Conflict Resolution

Every team, even a healthy one, eventually gets involved in a small or big conflict. In fact, conflicts are an indicator of a healthy and growing team to some degree. In that sense, a manager’s claim that their team is conflict-free is usually not a good indicator.

The severity of conflicts is variable, and as a manager, it is your responsibility to help resolve them. Conflicts can be between managers and their reports, between managers and their leadership, or among team members. Sometimes, conflicts can also occur with other teams and customers. In this lesson, we’ll focus on conflicts among team members.

The goal of conflict resolution is always to find a resolution in the most amicable way possible. Depending on the type of conflict, you may be able to restore things to where they previously were, but it might not be possible to resolve every conflict entirely.

So, what is a conflict? In the context of management, we define a conflict as a varying degree of disagreement between different parties working on the same project or deliverable. Conflict resolution can be defined as resolving these disagreements.

Sources of conflict

As a manager, the first step in resolving conflict is to identify its source. The primary source of minor conflicts is miscommunication. Indirect communication leads to communication gaps, which become a major cause of conflict among the team. Let’s look at some more sources of conflict and how these can be identified and mitigated.

A misalignment in expectations can also lead to conflicts. This means that different members perceive the responsibilities of other members differently. For example, Person A expects Person B to design and implement a feature, whereas Person B’s responsibility is only to design it. Gaps in communication often give rise to conflicting expectations and tension within teams.

Another source of conflict can be differences in personalities and working styles. If Person A is a passive communicator while Person B always prefers proactive communication, this can lead to friction between them.

Having different working hours can also lead to communication gaps. This is more evident when people from different time zones collaborate for work.

Differences in interests may also be a source of conflict. For example, Person A prioritizes some tasks according to their interests and personal goals, which may not align with the overall team or organizational goals and timelines. In such cases where the team or organizational goals differ from personal goals, conflicts may arise between different members. Conflict of interest may also emerge between two competing individuals on the same team. In teams where the team culture is set up in a way that individuals compete with each other to gain personal growth instead of sharing team wins, conflicts are inevitable. ...