Some Team Conflict is to be Expected….. is to be Expected…..

“The struggle that occurs when individuals, interdependent with others, perceive that those others are interfering with their goal attainment.” (Friend & Cook)

When controversy is well managed, it involves a process that stimulates inquiry and leads to synthesis of information and ideas. (Johnson and Johnson, 1997)

Competitive Use of power. The goal of winning.Avoidance Ignoring the discrepancy between your own goals and those of others.Accommodation Set aside your own needs in order to ensure others need are met.Compromising Give up some of your own ideas and insist that others do the same.Collaborative Commitment to the norms and values as established in the group.

Conflict Resolution Group Activity Directions: Teams will be assigned scenario 1,2 or 3. Each team will 1)Identify the conflict 2)Identify response styles in your team members and 3)Purpose strategies the team will use to resolve this conflict. Teams will present and compare strategies to the class.

Scenario 1) You arrive at your team meeting on time. The agenda has been prepared in advance. The first item is regarding a student’s tardiness to class. As the team begins to discuss this item a member of the team begins to explain how the student’s brother has always had the same problem. She offers advice and solutions of how she handled this problem in the past. She extends her conversation past the allotted time for this item as the team patiently waits. Scenario 2) Your 7th grade team is planning activities for their advisory group, which meets daily. A discussion evolves and a consensus is reached that the goal will be to address issues of respect and responsibility, Team members agree on a plan to hand out coupons, one per student per period for those students displaying the desired behavior. These coupons will count towards each advisory group. The group with the most coupons in one month will win a pizza party. One of the team members feels very strongly that coupons should also be taken away from any student who displays disrespect. You disagree with this approach however the meeting is about to adjourn. Scenario 3) You are meeting with your teaching assistant (TA) to discuss how to use the newly installed software to adapt instruction for a student with a mild cognitive disability with whom the assistant works in a general education setting. The assistant agrees with everything you say, but asks few questions. Two days later, the classroom teacher asks when you are going to meet with the TA because it’s a shame to have all that software going unused in the classroom.

* Alternatives are not considered carefully. *Minority opinions are silenced. *Disagreements among members controversy is suppressed

Well managed team conflict can... *Stimulate team interest. *Allow for new ideas. *Lead to creative problem solving. *Improve decision making. *Build stronger team bonds. *Create ownership and commitment for decisions

Disagreement about child goals and problem identification. Everyone has their own tunnel vision. Coordination problems. Logistics and fragmentation of services and time. Implementation and evaluation problems. Concerns for quality solutions and assessment of out comes over time. Communication problems. Inadequate time for discussion. Lack of familiarity and trust. Unavailability of related service people.

Acknowledgement of differences Open discussion of positions Compromise

Understand your own motivation and that of others.Understand your own motivation and that of others. Clarify the issues.Clarify the issues. Set your expectations.Set your expectations. Discuss each issue involved in the conflict.Discuss each issue involved in the conflict. Make and respond to offers.Make and respond to offers. Monitor for ethics and integrityMonitor for ethics and integrity

See you on THURSDAY!