Lesson 4: Resolution of Team Divergence

Types of Conflict

Relationships. This deals with interactions between people. At times there may be interpersonal differences, hostility or annoyance between individuals. It may be for a variety of reasons ranging from those with a logical base (i.e. one person offended or did something questionable to another) to those that are more objective (i.e. one person's hair style, manner of dress or even voice tone is annoying). It may begin as one team member is not completing assignments or meeting commitments and another team member complains about this lack of commitment to the team.

This type of disagreement may quickly escalate into a conflict that has a negative influence on the individual's and team's performance. Co-workers may align with one or the other person. The flow of information and idea sharing will suffer. It serves as a distraction from the project since time that could have been used on the project is spent dealing with the conflict. With less than optimal document and idea sharing, the team members are less co-operative and may produce sub-optimal products.