Navigating Toward Effective and Efficient Team Outcomes, Article Critique Example

Conflict management is an essential and integral part of leadership in the modern organization. It has become imperative to the success of any given organization to manage conflict and even at time welcome it to realize growth, development and innovation. This paper will look at two article, “Navigating Toward Effective and Efficient Team Outcomes” by Ana Shetach and “Workplace Conflict: A Strategic Leadership Imperative” by Singleton, R., Taneja, S., Larkin, C., and Pryor, M.G.

Summary

“Navigating Toward Effective and Efficient Team Outcomes” by Ana Shetach

The author holds that in order for a team to experience a quick and efficient decision making process, they have employ positive and effective conflict management. This is largely owing to the fact that conflict is inevitable in a team setting owing to the difference in character, strengths and weaknesses of every given individual. Keeping this in mind, the author believes that a team member and/or leader has to identify and take a give position regarding the issue at hand. This is essential to give direction to the conflict, leading it towards an eventual conclusion and solution.

Owing to the differences in character, weaknesses and strengths of individuals, particularly managers, conflict will arise from the management style employed in a given team setting. Some of these managerial styles have both benefits and disadvantages relative to the manager or team leader, the organizational setting and the kind of work entailed in the team’s daily routine.

The author has managed to develop the CAPI (coalesced authority, power and influence) model which assists a manager to highlight the underlying areas of conflict so as to adequately align authority, power and influence to realize optimal production, output and dedication from the team members. The author also highlights how RDSM (Revised Decision-Square model) can be employed to enhance process efficiency through categorizing the numerous important decisions and help in monitoring conflict areas and triggers. Managers can realize a creative and goal oriented decision making process by engraining conflict management into team leadership.

“Workplace Conflict: A Strategic Leadership Imperative” by Singleton, R., Taneja, S., Larkin, C., and Pryor, M.G.

This article looks at workplace conflict management is an essential part of strategic leadership. The article is based on a study that was Pace (2008). This study looked at how employees within an organizational setting encounter and manage conflict. The authors categorize conflict into two main groups; functional conflict and dysfunctional conflict. The type of conflict determines how the involved parties will respond to or manage the conflict. The authors also highlight the underlying triggers of conflict within an organization and how conflict management theories can be employed to manage such situations.

Review and Evaluation

In both articles, the authors have an extensive background in organizational management. This is essential in ensuring the information they provide has a theoretical foundation that can either be analysed or measured in one way or another. However, it is important to highlight the fact that Ana Shetach fails to give backing to her theoretical approach to conflict management. This makes her article purely theoretical as there is no empirical evidence to show that these theories are valid ad applicable under different variables. One the other hand, the authors of the second article have managed to use empirical data to validate their theoretical approach towards conflict management within an organization. The article finds its evidence through a survey that was carried out within different organization pertaining to conflict and conflict management at the workplace.

Authors of both articles have however failed to consider the counter-arguments that may be levelled against their position. This questions the entirety of their arguments as solid arguments would also put counter-arguments into consideration.

In conclusion, I agree with authors of both articles as their points of view are in line with recent economic and managerial issues arising in the business world. These theories validate organization behaviour theories as relates to the issue of conflict management. However, they fail to consider counter-arguments, making these arguments one-sided. The article by Ana Shetach is particularly weak as it lacks empirical evidence.

References

Shetach, A. (2012, July). Conflict Leadership: Navigating Toward Effective and Efficient Team Outcomes. Journal for Quality and Participation, 35(2), 25-30.

Singleton, R., Taneja, S., Larkin, C., & Pryor, M. G. (2011). Workplace Conflict: A Strategic Leadership Imperative. International Journal of Business and Public Administration, 8(1), 149-163.