Communication Breakdown and Conflict within Teams

By Steve Lemmex, PMP My team is doing all right, but I wish there were less conflict to deal with! says George, the stressed-out, overworked, underpaid IT Project Manager. Sound familiar? How many of you wish there were no conflict within your work teams and everyone would just get along and do their job? In this paper, we will see that conflict within teams takes many forms and is not necessarily bad. We will see the definition of a team and that there are advantages and disadvantages of working in teams. Finally, we will see a checklist of six things that healthy teams do well and dysfunctional teams do poorly. Included is a quiz to score your teams health in regard to teamwork, communication, and team process.

Conflict within the Team

One of the biggest complaints I hear in the classroom from Team Leaders and Project Managers is that conflict among team members is a significant source of stress. If taken to an extreme, some teams may never get past conflict and may break apart. What does it mean if there is no conflict within the team, other than less stress for the Team Leader? No conflict within a team generally means one of two things: 1) the team members dont care anymore and will just go along with whatever is put forward, or 2) all team members think exactly the same. On the surface, having a team that thinks exactly the same sounds nice, with no conflict and everyone happy. In fact, with no conflict, you may find that no one challenges old ways, no one thinks creatively, no one improves processes, or no one introduces new thinking. The kiss of death in most IT organizations is to stay the same for too long. Both positive conflict and negative conflict exist. Positive conflict is good and healthy; negative conflict is bad. Positive conflict can lead to: increased involvement and team cohesion new ideas challenging the old process innovation and creative solutions to problems healthy venting of emotions the team striving toward a common goal clarification of objectives pressure that gets a team unstuck and moving forward new cultural perspectives

Negative conflict can lead to: lack of new ideas and solutions personal attacks no risk taking and a cover-your-behind mentality withholding of ideas strong resistance to change polarization of groups and formation of cliques communication breakdown burnout no buy-in to the plan sabotage

Where does all this conflict come from? The following may contribute to conflict: different personalities different cultural perspectives different education and experience different viewpoints lack of information lack of respect generational differences view of risk

The bottom line is that some degree of conflict is absolutely essential for healthy teams and is unavoidable. As a manager, you must determine how to deal with inevitable conflict.

Conflict and Teams

Most IT organizations are structured to work in teams. We may see Work Teams, Project Teams, Quality Teams, Horizontal Teams, and Vertical Teams. The definition of a team is a group of individuals who must work interdependently in order to attain individual and organizational objectives. The key word here is interdependently. Interdependence means that all members of the team must depend on each other and if any one individual drops the ball, the whole team suffers. Different divisions within a company may need to share information but they are not really a team. Why the shift to teams? The answer is simple. There is less management, less direction, more autonomy and accountability, the need for specialists, and a greater expectation to work independently without management direction. Also, senior managers know peer pressure to support team goals and each other is a very powerful motivator and productivity is much greater with a team than with individual workers. Most companies will take advantage of this.

As you well know, working in teams is not all sunshine and happiness. In fact, many managers in IT organizations fail to recognize that there are advantages and disadvantages to working in teams. Some advantages of working in teams are: sharing of ideas and experiences learning new things and cross training accomplishing more work drawing on technical specialists the energizing effects of teamwork the creation of personal challenges socializing working with people that have common interests

On other hand, some disadvantages of working in teams are: conflicting personalities and egos difficulty of communication and decisions lack of definition of members roles hidden agendas or win/lose struggles necessity of time-consuming meetings unclear goals or conflicting goals within the team lack of awareness of how the work fits into the bigger picture unwillingness to share or to ask for help geographic remoteness cultural clashes

The Six Things that Functional Teams Do Well

On most projects, it is rarely the technical challenges that cause problems it is most often the people issues that cause the problems. Think of a dysfunctional team you have been on in the past. Was it the technical or the personal element that caused the problem? Healthy teams will always do the following six things well and, conversely, dysfunctional teams will not do these well. 1. Clear Communication Usually the first sign of a dysfunctional team is communication breakdown. Healthy teams have a communication plan that is agreed to by all members. The frequency, format, and type of communication are pre-negotiated and meet the unique needs of the team or situation. Team members also know what to do when they feel that communication is breaking down or if they feel out of the loop. 2. Clear Goals, Roles, and Responsibilities Have you ever been on a team where you had no idea what the goals were, who was in charge, what your role was, and what the big picture was? This is a major source of frustration on most teams and must be clearly

defined early. It is the Team Leaders role to ensure that everyone on the team is crystal clear on these points. Project kick-off meetings are a perfect forum in which to lay these out. 3. A Conflict Resolution Process As we have seen, conflict within any team is inevitable and healthy if managed properly. Healthy teams have pre-set rules of conduct in times of conflict. These rules might include no name calling, stick to the facts, listen to each other, one at a time, dont interrupt, no problem solving until all the facts are on the table, and be patient. If everyone has bought into the rules, then all team members know what is expected when conflict occurs. 4. Clear Decision-Making Process Depending on the situation, there could be many ways to make a decision: the Project Leader decides and tells the team, a team vote, majority rules, minority rules (a minority subcommittee is tasked with making recommendations), an expert decides, or a consensus. There should be a primary decision method and a backup, in case the primary does not work. It does not matter what method you use as long as everyone agrees that it is appropriate. For example, on a fast, shortterm project, the team may be perfectly comfortable with the leader telling them what to do so that they can quickly accomplish tasks. Conversely, on a long-term, strategic project, consensus or majority rule might be more effective. The key is that there should be a primary and backup decision-making method that everyone agrees to. 5. Fair Work Distribution Fair is a relative term. There will be times on any project where some staff do more work than others, but the work must be perceived to be fairly distributed across the whole project. The problems with fair work distribution are usually caused by slackers. If the team cannot address their performance and contribution (and some teams are very good at this), then you, as the leader, may have to get involved by giving clear feedback and setting expectations. Morale is at stake here. 6. Appropriate Leadership This is usually the most difficult one to get right. As the leader, how hands-on or hands-off should you be? Should you take a directive style or delegate? This is never an easy choice. Generally, with inexperienced team members or those on a learning curve, a directive style works best. With experienced staff, you will get the most mileage using a participatory style, which means getting everyone involved, brainstorming, and reaching consensus. You could ask the team, How would you like me to lead? Your experienced staff will likely ask for less direction and will prefer brainstorming sessions; the junior staff will likely want you to be more hands-on, taking the role of coach.

Your job as a leader is to get the job done right the first time and to challenge your staff so that they are able to replace you someday. No one can learn and grow on a team that is not healthy, so it is your job to ensure that your team is motivated and working to its potential. If any of this sounds familiar, I urge you to take the following quiz to determine the exact cause of the problem within your team.

Score Your Teams Health!

Following is a checklist of behaviors that are present within functional teams. Be brutally honest with yourself and for each of the 15 behaviors, score your team. You may want to have the team members score themselves and then compare notes. Team Process
Clear Team Communication

Description of Behavior
1. 2. Everyone on the team feels communication is adequate. Everyone knows what to do if communication breaks down. Everyone is open and friendly with each other. Everyone on the team knows the project goals. Everyone knows their individual roles and responsibilities. There are clear rules of conduct in times of conflict that everyone has agreed to. Everyone on the team has agreed to the primary and backup decision-making method. Work is perceived to be divided equally. Everyone is contributing equally. The leadership style of the Team Leader is effective and appropriate. All team members participate adequately. Underperformers are dealt with immediately. Each member receives sufficient performance feedback. Team meetings are well run. There are clear procedures to follow for reporting and documentation.

Score each from 15 (1 is low and 5 is high)

Atmosphere and Relationships Clear Goals/Roles and Responsibilities

3. 4. 5.

Handling Conflict

6.

Decision Making

7.

Fair Work Distribution

8. 9.

Effective and Appropriate Leadership Member Participation Member Performance

10.

11. 12. 13.

Attention to Process

14. 15.

Scoring 0-20 Very Poor 21-40 Not Bad 41-60 Good 61-75 Excellent

Your team is dysfunctional. Address it right away. There are clearly deficiencies to work out within the team. The team is healthy, but there is room for improvement. Keep up the good work!