What are the reasons for conflict in our organization?
During the implementation of large-scale professional development, it is likely that not everything will go smoothly. There is likely to be some conflict and frustration. This is a natural state of change. By listening to what people are talking about, however, you may be able to diagnose problems that are preventing people from moving forward.
Listen for the themes of the comments and see if those themes might match with one or more of the following categories. Next, work to remove barriers to enable success.
Category:
Goals
Included specific issues such as:
Goals that are not clearly defined.
Goals are clearly defined, but disputed.
Goals are unrealistic.
Goals are not owned by the people expected to implement them.
Category:
Roles
Included specific issues such as:
Roles are ambiguous.
Roles are overwhelming for some people.
Roles are competitive.
Roles are overlapped.
Category:
Styles
Individual styles perceived as annoying, wrong, or are not valued.
Individual styles prevent people from listening to each other.
Individual styles dismissed as "personality conflicts."
Category:
Procedures
Teams don't know how to get the job done.
Lack of understanding about the variety of strategies they could use to make decisions.
Focus is on "getting done" vs. moving forward.
Teams don't have practice or good examples of making informed decisions.
Category:
Structure
Confusion about the goals and roles among different segments of the organization.
Physical distance among people.
Psychological distance among people.
Sufficient time is not dedicated to creating desired results.
Adapted from Understanding Your Management Style (Benfari, 1991)
