 If your group experiences have been anything like mine, then you have almost certainly seen some Group discussions that ended up much like this But it doesn't have to be that way and we can get along in small groups and we can find and manage Conflict effectively we can find ways to navigate group conflict and and just have it work out better than it did For Dale and Brennan in that situation, right? So in this video, that's what we're gonna look at How do we navigate group conflict and how can we best manage those types of situations? So before we talk about managing it Let's talk about what conflict is. Let's define conflict conflict is an expressed struggle between Interdependent parties involving the perception of incompatible goals scarce resources and and or interference, right? So a couple of things that are highlighted there as you can see first of all conflict is an expressed struggle Meaning it's known between you know by both people not just one person having an issue That's not conflict conflict is when both people are aware of the of the issue and and it's been expressed It's it's known between the two it's between interdependent parties mean they have some sort of connection some some something some way that You know one party affects the other what one party does affects the other and that's what we mean by interdependent So in a group you're gonna be an interdependent for sure and it can involve incompatible goals scarce resources or interference or it could just involve the perception of those things It doesn't even have to be real those things don't even have to be real But if one or both people believe that there are incompatible goals scarce resources or interference and or interference Then conflict can be the result of that as well So it doesn't even have that they can be in in existence, but they don't have to be right so They can just be the perception of those things You know like so many other things in life, too There are positives and negatives here We've got to balance these things out and and take things as they come there There are positives and negatives that come from conflict We see the relationship between conflict and intensity a conflict intensity and outcomes We we really want some conflict you want that tension in terms of bringing out the best ideas and you want a discussion and And debate and conflict in that way, but you want it to be appropriate conflict obviously you want it to be appropriate in the sense that it's about the right things that it's about Task-oriented things and not Personal items necessarily hopefully but what do you want it to be appropriate in that regard you want it to be An appropriate amount and you want it to be the appropriate Intensity you don't want things to be too calm or to be passive aggressive and too high intensity And you'll have you know fistfights and rolling around on the ground You don't want that either so if you have appropriate conflict in the right amount of intensity the moderate intensity Then it can have a positive impact on your group or final outcome It can it can be a positive in the life of your group So we want to keep that in mind the conflict is not all bad We want to balance those positives and negatives of conflict and and make sure we're trying to achieve You know appropriate conflict in the appropriate intensity So there are a couple different types of conflict just what quickly I want to talk about What are the different types of conflict first? You can have conflict over substance right conflict over the actual details of a task Or or details of a debate and so conflict over substance you can have conflict over value values right so the worth of something and And and you know whether it meets the values of the group so you can you can have conflict over those types of things You can have conflict over the process in other words how you do things how things are being done What's the best way for us to accomplish these things you can have you know debate healthy debate and conflict over those things And you can have conflict or misperceived differences So like said conflict can involve just the perception of those things as well So sometimes it doesn't even involve the actual things But if it if people believe it's true then they can have conflict over true conflict over it So we can have it over those misperceived differences Where actually we may be we may have commonalities, but we're seeing them as differences in some way So let's jump into some conflict management strategies. Okay, we know what conflict is. We know kind of where it can come from but what are some things we can do to Manage conflict or just been different conflict management strategies that we can use Well, one strategy that we have is avoiding we can avoid a problem and you know Not always the greatest idea. I mean unless there's some harm, you know potential harm to someone like physical harm to someone or potentially You know, I don't know that you could avoid it But it's not gonna make the problem go away that conflict not gonna go away necessarily. It's just gonna faster usually so Avoiding is probably the it's what we call lose lose strategy You end up losing both sides lose and you lose all the area you lose in the relationship You lose in the work relationship You lose in the social dimension and the task dimension and and so you don't really want that Avoiding is not probably the ideal strategy to pursue and in any of the in most things Another strategy that we have is accommodating. We can accommodate we can give it We call this lose when right we give into the other person basically we lose and we let them win So we we lose and we let them win and that can be good at times You know, there are times well first of all if we see the the wisdom of their ways or the wisdom of their argument And we are one over that's that's fine. We can accommodate in that way If it's something that's just not that important to us and clearly it is to the other person We can accommodate and give them that we can accommodate accommodate just to be the bigger person If you know if we think it's not gonna negatively impact the group overall We can just you know, be the bigger person and say, okay I might that's fine. You can have this one and we accommodate in that way This can all be positive things and they can help build relationships within the group and they can help the group, you know, kind of Grease the the gears a little bit and and help things run a little more smoothly so we can keep moving in the group However, if we're accommodating because we feel pressured to do so because we feel Powerless in a sense where we feel like we have to give in to the other person for whatever reason Then that can be a problem in the long run because then we're gonna that again That's something that's gonna faster within us could result in some passive aggressive behavior and just So we want to make sure we're not accommodating just to Just to appease somebody or just because we don't feel like we had the power To step up and and and make our case or you know push press our argument another times You know as we're talking about we compete we lose. That's one thing. That's I mean That's the group says it to do it the other way Okay, we've we've been in our best shot, but accommodating and just giving in He and be healthy, but it can also be unhealthy depending on the mindset behind it and the attitude that the person has Who's doing the accommodating? So just keep that in mind We can engage in competing we can go for it. We can make our argument. We can try and Persuade the other people and we can try and you know win out have our side went out and and and we call that Win lose where we win and the other person loses, but sometimes it can Devolve into lose-lose as well. Sometimes it can get into a situation where Even though we win it damages that relationship so badly that that impedes a group function and and that's not great or it You know just causes the other person becomes so disruptive that that's an issue So I mean just be aware that that's a potential issue with competing that we may win But in the long term it may cause more problems as well That doesn't mean we shouldn't go for it if you believe strongly in your idea and then then go for it and compete But also you want to be sure that that you're not just falling into the trap of those perceived scarce resources or incompatible goals that you actually have those right if you're gonna compete you ought to confirm that you're Actually at odds with another person that you actually have goals that are incompatible that you actually have scarce resources and aren't just Perceiving that incorrectly not misperceiving that so you want to be sure that if you're gonna compete that you got all your facts straight And then you give it your best you compete fairly You don't fight dirty and then you know whoever wins wins You maybe you win maybe the other person does but but you've given it your effort you've given it your best shot and So you can engage in competing We can also engage in compromise which you know has developed a really good reputation people like to sound a compromise Let's compromise. Let's do that. Well, you know, we came to a compromise and that's fine. That's wonderful but by definition Compromise involves both people giving up some of what they want because compromise means both people get some of what they want But they also lose some of what they want. They don't get some of what they want That can be good for short-term resolutions and for small smaller things. That's fine That people don't really care that much about well when it's a larger issue again This can breed that kind of passive aggressive Festering when somebody gets you know part of what they want and they're they're fine at first and then later on they start thinking Wait, I don't know she might have to give that up I really wanted the rest of that too and I didn't get it and and now I'm really kind of upset about that and you know I can breed some some contempt and some passive aggressive behavior So we want to be cautious of of that with compromise But you know in general compromise is fine if that's what it takes to get things done You know you give up a little bit the other person gives up a little bit you get the majority of what you want and You find a way to come together and and again you grease those wheels you keep them moving forward You keep them you keep keep the machine moving a little bit, right? And that's important in a group as well The ideal conflict management strategy though in groups or any other Conflict management situation is going to be collaborating Collaborating means that in by definition both people get all of what they want everybody involved gets all of what they want Now that sounds pretty simple, right? Everybody just gets all what they want. We know it's not always that simple And it's not even necessarily possible all the time, but when it is possible It's your best option for Long-term satisfaction of all the people involved So if it's a major issue if it's something that's that's really important to you or to the others and or to the group success and If it makes that much difference if it's that important then it's worth the time for collaborating an effort that it takes to collaborate You know if it's something minor it may not be worth it may not be worth the time and the energy But if it's something that's significant then then it probably is worth it for collaborating But that means you know again everybody gets all of what they want and that can take some time It's an effort and some energy and some work on on the part of everybody involved so We could see you know from this this chart that we have here that When we look at it in terms of concern for self and concern for others Collaborating is obviously the top corner both those that shows both great concern for you yourself and great concern for the others involved Avoiding shows the least amount of concern for each and the others fall along those spectrums You can see where they where they fall there, but so when we think about it in that context Collaborating is no question the the best option for long-term satisfaction for everybody involved Now let's talk about something that's kind of important. Let's talk about what we can do to prevent conflict Alright, I mean like you know before it even happens So there are a few tips that we have for preventing a conflict From from happening in the first place first you can emphasize your group goals Unaffectiveness stress the importance of that if you got buy-in from your team members That can be very effective in helping to prevent conflict and help You know minimize those conflict situations from the start You can provide a stable a well-structured task structure for everybody So provide you know give everybody a job to do give them a way to do it and And and instructions on how to go about it and then everybody will just kind of be doing their own thing You won't see as many conflicts in the group You can facilitate dialogue so encourage people to talk encourage people to talk about when they have an idea and what they Think they're the group ought to be doing what's important Facultate dialogue to get ideas out in the open to begin with so people feel like they're heard and people feel like They're not just being walked over and you're encouraging dialogue from everyone and in all from all the angles Avoid when lose situations whenever possible when lose situations lead to conflict You know when somebody's losing it's not great. So you want to avoid those competitive situations if possible and just just avoid Somebody having to end up a loser because then that does breed conflict in a lot of ways So if we were look at conflicts Conflict reduction not prevention but strategies for conflict reduction And we have some things that we can look at here and they're really going to be on the spectrum between From changing behaviors on one end to changing attitudes on the other And so they fall kind of on the spectrum in the way that they're lined up here But starting with changing behaviors and then we'll move down to changing attitudes First you know changing behaviors physical separation if you're having conflict You're having issues with conflict to reduce the amount of conflict you can get some physical separation Your group doesn't have to do all of their work in the same space at the same time all of the time So you can get some physical separation at least between the people who are experiencing the conflict You can establish rules and regulation What what are the expectations for behavior and how do we regulate that? How are we? How are we disciplining people who violate those and you know one of the consequences for doing that? You can limit intergroup interaction right to limit Contact or you know interaction with with other groups If that if that's going to be sometimes that can breed conflicts as well You can use Integrators You can you can incorporate the use of integrators people who are Kind of skilled at and and and assigned to Working other people into the group and reducing conflict by helping them feel included And and by specifically having that role of helping to reduce conflict and manage conflict You can engage in confrontation and negotiation All right, you can just step up in the middle of it. So okay, this is obviously going on. This is an issue Here's how we're going to do this. What are we going to do to to find some resolution here? So you can engage in very explicit confrontation of that conflict and negotiation of resolution You can bring in a third party to talk it out or to You know acts an arbiter and decide what the behavior should be what the change should be But you can you can consult a third party Whether that's your supervisor or whether it's just an objective third party You can rotate members out if you got somebody who's who's having an issue or being becoming an issue You can rotate them out and and bring somebody else in To the team if you have the opportunity to do so You can identify Interdependent tasks and and superordinate goals meaning Ways that you're connected things, you know tasks tasks that you're doing that That you have to work on together that you need the whole team to be in on and superordinate goals that that oversee or you know That that supersede the individual goals of different group members And you can train people you can just use training to to prepare people to work in groups and to work with others and to do A variety of different things so you can use training to help Help change attitudes and and prepare people for those situations You know while this isn't always going to work and not every group is going to end up, you know Like dale and brennan being best friends forever They can be effective you can find ways to prevent conflict and to confront conflict and to manage it Within the group when it does come up So I would encourage you to to consider those and think of different strategies that you might use in your own groups if you have questions about how to who to Navigate conflict in small groups police and me an email and be happy to chat with you about that a little further In the meantime, I hope this has provided some insight for you As you engage in your groups and come up against these difficult situations And and and you know see some of the different ways and strategies that you have for Navigating and managing conflict in small groups