COM2006-3

Teamwork and Roles

Oftentimes at work, we are required to work in teams. Teamwork can be dif�cult if there are differences of opinion and differences in

commitment to the team and its assigned jobs. This week, you will read about different con�ict management styles. Let's examine the

collaborative style in con�ict management. Using a collaboration style implies that all parties view the con�ict as solvable and use

negotiation to �nd a solution acceptable for all involved.

It is helpful to use a step-by-step process to ensure that everyone in the team contributes to the generation of possible solutions.

Beebe et al. (2017) suggest that an effective way to solve problems is to go through a process involving de�ning the problem,

analyzing the problem, determining the overall goal, generating multiple solutions, and selecting the best solution.

The following are the steps for problem solving:

1. De�ning the problem is an important step because the problem we name is the problem we set out to solve. Frequently,

team con�icts are due to a lack of organizational resources. For example, a team is charged with a big project that has a short turnaround timeline. This problem can be articulated as either the short amount of time allotted to complete the

job or the lack of enough people to do the job in the allotted time. As you can see, if you de�ne the problem as the

deadline, this will lead to solutions looking at how to extend the deadline or rede�ne the scope of the project. On the

other hand, if you de�ne the problem as not having enough people to work on the project, then solutions will look more at

how to get more help.

2. In analyzing the problem, it is critical to set up a structure for analysis. For example, imagine that your team's project is to

create an organizational event for the community by partnering with the local chapter of "Habitat for Humanity." In analyzing the problem, team members should think like reporters and look at the situation from many different angles by

asking the basic questions of who, what, where, when, and why. After the facts are collected and analyzed, the team can

proceed to the next step—to determine the overall goal.

3. In determining the overall project goal, it is important that team members look at all parties involved. For example, this

project for creating an event with Habitat for Humanity has several different stakeholders. Obviously, the organization's

management, which is setting up the task, is a stakeholder, but this project also has other stakeholders, who have their own goals. First, the team agrees that the primary management goal for this event is to create better community relations

and more visibility in the community and, therefore, help expand the company's positive reputation. Other stakeholders

are people who work for this organization. Organizational members who are being encouraged to participate in this

event may have a goal of being able to include this participation in their performance reviews. Habitat for Humanity's

goal may be to get more resources for building houses, in the form of donations, volunteers, and media attention. At this

stage, the team has to determine whether there are any competing goals and rank the importance of different goals for de�ning the overall project goals. For example, the team may determine that management's goal should be considered

�rst, before other stakeholder's goals.

4. Next, the team needs to generate multiple solutions. For this step, it is best to start with brainstorming, where each

member suggests a number of possible solutions. In team brainstorming sessions, it is important that all ideas are

accepted and no one evaluates the merits of any team member's ideas. Also, it is critical that everyone in the team

generates ideas. This stage is for thinking outside the box. Evaluating the merits of ideas and discarding ideas will come in

the next step. For example, team brainstorming for the Habitat for Humanity event has generated several ideas, including having a block-laying race, competition between two teams building two houses, a painting competition, and a children's

fair for entertaining the workers' children. Obviously, some ideas require more resources than others, but at this stage, all

ideas are accepted and recorded.

5. The �nal step is selecting the best solution and requires the team to set up criteria listing the parameters for the best

solution. In other words, what will the best solution look like? For example, criteria can include de�ning resources, such as

the manpower needed to hold events, funds allocated, time allotment, and selection of place. Let's look at our Habitat for Humanity team. First, the team is given a budget from management, which is a well-de�ned criterion. The budget is

adequate but not overly generous and has helped the team to eliminate the idea of a competition where two teams

compete to �nish building their house �rst. The second criterion is to get as many people involved in the community and

organization as possible. This criterion eliminates the block-laying and painting competitions because not everyone

volunteering will have these skills. With these event ideas being eliminated, the team decides that it can get more parents

involved in volunteering if it holds an event for their children where some of the volunteers entertain and engage the

children in activities while their parents work. Even though this is a simplistic example of problem solving, you can see

that this process helps create ideas that get buy-in from all team members. Collaboration is about �nding positive

solutions that meet de�ned goals.