Team Building & Conflict Resolution

Creation, Building & Conflict Resolution

The need to cut costs, improve performance, and remain competitive are ones that have evolved the workplace environment from an atomized one to one in which teams are now the norm. Teams are a way of organizing work and tasks that many organizations utilize. There are several varieties of teams, including work, task, and management teams (Thompson, Aranda and Robbins, 2000). While much has been written about the benefits of using teams to achieve organizational goals, the reality is that teams are seldom as effective as promised. As Blau (2002) argues, "One of the defining characteristics of a team is that you have to be interdependent, but that's rarely true of workplace teams. Part of the reason for recent interest in team-building is that these teams often aren't working properly" (38).

One of the biggest reasons teams fail to work properly is conflict. However, as Thompson (et al, 2000) notes, "All conflict is not created equal" (218). Some forms of conflict are good for group progress and organizational goals, while other forms of conflict have a negative impact on each. Alper, Tjosvold and Law (2000) argue that teams, "as they confront many issues and divisions, must be able to manage conflict to be successful" (625). This research will review the different kinds of teams, methods of team building, types of team conflict, and ways of successfully managin

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rganizational goals. For example, some teams are perfectly suited to handle efficiency issues, but at times other teams are needed that can handle not only efficiency issues but also effectiveness issues. Therefore, as Thompson (et al, 2000) notes, "the critical first step in developing teams is to understand the impact of the team on organization" (20). For task teams, team building must consider different issues than for work teams. Task teams typically come together to resolve a problem, issue, or challenge facing the organization or one of its departments. Often these teams are poorly built because they bring together so many representatives of different departments that the teams lacks a common goal or is lacking in a sense of common good for the organization. Thompson (et al, 2000) lists four design issues that must be addressed in order to build successful task teams: Power level and mix of people in the team. Disposition of members toward problem solving and collaboration. The amount of time allowed to address the issue. Specificity of the task. (21) Many managers argue that communication and information sharing are critical components of building successful management teams. While this may produce useful interaction

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