Conflict Management and Effective Team Communication

This study focuses on conflict management and effective team communication as ways of advising Mary on the implementation of the employee training program. Learn about the main aims of conflict management training and the five tactics of dealing with conflict in the workplace. Discover the specific objectives of team communication and the common causes of poor team communication. Get recommendations on how to improve communication in the workplace.

Communication skills 1
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Name
Course
Tutor
University
City
Date

Communication skills 2
Communication skills
Introduction
Communication is vital in every business. The success of a business depends on how well
employees interact with their customers and co-workers. Therefore, clear, precise and consistent
communication should be encouraged in order to achieve the objectives of the business. It’s also
important to nurture good communication and listening skills among employees in order to
reduce interpersonal conflict and increase productivity.
In Ms. Mary Lee case who owns Mary’ s Aussie Adventures Tours which serves tourists
from a different cultural background. She identified a gap in organization communication and
public relations concerns that need immediate attention.
This study focuses on conflict management and effective team communication as ways of
advising Mary on the implementation of the employee training program. Conflict management
helps in reducing time wastage during a disagreement. This enables employees to focus more on
their work thus increasing productivity and teamwork (Cohen & Bailey 2017, pp.239). Effective
team communication ensures peaceful coexistence and understanding among team members.
Good communication provides clear guidelines and expectation of each team member.
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
Aims of conflict management
The main aim of conflict management training is to equip team leaders, managers and the
general employees with practical strategies and techniques of conflict resolution which they can

Communication skills 3
effectively employ while handling conflict in the workplace. It builds on previous knowledge,
skills, and training of effective performance management (Maguire & Pitceathly 2002, pp.680).
Other objectives of conflict management include
Conflict management helps in reducing tension among employees which lead to increase
in productivity and teamwork. It helps in reducing time wastage which occurs especially during
disagreement and employees are able to focus more on their work.
Conflict management helps in appreciating different cultural diversity and ideas. The top
managers sometimes incorporate these different ideas in order to formulate business strategies
and employee’s guidelines (Vonderwell 2003, pp.80).
Companies with good conflict management tend to attract best employees and investors
due to its culture. Best companies are measured by how they resolve issues raised and deliver
quality services successfully.
Conflict Management Timeline
Managers should learn to handle conflict among the employees on time in order to reduce
tension and increase productivity. It’s important to acknowledge problems facing employees to
prevent conflict occurrence (Barth & Lannen 2010, pp.1030). This can be achieved by providing
an opportunity for conflicting parties to present their case.
Information analysis
According to research, poor communication can be a major cause of conflict among
employees in the workplace. Poor communication may be as a result of the failure of passing
information at the right time or in the right manner. Lack of proper communication makes

Communication skills 4
workers make incorrect assumptions or believe in false information. It does not only cause
conflict in the workplace but also reduce employee morale and productivity (Fujimori et al.
2014, pp.2172).
The difference in personality may attribute to the conflict in the workplace. Different
employees come from different cultures and backgrounds which play part in shaping ones’
personality. If employees fail to embrace one another differences, conflict may arise. In the
workplace, there are people of different age group. The old differs from the young in various
ways. When they fail to understand and accept the difference in other people, a conflict will rise.
Unhealthy competition may as well lead to conflict among the employees. Some
companies encourage competition among the employee. Where an employee’s salary is
dependent on their performance, strong or unhealthy competition may arise. This may lead to a
hostile environment in the workplace where everyone wants things to work out well on their part.
The unhealthy competition may not only promote conflict but also individualism and discourages
teamwork (Yuan et al. 2010, pp.30).
Additionally, conflict may arise between the management and the employees as a result
of unresolved work issues. For instance, the management may set unrealistic goals for the
employees. Other employees may fail to respect the organization goals and policies. This may
cause conflict and may also lead the employee to have a hard time working in the workplace.
Some employees opt to resign their jobs when conflict arises between them and the management
(Myers & Sadaghiani 2010, pp.226).
Tactics of conflict management

Communication skills 5
There are five tactics of dealing with conflict in the workplace before they grow to
unmanageable situations. The first tactic used include accommodating. The accommodating style
is used when one of the opposing party lets the other party have what it wants. This happens
when the party wants to retain peace and view the issue as just a minor issue.
The second style used in solving conflict is avoiding. This strategy seeks to solve
conflict indefinitely by ignoring or delaying the conflict. Conflict avoiders hope that when the
problem is given time and not confronted it will resolve its self. In most cases, this strategy is
used by employees who hold a position of low power in the workplace or those who have low
self-esteem. It is among the profitable styles of conflict solving in the workplace.
The third style of conflict management is collaborating. It involves integrating different
ideas from different people with an aim of coming up with a solution that can be accepted by all
parties involved. This style is used to solve complex problems that require creative thinking. It
may be time-consuming and hence may not be effective when there is limited time or when the
parties are not committed (Curtis et al. 2013, pp.2281).
The fourth strategy of is compromising. It calls for both conflicting parties to give up
elements of their position for an acceptable or agreeable solution to be established. It is
commonly used when both parties have approximately equal powers. Business people use
compromise as a way of solving a conflict when both parties stand to lose valuable things.
The fifth tactic of problem-solving is competing. This is a win-lose game. The conflicting
parties compete until one party losses and the other wins. It is employed by people of high
assertive Personality (Shih &Susant 2010, pp.148). It works out well for emergency situations or
decision that generate ill-will.

Communication skills 6
Conclusions on conflict management
Conflict management helps a company to focus more on productivity by reducing
disagreements among employees. Managers are also able to incorporate these different ideas to
come up with suitable ideas which help business to succeed. Successful companies normally
have the ability to manage cultural diversity and productivity as a result of teamwork. Therefore,
it’s important to establish clear guideline on conflict management.
Conflicts can be caused by various factors such as different personality, unhealthy
workplace competition, and unresolved work issues. Conflict can be solved by the use of
different strategies which include avoiding, accommodating, collaborating, compromising and
healthy competition.
Recommendations
When conflict arises in the organization, it is important for the management to come up
with ways of peacefully resolving this problem to ensure that both the conflicting parties are at
peace. It’s also important to take precautions to ensure the same conflict don’t occur in the
future. For instance, the management may create a culture that embraces giving and receiving
feedback. When leaders encourage healthy feedback, employees will feel bold and transparent
in their workplace (Trudel & Reio 2011, pp.390). This will not only reduce cases of conflict but
also will lead to better understanding and relationship in the company.
Being proactive in conflict is very important but it’s also good to avoid jumping into
conclusions. Every employee should be careful about how they treat others. It’s important to
avoid words or actions that can provoke or offend another employee in the workplace.
Individuals should seek to understand the situations properly before making any judgment. When

Communication skills 7
solving the conflict, the leader solving the conflict should take time to listen to all the conflicting
parties before making any judgment (Pines et al. 2012, pp.1483).
The company should come up with clear rules and guidelines to be followed by all
members of the company regardless of their levels. This will ensure that there is no
discrimination and that all people are treated in a uniform way (Saeed et al. 2014, pp.215).
Frequent feedback meetings help the company to address issues that can lead to the conflict
before they get to uncontrollable situations. Proper communication guidelines should be well
established. When there are proper communication channels and guidelines, confusion and
ambiguity are eliminated. This will reduce cases of conflict in the workplace (Mitkus,& Mitkus
2014, pp.777).
Processes of solving conflicts within the organization should be clearly spelled out. This
may include negotiation. In this process, the conflicting parties engage in a direct negotiation. the
needs of both parties are considered before coming up with an agreement. This process seeks to
achieve the mutual agreement of the parties. Mediation can also be used to solve a conflict. This
is a voluntary process when an independent party (mediator) helps to reconcile the conflicting
parties. He does not enforce an agreement but helps the parties to understand each other. Another
process that can be used to solve conflict is through arbitration. An independent person
(arbitrator) listens to both parties and comes up with a decision (Shockley-Zalabak 2009, pp.29).
EFFECTIVE TEAM COMMUNICATION
Aims of effective team communication.
For a company to have an effective teamwork, effectivities team communication is very
essential. The main aim of effective team communication is bringing workers together to

Communication skills 8
increase the company revenue and facilitate the productivity of workers (Chan, Sit, & Lau 2014,
pp.940).
specific objectives of team communication.
Team communication thrives to encourage input. Effective team communication enables
team members to be confident when airing their views. By listening to the team member’s views
when making decisions encourages the overall input of the team. This encourages them to use all
the internal available sources to get a project done or to solve an issue in the workplace
Team communication seeks to encourage dynamic change. The business world keeps on
changing day in day out. Proper team communication enables members to keep evolving with
changes in the business world. When the information is shared efficiently, members are able to
keep up with the changes taking place. Effective communication structure enables members to
get information in a fast way and members are able to adopt (Reader, Flin, and Cuthbertson
2007, pp.740).
Team communication creates understanding. In a business, different people come from
different backgrounds which may be difficult to unite without an effective communication
system. Where team members are able to efficiently communicate, members get the opportunity
to understand their teammates and embrace their culture. This brings unity and mutual
understanding that foster the team progress (Gajendran & Joshi 2012, pp.1252).
Team communication facilitates efficient action. When a team has efficient
communication, it reduces time loss on misinterpretation. Poor communication may lead to the
receiver to do incorrect actions. This implies that the team has to take extra time to correct the

Communication skills 9
problem or have the wrong output in the long run. Effective communication leads to right actions
hence the project is completed on the scheduled time without any delay.
Communication Timeline
Clear and consistent communication helps to minimize conflict among team members.
This is achieved by providing guidelines and ensure every team member is aware of his/her
expectation. Managers should ensure changes in the company operating producers are
communicated on time to avoid confusion. Feedback and queries should be addressed on time to
avoid delays which sometimes create tension.
Information and analysis
Poor communication in an organization can result in frustration, friction, confusion or
even tense environment. People need to be motivated and inspired in their workplace to be
productive. Lack of motivation among staffs may result in poor relationship between the staff
and clients. Some of the common causes of poor team communication include a lack of clear
objectives. When a new employee is welcomed in the workplace it is important to hold a
discussion to go through his/her roles and responsibilities and what the company expects from
him. If the company goals and mission is not well explained to the new employees, they may not
work effectively to the success of the company (Segrin 2000, pp.400).
Cultural diversity among the employees contributes to poor team communication in a
great way. The company accommodates employee of different races, culture, gender, religious
beliefs among others differences. People from different backgrounds have different ways of
relaying message and interpretations. This is a common means of poor communication that may
result in misunderstandings (Sarker et al. 2011, pp.444).

Communication skills 10
At times, personal issues and employee challenges may contribute to poor team
communication. Although the employees should be fully concentrating on their work in a
workplace, some personal issues such as the death of a loved one or divorce may distract the
employee. These distractions can make one to communicate or behave in an ill manner to other
employees or even clients. When this occurs, its necessary for the employee to be given time off
to deal with his personal issues.
Furthermore, when employees are demoralized they tend to use unfriendly language to
their coworkers. This occurs when an employee’s loss of interest in their work. They feel
unvalued, unappreciated, disrespected and demoralized despite their talents and capabilities.
Such an employee may be unproductive or have a poor attitude towards his work and does not
see the need of being in the company anymore. This may lead to the employee using unpleasant
language to others.
Poor team communication can also be contributed by poor leadership. Employees always
look upon the leaders for directions. If incompetent leaders are given the managerial role,
communication in the workplace is likely to deteriorate. Poor leaders will not be able to motivate
or inspire their employees. They may not be able to answer questions in the right way making
employees be more confused and frustrated (Srikanth & Puranam 2011, pp.849).
Tactics of effective communication
Effective teamwork and communication help an organization to maintain a healthy
working condition. Effective communication starts with the management and leaders who set
clear standards and guidelines. This can be achieved by defining expected results. If the

Communication skills 11
management should set clear policies and objectives, the employees will be able to understand
and carry out the task given (Duxbury & Whittington 2005, pp.670).
Effective communication should be accompanied by good listening skills. Leaders should
provide the team with a feedback mechanism to air their views. They should be ready to listen
and appreciate ideas from coworkers. The staff should have an open door policy where they can
address their issues. Proper actions should be taken regarding the feedback if need be.
Another style a company can employ to strengthen team communication is team
encouragement. Team members feel encouraged and strengthened when they are empowered to
share their ideas in an accepting environment (Berkhof et al. 2011, pp.153). The empowered
team is dedicated to their works and the company at large. This affects the overall performance
of the staff at the workplace.
In addition, communication should be consistent. The company should not only define its
communication clearly but should also adhere to it. When employees get used to a certain routine
of communication, they are able to understand the company’s expectations. Selectively choosing
the policies of communication to use gives the employees a go-ahead to do what they wish
(Gillespie et al. 2001, pp.54).
Furthermore, leaders should lead by example. This style of team communication
encourages team leaders to set an example to the other employees. The managers and executives
need to hold themselves to the standard of common staff employee. This may include listening
to what others have to say and addressing obstacles and taking appropriate action. In most
organizations, most people try to copy the behaviors of the leaders whether good or bad
Conclusions

Communication skills 12
The insight of the above, we find that effective communication is essential for the overall
member’s productivity. A company should embrace effective team communication to enable
staff to have a better understanding, manage dynamic change, encourage input and facilitate
effective actions to be taken. Poor communication in a workplace can be as a result of personal
issues, cultural diversity, poor leadership, and demoralized employees. This may lead to
frustrations, misunderstanding, and demoralization among employees.
There are various strategies which a business can use to resolve poor team
communication. These include leading by example by top managers, setting clear guidelines and
expectations, and employee encouragement. Team members should be trained on proper
communication and listening skills. Managers should ensure that information passed to
employees is consistent and from one direction to avoid misunderstanding.
Recommendation for effective team communication.
If communication is not well managed, it may be an obstacle to the team members in an
organization. They are various ways in which communication can be made effective to increase
the productivity of team members in a firm. This may include ensuring information is clear.
Unclear goals of a team and individual responsibilities may demotivate or decrease the member’s
morale. The management should set clear expectations of the team to avoid barriers in the work
progress.
Team members should be equipped with listening skill. Members should be committed to
listen and respect other member’s views. Seek clarifications where they don’t understand and use
appropriate body language to communicate. This will ensure there is a healthy working
environment which will increase staff productivity (Shukla-Mehta 2010, pp.35).

Communication skills 13
Being courteous in the workplace improves effective team communication. Some people
view the use of polite terms such as “please”, “excuse me as” among others, like an old-
fashioned style and does not embrace it. If employees fail to be polite while communicating,
conflict may arise. lack of courtesy may lead to poor communication and hard feelings which
may result in poor work communication in the workplace.
Kindness is a virtual that needs to be embraced in the workplace. When talking about
others, it’s important to talk about positive things that do not hurt others. False information or
work gossip erodes trust among team members. Individuals affected by false gossips in their
workplace face hard times when working. It also kills employee morale (Wall & Callister 2015,
pp.520).
Team members should be flexible. It is obvious that not in all situations that all the team
members will agree with a decision or opinion of other members. Individuals need to be flexible
enough in order to support the decisions of other people whose opinion differs from their own.
Supporting other people’s opinion does not mean you agree with it, but helping what have been
decided to be implemented in a successful way.

Communication skills 14
Bibliography
Barth, J. and Lannen, P., 2010. Efficacy of communication skills training courses in oncology: a
systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of oncology, 22(5), pp.1030-1040.
Berkhof, M., van Rijssen, H.J., Schellart, A.J., Anema, J.R. and van der Beek, A.J., 2011.
Effective training strategies for teaching communication skills to physicians: an overview of
systematic reviews. Patient education and counseling, 84(2), pp.152-162.
Chan, J.C., Sit, E.N. and Lau, W.M., 2014. Conflict management styles, emotional intelligence
and implicit theories of personality of nursing students: A cross-sectional study. Nurse education
today, 34(6), pp.934-939.
Cohen, S.G. and Bailey, D.E., 2017. What makes teams work: Group effectiveness research from
the shop floor to the executive suite. Journal of management, 23(3), pp.239-290.
Curtis, J.R., Back, A.L., Ford, D.W., Downey, L., Shannon, S.E., Doorenbos, A.Z., Kross, E.K.,
Reinke, L.F., Feemster, L.C., Edlund, B. and Arnold, R.W., 2013. Effect of communication skills
training for residents and nurse practitioners on quality of communication with patients with
serious illness: a randomized trial. Jama, 310(21), pp.2271-2281.
Duxbury, J. and Whittington, R., 2005. Causes and management of patient aggression and
violence: staff and patient perspectives. Journal of advanced nursing, 50(5), pp.469-478.
Fujimori, M., Shirai, Y., Asai, M., Kubota, K., Katsumata, N. and Uchitomi, Y., 2014. Effect of
communication skills training program for oncologists based on patient preferences for

Communication skills 15
communication when receiving bad news: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of clinical
oncology, 32(20), pp.2166-2172.
Gajendran, R.S. and Joshi, A., 2012. Innovation in globally distributed teams: The role of LMX,
communication frequency, and member influence on team decisions. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 97(6), p.1252.
Gillespie, N.A., Walsh, M.H.W.A., Winefield, A.H., Dua, J. and Stough, C., 2001. Occupational
stress in universities: Staff perceptions of the causes, consequences and moderators of
stress. Work & stress, 15(1), pp.53-72.
Maguire, P. and Pitceathly, C., 2002. Key communication skills and how to acquire
them. Bmj, 325(7366), pp.697-700.
Mitkus, S. and Mitkus, T., 2014. Causes of conflicts in a construction industry: A
communicational approach. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 110, pp.777-786.
Myers, K.K. and Sadaghiani, K., 2010. Millennials in the workplace: A communication
perspective on millennials’ organizational relationships and performance. Journal of Business
and Psychology, 25(2), pp.225-238.
Pines, E.W., Rauschhuber, M.L., Norgan, G.H., Cook, J.D., Canchola, L., Richardson, C. and
Jones, M.E., 2012. Stress resiliency, psychological empowerment and conflict management
styles among baccalaureate nursing students. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 68(7), pp.1482-
1493.
Reader, T.W., Flin, R. and Cuthbertson, B.H., 2007. Communication skills and error in the
intensive care unit. Current opinion in critical care, 13(6), pp.732-736.

Communication skills 16
Saeed, T., Almas, S., Anis-ul-Haq, M. and Niazi, G.S.K., 2014. Leadership styles: relationship
with conflict management styles. International Journal of Conflict Management, 25(3), pp.214-
225.
Sarker, S., Ahuja, M., Sarker, S. and Kirkeby, S., 2011. The role of communication and trust in
global virtual teams: A social network perspective. Journal of Management Information
Systems, 28(1), pp.273-310. Carton, A.M. and Cummings, J.N., 2012. A theory of subgroups in
work teams. Academy of Management Review, 37(3), pp.441-470.
Segrin, C., 2000. Social skills deficits associated with depression. Clinical psychology
review, 20(3), pp.379-403.
Shih, H.A. and Susanto, E., 2010. Conflict management styles, emotional intelligence, and job
performance in public organizations. International Journal of Conflict Management, 21(2),
pp.147-168.
Shockley-Zalabak, P., 2009. Fundamentals of organizational communication: Knowledge,
sensitivity, skills, values. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon Publishers, pp.23-50
Shukla-Mehta, S., Miller, T. and Callahan, K.J., 2010. Evaluating the effectiveness of video
instruction on social and communication skills training for children with autism spectrum
disorders: A review of the literature. Focus on autism and other developmental
disabilities, 25(1), pp.23-36.
Srikanth, K. and Puranam, P., 2011. Integrating distributed work: comparing task design,
communication, and tacit coordination mechanisms. Strategic Management Journal, 32(8),
pp.849-875.

Communication skills 17
Trudel, J. and Reio Jr, T.G., 2011. Managing workplace incivility: The role of conflict
management styles—antecedent or antidote?. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 22(4),
pp.395-423.
Vonderwell, S., 2003. An examination of asynchronous communication experiences and
perspectives of students in an online course: A case study. The Internet and higher
education, 6(1), pp.77-90.
Wall Jr, J.A. and Callister, R.R., 2015. Conflict and its management. Journal of
management, 21(3), pp.515-558.
Yuan, Y.C., Fulk, J., Monge, P.R. and Contractor, N., 2010. Expertise directory development,
shared task interdependence, and strength of communication network ties as multilevel
predictors of expertise exchange in transactive memory work groups. Communication
Research, 37(1), pp.20-47.