Conflict identification and resolution

Since a team is made of diverse individuals with varying skills, opinions, experiences, and viewpoints; it is vital to address such disputes through techniques such as compromise and negotiation before it becomes a full-blown dispute (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). The key factor in resolving the existing conflict in a team environment is by appreciating and understanding the various viewpoints from every team member. Therefore, this paper will mainly focus on discussing the causes of conflict, steps in resolving such conflicts, and the conflict outcomes after the resolution of such conflicts. Workplace or organizational conflict results when the members of a team overstep the mark of healthy difference in viewpoint or opinion on a given challenge or project. Conflict usually varies in an organization and can generally be triggered by how work ought to be divided or done, the level of income, and how hard and to what extent members ought to work.

In an organization, there are four major levels of conflicts; they include; intrapersonal or individual, interpersonal, group, and organization level conflict. First, the intrapersonal level of conflict occurs with an individual’s motives and drives are confronted or blocked. Some of the factors that result in arise of this level of conflict include incomparability, unacceptability, and uncertainty (Sinha, 2015). The second level of conflict is interpersonal, which mainly involve two or more work participants. For instance, two managers who are competing for the same promotion. In this step, the parties involved must agree to communicate openly and discuss their strong emotions and feelings. The second major step is clearly understanding the situation. Once the team members are ready in resolving the conflict, the next step in to get the point of view of each member and understand the situation at hand.

In this step, the position of each member should be heard and understood. Some of the major activities that are crucial in this step include clarifying positions; listing beliefs, assumptions, and fact underlying each member’s position and then analyzing and dissecting each position in smaller groups (Deutsch et al. Therefore, three possible outcomes can arise from resolving a given conflict. The first outcome is an agreement where both conflicting sides believe that the settlement was equitable and fair. The second possible outcome is a stronger working relationship where both parties focus on building goodwill and trust. The third possible conflict outcome is organizational learning where the group or individual acquires self-awareness, problem-solving skills, and understands better how to solve problems creatively (Behfar et al.