Conflict Resolution

Conflict Resolution paper

As members of an unsystematically selected college learning team our sole purpose was to collaboratively complete assignments in a timely manner. The four members of the group communicated mainly via the internet as opposed to face-to-face interaction. All members have the ability to communicate over the phone, through email and team forum. As a team we understand that we have academic business to adhere to and each member is prepared and eager to work together to complete each and every assignment. This paper helps to define, clarify and express our initial experience as a team.

Team Behaviors

As the team underwent the orientation stage, some of the members were quick to introduce themselves and get acquainted. Most of the team had already begun to get to know one another through the class forum and the chat room bio posts. Within the bio posts, our team members shared some intimate details about our personal and professional life. This helped to break the ice and allow us to get a better understanding of our member's background. The team was eventually established and we came together to try and cohesively begin our first few objectives.

As our team assessed the objectives of our first week's assignment, we understood that it was important to establish a collaborative team charter as to avoid negative conflict. Dr. Henry Cloud from Forbes says, "Boundaries can build a positive emotional climate that leads to high performance" (Schawbel, 2013). Since it's important to have clear and concise boundaries, we took the initiative to compile and post the team charter. As a team, we needed to know what behaviors were acceptable and a guide to insure we were following rules the entire team agreed upon. The team effectively collaborated together and agreed upon the charter.

A legitimate power was established to a team member for the first assignment. Their responsibility was to delegate, compile, and finalize the team assignment. Because this role was assigned, each member understood their roles and contributed their portions of the assignment. Norms were established and our team members took a mono-chronic approach to getting our first assignment completed.

A Team Problem

A problem our team faced was getting every member to check in and begin our objectives for the week. One member had personal issues that prevented him from contributing earlier in the week. We identified that we might be short one team member in our group. Correspondingly, we analyzed the situation and decided to divide up the assignment amongst confirmed team members. The team checked with our instructor to see if the absent team member was still present in the class. When it was confirmed he was still in the class, we received a post from him that explained his situation for being absent earlier in the week. We were then able to designate sections of the assignment to him. With the additional help, we were able to compile a successful assignment.

Influence of Leadership on the Team

They type of leadership exhibited in our team assignment was authoritarian leadership. This type of leader assumes that he or she knows the type and amount of structure the group needs and proceeds to tell others what to do but they are not always known for listening and responding to others (Beebe, Beebe, & Ivy, 2013). Authoritarian leadership style must be used carefully and executed reasonable (McShannon, Eric. 2009). Problem solving groups exist to resolve an issue or overcome an unsatisfactory situation or obstacle and achieve a goal. Our team was very quick to resolve any problems by communicating within the group as a whole. The steps that would produce better results would have been to discuss with the individual directly instead of communicating with the team as a whole. For example if a team member forgot to include important information in their paper or assignment then address the individual directly. If mistakes are not brought to the individual's attention then they will not know what was incorrect on their part and unable