Page 152 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Cooperation Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 152
ositive effect in specific conditions, see O’Neill et al., 2013; de Wit et
al., 2012); instead, teams require a rich discussion in a trusting climate in
which members feel free to express their doubts and also require the abil-
ity to resist to making compromises quickly (also see Ilgen et al., 2005).
Another perspective on conflict comes from minority influence theory –
the consistency of minority arguments over time is likely to change the
view of the majority (West, 2005).
The key issue with conflict is how to manage or handle it. Strategies
to manage conflict can be preventive (i.e. prior to conflict occurrence) or
reactive (i.e. working through interpersonal disagreements among team
members once they emerge; Marks et al., 2001). Klein, DeRouin and Salas
(2006) suggest workplace interpersonal skills (e.g. social skills, social com-
petence, people skills, soft skills) likely play an important role in the pro-
cess of building team trust, minimising and resolving both task and inter-
personal conflict.
Concerning the topic of conflict, subgroup conflicts are also worth
mentioning. These are related to subgroup identification, i.e. when a team
is informally divided into subgroups according to different factors (e.g. age,
gender, professional background – teacher, head etc.; see social identity the-
ory, Tajfel, 1981) in which case a shared vision and goals may be difficult to
achieve and subgroup conflicts may occur. Thus, it is important for sub-
group identification to be low.
Conflicts are common and will also occur in ESL teams. Because re-
lationship conflicts (e.g. a teacher finds the feedback from the head to be
disrespectful) have been related to lower levels of team satisfaction and ef-
fectiveness, it is important to have a person in the team composition who
is good at managing conflicts (if necessary, training should be provided).
Task-related conflicts (e.g. whether a student should be given psycholog-
ical support or not) are less detrimental to team functioning. Preventive
conflict management strategies may involve establishing team rules about
the nature and timing of conflict, and a norm for cooperative rather than
competitive approaches to conflict resolution (e.g. a conflict is our com-
mon problem and it is not about the head winning against a teacher or vice
versa) (Mark et al., 2001). Reactive conflict management strategies involve
identifying the parameters of a conflict between team members (e.g. why
exactly the teacher found the head’s feedback to be disrespectful – because
of their words, gestures), compromising, willingness to accept differences
in opinions etc. (ibid.).
152
al., 2012); instead, teams require a rich discussion in a trusting climate in
which members feel free to express their doubts and also require the abil-
ity to resist to making compromises quickly (also see Ilgen et al., 2005).
Another perspective on conflict comes from minority influence theory –
the consistency of minority arguments over time is likely to change the
view of the majority (West, 2005).
The key issue with conflict is how to manage or handle it. Strategies
to manage conflict can be preventive (i.e. prior to conflict occurrence) or
reactive (i.e. working through interpersonal disagreements among team
members once they emerge; Marks et al., 2001). Klein, DeRouin and Salas
(2006) suggest workplace interpersonal skills (e.g. social skills, social com-
petence, people skills, soft skills) likely play an important role in the pro-
cess of building team trust, minimising and resolving both task and inter-
personal conflict.
Concerning the topic of conflict, subgroup conflicts are also worth
mentioning. These are related to subgroup identification, i.e. when a team
is informally divided into subgroups according to different factors (e.g. age,
gender, professional background – teacher, head etc.; see social identity the-
ory, Tajfel, 1981) in which case a shared vision and goals may be difficult to
achieve and subgroup conflicts may occur. Thus, it is important for sub-
group identification to be low.
Conflicts are common and will also occur in ESL teams. Because re-
lationship conflicts (e.g. a teacher finds the feedback from the head to be
disrespectful) have been related to lower levels of team satisfaction and ef-
fectiveness, it is important to have a person in the team composition who
is good at managing conflicts (if necessary, training should be provided).
Task-related conflicts (e.g. whether a student should be given psycholog-
ical support or not) are less detrimental to team functioning. Preventive
conflict management strategies may involve establishing team rules about
the nature and timing of conflict, and a norm for cooperative rather than
competitive approaches to conflict resolution (e.g. a conflict is our com-
mon problem and it is not about the head winning against a teacher or vice
versa) (Mark et al., 2001). Reactive conflict management strategies involve
identifying the parameters of a conflict between team members (e.g. why
exactly the teacher found the head’s feedback to be disrespectful – because
of their words, gestures), compromising, willingness to accept differences
in opinions etc. (ibid.).
152
