How to Preempt Team Conflict
by Ginka Toegel and Jean-Louis Barsoux
TEAM CONFLICT CAN ADD VALUE OR DESTROY IT. Good conflict fosters respectful debate and yields mutually agreed-upon solutions that are often far superior to those first offered. Bad conflict occurs when team members simply can’t get past their differences, killing productivity and stifling innovation.
Disparate opinions aren’t the root of the problem, however. Most destructive conflict stems from something deeper: a perceived incompatibility in the way various team members operate due to any number of factors, including personality, industry, race, gender, and age. The conventional approach to working through such conflict is to respond to clashes as they arise or wait until ...
Get HBR's 10 Must Reads on Communication 2-Volume Collection now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
