Question

For the next two requirements, consider your current place of employment or any employer you have work for in the past.

• Have you ever experienced a dysfunctional conflict at work?

Without sharing personal details, can you briefly describe what happened?

From the list of nine common causes of conflict described in the assigned reading, can you pinpoint what the cause of the conflict might have been?

Why was the conflict not resolved earlier?

• Have you ever experienced a constructive conflict at work?

Without sharing personal details, can you briefly describe what happened?

From the list of nine common causes of conflict described in the assigned reading, can you pinpoint what the cause of the conflict might have been?

How was the disagreement resolved?

Answer 1

Dysfunctional conflict

The dysfunctional conflict is basically the one which obstructs the achievement of the goals of a group. It is also called destructive conflict.

1. In this case there is an employee X who proactively works for achieving the goals, on the other hand there is another employee Y who portrays the done by X as his efforts and takes away all the appreciation. In such situation X looses his willingness to work, thereby affecting the team as a whole.

2. Causes which might have resulted in a dysfunctional conflict include:-

- Distrust among team members

- choosing personal growth over and above team growth.

3. The conflict was not correctly channelised and brought to the notice of senior members of the team, else it would have been solved.

Constructive conflict

The constructive conflicts are ones that tend to help lessen tension and resolve issues.

1. In this case there is Y, a senior team member who is taking all relevant decisions regarding the team, another member X has certain suggestion which were oppressed by Y disregarding the knowledge of the junior member, the team leader intervened and found that suggestion of X will help the team in better decision making.

2. Causes which might have resulted in a constructive conflict include:-

- Distrust among team members

- Increased tensions among team members

3. Disagreement was resolved by the team leader by explaining stand of X and enhancing inclusiveness amongst the team