Welcome back. Our next three videos are all about conflict and negotiation. This is so important, because conflict is inevitable in every group and we need to know how we can navigate our differences and accomplish our objectives. All this relates to communication, because so many of our conflicts are related to what people say or don't say. Our interpretations of each other's actions and our understanding of what things mean in our group interactions. And our ability to manage or resolve this conflict and to negotiate favorable outcomes will always depend on how we communicate with each other in our groups. So let's dig in and learn more about what group conflict is and how group communication can help us manage, and resolve our conflicts. First up, we'll look at how groups can have a good fight. The French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre famously said, hell is other people and is that not the truth sometimes. Admittedly, other people can be the source of so much frustration and dysfunction in our groups. Almost everyone I talk to has a story about some irritating group member or a situation, or a conflict between group members derailed the group and its work. This is all to common. Though keep in mind that you and I, we're the other people for the rest of our group members and just as likely to be the source of their aggravation sometimes. So this is just as much about us, as it is about them. People have different interests and motivations. We get emotional regarding things we care about and all of us are subject to personal biases, and irrational behavior. So, what should we do about all of this? Well, unfortunately, many people respond by simply trying to avoid conflict or even giving up altogether. Do as much as you can to prevent conflict from happening. But if conflict does arise, just don't get involved. Maybe even you disengage from the group. You're technically still a member. But for all practical purposes, you've checked out. I admit this is tempting. Conflict is stressful and uncertain. And hell a sequel, I'd prefer not be involved in a conflict situation. But avoiding conflict or disengaging from your group just perpetuates the dysfunctionality, leading to a miserable experience at best or detrimental outcomes at worst. And this sort of avoidance or disengagement just isn't an option for many of us in our groups. We have to work with these people. There are things we need to accomplish and we have to figure out how to work together. As you might imagine, there's been a lot of research on group conflict and scholars have developed many best practices that are proven to help groups manage and respond to conflict more effectively. One of my favorites is a great article. In the Harvard Business Review by Kathleen Eisenhardt and her colleagues from from Stanford and University of Virginia. Their article is all about how groups can have a good fight. They begin with great insight. That is the lack of conflict isn't harmony, it's apathy. As challenging as that may be, it's important to remember that conflict is often a good thing for our groups. It means we're engaged. Surfacing important differences. Challenging inferior decisions. Exposing harmful patterns and refining our thinking to develop better ideas. You want to have a high performing group or team, you will experience conflict on your way towards accomplishing your goals. So, we don't want to make the mistake of thinking we can eliminate conflict. Instead, we want to manage conflict and respond to conflict more appropriately. So, how do we do that? Eisenhardt and her colleagues offer several important recommendations from their research on management teams in several different technology-based companies. They observed these teams up close and over extended periods of time. So, they offer unique insights into how teams handled conflicts and which teams were more successful. Here's what they found. Overall, teams that are more successful are able to keep the conflict constructive and focused on the issues not letting things spiral into dysfunctional interpersonal conflict. And successful teams had six tactics in common, all related to communication. First, they worked with more not less information and they debated on the basis of facts. Yes, too much information can be paralyzing. But when things get complicated, you need more data points to develop a robust view of the situation, so you can find the best path forward. Similarly, successful teams also developed multiple alternatives to enrich their debates. It’s really difficult to evaluate ideas in isolation with a simple up or down vote. You need to see things in relation to each other, which helps to illuminate factors you might not otherwise notice. When we hire new professors in our department, for example, we bring in multiple candidates for on-campus interviews and I'm always amazed at how my perspectives change when I see the candidates in relation to each other. Third, teams who had commonly agreed upon goals were better at resolving conflict and staying on track. That's because goals that everyone already agreed to, provide a reference point to help mediate disputes. If everyone already agreed that your project should be within a certain budget, for example, then it's easier to resolve a dispute about a new idea that would take the project significantly overbudget. Rather than attacking people personally about the merits of their ideas which is all too common, we can simply appeal to our already agreed upon goals to help us resolve a dispute. Fourth, successful teams were able to inject humor into their deliberations and this is no laughing matter. Sometimes the best way to resolve a conflict or at least redirect the conversation is a well-placed well liner, a humorous observation or self-deprecating comment. Humor helps defuse the conflict. Creating a space for everyone to calm down and reset. We have a professor in our department who's really good at this. He seems to know just the right time to sneak in a witty remark or a satirical comment, usually directed outside of our group that helps relieve the tension and enables us all to refocus. Now, a fifth characteristic of successful teams is maintaining a balanced power structure. Of course, some people will always have more authority, but to other group members feel like they have a voice in the debate and that the process for resolving the conflict is fair. If not, it's likely things will devolve into the real of dysfunctional interpersonal conflict with passive aggressive behavior and back channel manipulation. But when authority's more balanced and transparent, our groups can stay focused on the issues and our conflicts will be more constructive. And finally, teams that are successful in managing conflict and maintaining high performance are able to resolve issues, but without forcing consensus. We're never going to agree on everything all the time, so we have to find ways or our groups to keep making progress even if we don't have unanimous support for every idea. If you force people to agree on everything, you'll never get anything done or resentment will develop within the group that will come back to haunt you later. So it's okay to maintain a healthy level of descent or tension in your group decisions, especially if people see the process as fair. So now, we have six tactics for managing group conflict through our communication. Helping us keep conflict constructive and focused on the issues not spiraling into dysfunctional interpersonal disputes. And if we put it all together, these six tactics can be translated into specific strategies for teams to manage conflict effectively and maintain a high-level of performance. Check out this helpful summary, Eisenhardt and her colleagues provided from their research. We need to communicate in ways that keep us focused on issues not personalities. Our communications needs to frame decisions as collaborations. Aimed at achieving the best possible solutions for our company or organization and we need to communicate each other in ways that establish, or maintain a sense of fairness and equity in the process. And all this happens through our word choices and the nitty-gritty details of how we interact with each other. So in our next video, we'll look at choosing the right words when we're in a conflict situation and how we construct social realities that are more likely to result in favorable outcomes. I'll see you next time.
