The team in which I participated included the four employees of the wholesale trade business I own and manage. My role is team leader. The group members were presented with the goal of achieving a new marketing approach that would attract a minimum of 10% more clients per quarter after a three-month implementation. Two of the members of the team were female, Jane and Louise, and two were male, Robert and James. Typically an authoritarian manager, my own challenge was to develop a more egalitarian manner of achieving consensus during this specific goal process.
The source of the team conflict I experienced has to do with two of the members competing for primacy during the process. Lewis (1997) argues that ôcompetition for primacy in a work groupö is commonplaceö (85). The greatest source of conflict stemmed from the quest for primacy between Jane and Robert. Robert, an experienced wholesaler, and Jane, a former marketing manager, argued during many team meetings. Robert felt JaneÆs ideas of designing a Web site to enhance sales was impractical in light of his knowledge of the way wholesale trade operates. Jane, in contrast, felt RobertÆs resistance to using technology stemmed from an entrenched mindset that was counterproductive to goal achievement. The battle for primacy between Jane and Robert made achieving consensus within the group difficult.
The impact of the conflict between Jane and Robert had a detrimental impact on Louise and James. LouiseÆs personality style included a sensitivity and intuitiveness that took offense at RobertÆs criticisms of Jane. This made her unwilling to offer her own ideas or approaches. JamesÆ extroverted style caused him to become involved in many of the arguments between Jane and Robert, but he typically sided with Robert because he felt intimidated by JaneÆs and LouiseÆs solidarity. The conflict caused the team members to square off into mini-teams that prevent group ...