Team Dynamics and Conflict Resolution

This paper on Conflict resolution and Team Dynamics will include information about Communication, Responsibility, and Conflict. Understanding team dynamics is important to working successfully with others. The dynamics of a team are the forces that produce activity and change of the team as well as the forces and motions that characterize the team. As every team is comprised of different people the dynamics of each team will be unique. In today's online education systems we must understand the real execution of team effort and how to achieve quality work and top performance as a group.

Communication plays an essential role in team dynamics. Each team member should be able to communicate well with other members of the team both individually, and as a group. A team captain can help with communication issues as well as keeping the team on track. Lack of leadership, conversely affects the team in its focus and goal achievement. Responsibility is another important element to team dynamics. Members of the team must be accountable for their contributions to the team effort. Each team member is dependent

on the others to a certain extent. Different qualities will be brought to the team by each member. These differing qualities can be multipliers or detractors to the overall team performance. Teamwork depends on team members being able toidentify which of their peers possess these qualities, and set consequences for irresponsible members. A seasoned team leader will generally make individual assignments, and sub-groups based on these traits that lend themselves best to the mission at hand.

Communication between team members is vital to the overall functions of the team. There are situations when team members do not participate in the group because of lacking of channels of communication. Talking with team members and asking and answering questions build a solid foundation with the team. Dawson (2005 Para 3) states "when it comes to teamwork, a person's ability to build relationships, work with others, and communicate effectively can be more important than his or her technical expertise."

A team is defined as a group of persons associated together in work or activity. Dynamics can be defined as a pattern of process or change in activity. Putting these two words together, we can define team dynamics as teamwork. It is important for any members of a team to become a cohesive unit to achieve successful results. Author Anne Donnellon wrote (1997 p. 56) that "team work is the only way to accomplish much of the work required to achieve the strategic goals... [It] is critical that Americans learn how to create support and work in effective teams."

An additional element of team dynamics is responsibility. A good team has members that can be counted on to complete specific tasks. Members who tackle the responsibilities given to them head-on make it easier for the other members to concentrate on and finish their tasks. Responsible members create success within a team. When a team member becomes an irresponsible member, it can create uncomfortable situations for the other members. Irresponsibility is a stepping-stone toward a member undermining team leadership and the lack of trust between team members crumbles. Ultimately, it causes problems and failure.

A follow on issue concerning successful team dynamics is leadership. A strong leader commands the respect and attention of his or her team. A strong leader directs a team toward success and effectively communicates the goals and mission of the team to its members. A leader must remain a positive influence on their team. As Hultman (1998 p. 12) said, "A leader who champions positive behavior gains repeat, a leader who ignores negative behavior loses it." The dynamics of the team should closely resemble the characteristics of its leader. Leadership is a valuable commodity in dealing with the successes or failures of the team.

These are only three elements we have discussed on team dynamics. There are many more elements that create successful teams but feel communication between members, the responsibility of the members and team leadership are three of the most important.

An odd, but real occurrence in teams called "group think", can stifle and downright plague a team. Group think lulls creativity and action by team members who just view the "flow" of a group to be dictated by raising the least amount of effort or difficulties. In our team, we have diverse backgrounds that do not lend to this crippling disease that have plagued other groups we have seen. We have parents, IT professionals, spouses, and avid readers in our group. We contain an odd slice of the American melting pot, if you will. Many of the actions involved in this assignment have been laid out, discussed, acted upon, reviewed, and discussed some more. Group think has not been a ghostly shadow in our midst and it has been rather clear. In Kratzer, Leenders, & van Engelen's paper "How team communication affects innovation" they discuss many of the points that lead to group think. These very same functions that online students use to communicate they reference as the cause for group think when your team members work in the same locale. Specifically they refer to short, one way, non-interactive communications such as e-mail and instant messaging; as the predominant causes of group think. In our view, we have done rather clear and concise discussions using online chat, instant messaging, and e-mail as well. We can understand the authors' position and in our online experience have not encountered this experience.

As teams interact, there is at times, potential for conflict. Conflict can range from difference of opinion, to heated arguments, or even physical violence. Conflict can be constructive to the team effort under certain situations. A difference of opinion that opens a team up to new ideas and enhances the team effort would be constructive. Many times conflicts are destructive to the team effort. Wasted time and effort on conflicts take away from the efficiency of the team. Conflicts can arise from many different sources of friction or debate. The attitudes of other team members, expectations from others, and personality conflicts are some of the more common reasons that result in conflict. Conflict management techniques such as avoidance, accommodation, and compromise can help teams handle conflicts as they arise. The dynamics of each team will be unique. A successful team member will know how to function well with others to resolve conflicts.

Kenneth Boulding defined conflict in 1962, as, "a situation of competition in which the parties are aware of the incompatibility with the wishes of the other". By nature, the conflict