Conflicts Between the Team Members, Essay Example

While Carl was partially correct in his attempt to minimize conflicts between the team members from the two companies during the first several project team meetings, it would have been more beneficial for him to address the disagreements over technological requirements, roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships before these two teams met in person. Since layoffs are a prominent issue in both companies, it is extremely likely that job roles and responsibilities shifted significantly to compensate for the loss in labor. Therefore, it was Carl’s responsibility to define these new positions for the employees before the start of the project so they will be able to approach the first several project team meetings in a manner that would benefit the project. Since the members of both companies were unsure of what they were responsible for within their own company and are now being forced to work with a new group, they both had a difficult time adjusting to this new work climate. Although adjustment would be difficult regardless due to the unique situation of both companies, Carl could have made this transition easier by specifically defining what is expected from each individual in the project team.

A project leader’s management style is directly related to his or her ability to avoid active conflict resolution. Therefore, Carl should behave as a command and control leader in this particular situation. Once he settles the role and responsibility dispute, it would be recommended he change his leadership style to that of a transitional leader once the team becomes more comfortable in conducting their assigned job responsibilities. It is necessary for Carl to approach this situation as a command and control leader because it is an emergency situation in which there is a need for immediate results. It is imperative that the team begins to work together in a way that produces meaningful results and the only way to get this to occur is by telling them what to do. Therefore, Carl must act as the sole decision maker in order to form a team that is organized well enough to perform the necessary task. However, once this issue is resolved, the team will not flourish if they continue to be subjected to this leadership style. Therefore, at this point, it is important to place more trust in the team’s ability to get their work done. This will help the team remain motivated despite the recent layoffs that their company’s faced by strengthening their optimism, enthusiasm, and commitment to the project.

It is important for managers to remember that while avoidance can cause problems, prioritizing conflicts is also important. This statement means that it is important to address problems, but it is also important to understand why these problems have occurred in the first place. This is particularly relevant to Carl’s situation because even though he’s faced with two companies who have difficulty in working together, it is his responsibility as a manager to find out why, and use this reasoning to fix the problem. Ultimately, it is impossible for managers to avoid problems altogether and good managers are those who are able to identify these problems and the best ways to resolve them. Prioritizing conflicts are important because doing so identifies what is wrong in a particular situation, and solving the issue has the ability to bring a work team together in a manner that is more meaningful than if there had been no issue to begin with.