Skip to Main Content
Conflict Resolution at Work for Dummies®
book

Conflict Resolution at Work for Dummies®

by Vivian Scott
December 2009
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
356 pages
8h 47m
English
For Dummies
Content preview from Conflict Resolution at Work for Dummies®

Chapter 3. Determining How Groups Contribute to Conflict

In This Chapter

  • Identifying how your employees fit within your organization

  • Highlighting common areas of conflict within groups

  • Avoiding negative group behaviors

Put two or more people in a work setting and you're bound to have conflict. The conflicts can range from minor squabbles about who drank the last cup of coffee to major disputes involving discrimination or sexual harassment. Anytime people interact, disagreements and disputes can result.

Whether you wear a white tie, a blue shirt, or a uniform, your workplace has naturally and artificially formed groups that add characteristics to the work environment and, ultimately, to conflict. You've probably heard phrases like group think and mob mentality used to describe what can happen when people get together. And with terms like these floating around, it's natural to assume that groups are bad. But, as a manager, you know that groups are essential!

Created based on similar job assignments (like the accounting department) or pulled together based on skill sets (like a selected task force), groups are required to get the work done. Teams can work like well-oiled machines that win awards, exceed sales projections, solve what seem like insurmountable problems, and build elaborate buildings in record time. So if groups have the capacity to do such great things, what is it about them that causes conflict?

In this chapter, I share how the company, its culture, and the phenomenon of group ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

Conflict and Leadership

Conflict and Leadership

Christian Muntean
50 Activities for Conflict Resolution

50 Activities for Conflict Resolution

Jonamay Lambert, Selma Myers

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780470536438Purchase book