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Two basic types of conflict that occur in teams are task conflict and relationship conflict:
• Task conflict refers to disagreements among people about the goals to be achieved or the
B. Balancing Conflict and Cooperation
There is evidence that mild conflict can be beneficial to teams. A healthy level of conflict
helps to prevent groupthink, in which people are so committed to a cohesive team that they
are reluctant to express contrary opinions. When people in work teams go along simply for
Exhibit 10.6: Balance Conflict with Cooperation
Too little conflict can decrease team performance because the team doesn’t benefit from a mix
of opinions and ideas—even disagreements—that might lead to better solutions or prevent the
team from making mistakes. A moderate amount of conflict that is managed appropriately
typically results in the highest levels of team performance.
C. Causes of Conflict
Several factors can lead to conflict. One of the primary causes of conflict is competition over
resources, such as money, information, or supplies. In similar fashion, conflict often occurs
D. Styles to Handle Conflict
Exhibit 10.7: A Model of Styles to Handle Conflict
The two major dimensions are the extent to which an individual is assertive versus unassertive
and cooperative versus uncooperative in his or her approach to conflict. Five styles of
handling conflict are as follows:
• The dominating style (my way) reflects assertiveness to get one’s own way and should
be used when quick, decisive action is vital on important issues or unpopular actions,
such as during emergencies or urgent cost cutting.
• The avoiding style (no way) reflects neither assertiveness nor cooperativeness. It is
appropriate when an issue is trivial, when there is no chance of winning, when a delay
to gather more information is needed, or when a disruption would be costly.
New Leader Action Memo: Which conflict-handling style do you tend to use most frequently?
Answer the questions in Leader’s Self-Insight 10.3 to find out. Try to think of conflict situations
you’ve been involved in where each of the styles might be appropriate.
New Leader Action Memo: As a leader, you can adopt the best approach for handling a team
conflict. Choose among the dominating, avoiding, compromising, accommodating, or
collaborating styles based on the degree of assertiveness and cooperativeness needed to manage
the situation.
Each of the five styles is appropriate in certain cases, and effective team members and leaders
Discussion Question #9. What style of handling conflict do you typically use? Can you think of
instances where a different style might have been more productive?
Notes_________________________________________________________________________
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E. Negotiation
One distinctive type of conflict management is negotiation, whereby people engage in give-
and-take discussions and consider various alternatives to reach a joint decision that is
acceptable to both parties. Negotiation is typically used when a conflict is formalized, such as
between a union and management.
Ways to Negotiate
Integrative negotiation is based on a win–win assumption, in that all parties want to come
up with a creative solution that can benefit both sides. Rather than viewing the conflict as a
win–lose situation, people look at the issues from multiple angles, consider trade-offs, and
try to “expand the pie” rather than divide it. With integrative negotiation, conflicts are
Rules for Reaching a Win–Win Solution
Achieving a win–win solution through integrative negotiation is based on four key
strategies:
• Separate the People from the Problem. For successful integrative negotiation, people
stay focused on the problem and the source of conflict rather than attacking or
attempting to discredit each other.
• Focus on Underlying Interests, not Current Demands. Demands are what each
person wants from the negotiation, whereas underlying interests represent the “why”
behind the demands.
• Listen and Ask Questions. Leaders can learn more about their opponent’s position,
their constraints, and their needs by being quiet or asking questions. Smart
negotiators want to learn the other side’s constraints so they can help overcome them.
Discussion Question #10. If you were the leader of a team developing a new computer game,
how might you apply negotiation to resolve a conflict between two strong-willed members
related to which features to include in the game?
Notes_________________________________________________________________________
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What is the difference between a "team" and a "group"? Describe your personal
experience with each.
Students’ answers will vary. A team is a unit of two or more people who interact and
coordinate their work to accomplish a shared goal or purpose for which they are committed
and hold themselves mutually accountable. A team is a group of people, but the two are not
2. Discuss the differences between a cross-departmental team and a self-directed team. Do
you believe self-directed teams could be effectively used in certain types of organizations?
Explain.
Students’ answers will vary. A cross-departmental term is made up of members from
different departments within the organization. These teams are often called
suggestions for coordinating the departments represented, develop new ideas and solutions
for existing organizational problems, and assist in developing new practices or policies.
Cross-departmental teams may gradually evolve into self-directed teams. Self-directed
teams are made up of employees who work with minimum supervision and rotate jobs to
produce an entire product or service, or at least one complete aspect or portion of a product
or service. Self-directed teams have access to information and resources needed to perform
3. Which of the five elements of high-performance teams do you think would be most difficult
for a leader to implement in a virtual team? Explain.
Students’ answers will vary. A virtual team is made up of geographically or
organizationally dispersed members who share a common purpose and are linked primarily
through advanced information and telecommunications technologies. Despite their
potential benefits, there is growing evidence that virtual teams are often less effective than
4. Describe the stages of team development. How would you facilitate a team’s development
through each stage?
Students’ answers may vary. Research suggests that teams develop over several stages.
These stages typically occur in sequence, although there can be overlap.
• Forming. The forming stage of development is a period of orientation and getting
acquainted. The leader’s challenge at this stage of development is to facilitate
communication and interaction among team members to help them get acquainted
and establish guidelines for how the team will work together. It is important at this
5. How might an individual’s dilemma about teamwork be intensified or reduced in a virtual
team? As a virtual team leader, what would you do to manage these dilemmas?
Students’ answers will vary. Leaders can be more effective when they understand three
primary reasons teams present a dilemma for people:
• We Have to Give Up Our Independence.
• We Have to Put Up with Free Riders.
• Teams Are Sometimes Dysfunctional.
6. The chapter suggests that very small teams (say, three to six members) perform better, and
most people prefer to work in small teams. However, many companies use teams of 100 or
more people to perform complex tasks, such as creating and developing a new product. Do
you think a unit of that size can truly function as a team? Discuss.
Students’ answers will vary. Although most researchers agree there is no optimal team
size, teams function best when they contain just enough members to perform the job, and
most experts recommend that teams should err on the side of having too few members
7. Discuss the relationship between team cohesiveness and performance. As a leader, can you
think of specific ways you would encourage norms of cohesiveness and collaboration?
Students’ answers may vary. Team cohesiveness is defined as the extent to which members
are attracted to the team and motivated to remain in it. Members choose to remain in a
team because they believe in the goals and objectives of the team. The outcome of team
8. Think about a team you have participated in to do a class project or a sports team on
which you participated. Can you identify members who played a task-specialist role and
those who played a socioemotional role? What behaviors were associated with each?
Students’ answers will vary. The task-specialist role is associated with behaviors that help
the team accomplish its goal. People who play a task-specialist role initiate ideas, give
opinions, seek information, summarize, and energize.
9. What style of handling conflict do you typically use? Can you think of instances where a
different style might have been more productive?
Students’ answers will vary. Following are five styles of handling conflict:
• The dominating style (my way) reflects assertiveness to get one’s own way and
should be used when quick, decisive action is vital on important issues or unpopular
actions, such as during emergencies or urgent cost cutting.
10. If you were the leader of a team developing a new computer game, how might you apply
negotiation to resolve a conflict between two strong-willed members related to which
features to include in the game?
Students’ answers will vary. One distinctive type of conflict management is negotiation,
whereby people engage in give-and-take discussions and consider various alternatives to
Teaching Tools and Exercises
1. Leader’s Bookshelf: Great Business Teams: Cracking the Code for Standout
Performance by Howard M. Guttman
Management consultant and author Howard Guttman believes high-performance
organizations begin with great teams. In his book, Great Business Teams, Guttman draws
3. Activity: Managing Teams
Students will interview three managers at different organizations. Ask them about their
experiences in managing teams. What behaviors have they found that work? What
behaviors have not been successful in creating an effective team? Students will share
5. Leadership at Work: Team Feedback
Think back to your most recent experience working in a team, either at work or school.
Write down your answers to the following questions about your role in the team.
• What did the team members appreciate about you?
• What did the team members learn from you?
In Class: “Team Feedback” is an excellent exercise to use for student feedback to one
another after a specific team class project or other activities done together during the
class. If there were no assigned team activities but students have gotten to know each
other in class, they can be divided into groups and provide the information with respect to
their participation in the class instead of in the student team. The instructor can ask the
student groups to sit in a circle facing one another. Then one person will volunteer to be
the focal person, and each of the other team members will tell that team member the
following:
• What I appreciate about you
Leadership Development: Cases for Analysis
I. Decision Time
Synopsis
Ben Dooley and Casey Stringer had agreed to stop for coffee in the atrium Starbucks before
heading up to the 35th floor for a board meeting.
“Watching Johnna and Robert in previous board meetings helps me to understand why the folks
in Congress can’t get anything done,” Casey mused. “Both sides have stated their positions and
nothing, nothing will budge them. I dread this meeting. I’d rather have a root canal.” “Well,
“… Or do we re-shore?” Casey added.
“Yes, Robert is going to have to face the fact that if we stay in China, we have to move from
Wenzhou,” Casey pointed out. “The worker shortage is bad and getting worse. The last estimates
for that region were one million workers short. As wages go up and other opportunities present
“And a factory move will delay manufacturing and make shipping even more difficult,” Ben
replied. “Add to that the Chinese insistence on full payment before shipping, and we’re looking
at some potentially serious delays.”
“Johnna, on the other hand, is going to argue that the situation in China is an indication that now
is the perfect time to re-shore—bring the jobs back to the good old U.S. of A.,” Casey said.
“She’s going to dig in her heels on this one and you and I know that at least two members of that
‘august’ board are going to back off and let her have her way with no careful analysis of the pros
“So both Johnna and Robert have a strong argument and some glaring weaknesses. Is there room
in here for a compromise? That’s what I would like to see. They would both get something,”
opined Ben.
“I don’t know. I’m eager to see what each one of them presents. It should be an interesting
conversation.”
“Or an afternoon in hell,” Ben said as the two headed for the elevator. “I wonder what you and I
might do to help Johnna and Robert resolve this conflict. What do you think we should do,
Casey?
Case questions and answers
1. What styles for handling conflict appear among the board members? Explain.
There seems to be a massive clash of opinions between Johnna and Robert with respect to
the factory in China, resulting in a task conflict. Task conflict refers to disagreements
among people about the goals to be achieved or the content of the tasks to be performed.
2. What options do Ben and Casey have for helping resolve the conflict between Johnna and
Robert? What conflict styles might they adopt for this meeting?
Students’ answers will vary. Ben and Casey can make use of the following options to
help resolve the conflict between Johnna and Robert:
• Dominating style
• Avoiding style
• Compromising style
3. What suggestions would you make to help board members arrive at a good team decision?
One distinctive type of conflict management is negotiation, whereby people engage in
give-and-take discussions and consider various alternatives to reach a joint decision that
is acceptable to both parties. Negotiation is typically used when a conflict is formalized,
such as between a union and management. Conflicting parties may embark on negotiation
from different perspectives and with different intentions, reflecting either an integrative
II. Devereaux-Dering Group
Synopsis
Dashing to catch a cab at the corner of Sixth and Vine, the account team was exhilarated. After a
quick exchange of high fives, three of the four jumped into the backseat of a cab to return to the
Manhattan offices of Devereaux-Dering, a global advertising agency with offices in New York,
Hong Kong, and Paris. The team couldn’t wait to tell their team leader, Kurt Lansing, that they
had won the BMW account that morning. The fourth team member, Brad Fitzgerald, stood apart
from the animated group, studying his BlackBerry and then hailing a cab for an afternoon flight
out of LaGuardia.
Case questions and answers
1. What factors do you think are affecting this team’s cohesiveness? Explain.
Students’ answers may vary. Several factors to influence team cohesiveness:
• Team Interaction. The greater the amount of contact between team members and the
more time they spend together, the more cohesive the team. Fitzgerald was not
interacting with the members of the team. He came up with a tag line for the BMW
account and did not share it with the team members prior to presenting it to the
client. This caused hard feelings and resentment.
2. If you were the team leader, what could you do to bring Fitzgerald into the team more and
foster better relationships among the team members?
Students’ answers will vary. As a team leader, he or she should focus on socioemotional
role─behaviors that maintain people’s emotional well-being, such as facilitating the
participation of others, smoothing over conflicts, showing concern for others, and
maintaining harmony. People who adopt a socioemotional role display the following
behaviors:
• Encourage—are warm and receptive to others’ ideas; praise and encourage others
to draw forth their contributions.
Digital Homework Grid
Case Assessment Questions
Topic
Category
Jennifer is part of a team that
is effectively trained to work
with minimum supervision,
where members are jointly
responsible for making
decisions and solving
problems. She, along with her
team members, feels a strong
sense of identity with the
organization as they are in
control over their work lives.
What type of organizational
team is Jennifer part of?
a. Functional team
b. Cross-departmental team
c. Special-purpose team
d. self-directed team
Leadership Challenge #1
Perform
Gary claims to be part of a
special-purpose team. Which
of the following statements
support this claim?
a. His team is made up of a
supervisor and subordinates
who follow formal chain of
command.
Leadership Challenge #1
Perform
Patricia uses a conflict
handling style that reflects a
high degree of
cooperativeness. She uses this
style when building social
credits for use in later
discussions, and when
maintaining harmony is
especially important. Which
style of conflict handling does
Patricia use?
a. Dominating style
Leadership Challenge #6
Perform
Homework Questions
Topic
Category
_____ are made up of
members who work with
minimum supervision and
rotate jobs to produce a
complete product or service.
a. Functional teams
Leadership Challenge #1
Engage
Special purpose teams:
a. are created outside the
formal organization structure
to undertake a project of
particular importance.
b. are made up of a supervisor
and his or her subordinates in
Leadership Challenge #1
Connect
Leaders can be more effective
when they understand that:
a. free riders should be dealt
with in a harsh manner.
b. independence and group
success are not interrelated.
Leadership Challenge #2
Connect
You are doing research on
the five common
dysfunctions of teams. You
believe you understand the
different dysfunctions and
the resulting behavior.
Illustrated in the table below
is a list of dysfunctions along
with descriptions of
behaviors and attitudes.
Match each aspect with their
corresponding description.
Dysfunctio
n
Attitudes
and
Behaviors
Lack of
People don’t
Leadership Challenge #2
Connect
Trust
accept
responsibilit
y for
Fear of
Conflict
People can’t
truly
commit to
decisions
because
Lack of
Commitmen
t
People go
along with
others for
the sake of
Avoidance of
Accountabilit
y
Members
put personal
ambition or
the needs of
their
individual
departments
ahead of
collective
results
Inattention
to Results
People don’t
feel safe to
reveal
mistakes,
share
