict • Clarify the conflict or problematic decision • Find out the win position of the other party • Listen, declare your win position and accepting other parties win positions • Communicates everyone's positions and stops incorrect perception • Brainstorm ideas for a mutual win situation • Evaluate the ideas to see which is most suitable

9. If that does not work then… • Prepare to compromise • State what ways you would be prepared to compromise • Ask other parties to declare their compromise position • Re-evaluate the solutions you have created to see if they can match the new compromise positions

10. If that does not work then…(2) • Refer to a third party • Someone else in your organisation • Usually a manager but does not have to be • Beware • If you get to this stage you can end up with one or both parties losing

11. And finally • Once you have dealt with the conflict • Communicate the resolution to everyone • Communicate the reasons for the chosen solution • Put it behind you and don’t gloat! • Remember peoples memories of these situations tends to be subjective • (if you want an example ask an England fan and an Irish Fan about the try on Saturday)

12. Further reading • Conflict Resolution: Mediation Tools for Everyday Worklife by Daniel Dana • (try Ch 6) ( a good brief guide) • The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice by Morton Deutsch • a good in depth book on a large range of conflict types • Harvard Business Review On Negotiation and Conflict Resolution • Try the “The Team That Wasn't “ chapter • All available on netlibrary