Insight

Five Ways to Resolve Conflict in a Team

All team encounter conflicts, that is both task and relational. People think of conflict in negative terms: shouting, arguing, aggressive and passive resistance. Conflict occurs frequently due to different personality types. People often avoid and ignore conflict. They often unaware of potentially positive outcomes of conflict. People must learn how to solve conflict in a team. Therefore, there are several techniques of conflict resolution in a team, namely:

Withdraw/avoid

Retreating from an actual or potential conflict situation; postponing the issue to be better prepared or to be resolved by others.

Smooth/accommodate

Emphasizing areas of agreement rather than areas of difference; conceding one’s position to the needs of others to maintain harmony and relationships.

Compromise/reconcile

Searching for solutions that bring some degree of satisfaction to all parties in order to temporarily or partially resolve the conflict.

Force/direct

Pushing one’s viewpoint at the expense of others; offering only win-lose solutions, usually enforced through a power position to resolve an emergency.

Collaborate/problem solve

Incorporating multiple viewpoints and insights from differing perspectives; requires a cooperative attitude and open dialogue that typically leads to consensus and commitment.