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Transforming Conflict to Progress

July 26, 1999

"Conflict among people is inevitable.  Normal human foibles - trivial concerns, misunderstanding, poor communications, fears, judgements, failure to appreciate different perspectives, inflexibility, the need to win, or the need to be right - cause conflict.  Even if we transcend all these issues, we can still expect that conflict will exist.  Inevitably, people will have different opinions, ideas, or interpretations of situations.  Conflicts will occur at any level of trust.

Teams lose some of their effectiveness when they avoid conflict.  If everyone already thinks the same way and has the same ideas, why bother with meetings?  Positive conflict can lead to totally different solutions than any individual could discover independently.

Conflict resolution is of major importance when people are working collaboratively.  The processes used can raise the level of trust.  As people reveal and resolve their differences, they begin to have more confidence in each other (Wells, 1997, p. 167)."

Reference: Wells, S. (1997).  From sage to artisan: the nine roles of the value-driven leader.  Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing.

How do you resolve differences with members of your team?

From Sage to Artisan is available on loan from the OSU Leadership Center.  A complete listing of all the Leadership Center's resources is available on our website www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~leaders

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Created: 2009-01-06, Updated: 2009-01-16