Manage Intra-team Conflict through Collaboration.

In this article, the authors espouse that intra-team conflict should be managed using collaboration. Conflict researchers (Amason, 1996; Jehn, 1995, 1997) have recently found that while non-task conflicts based on personality clashes and interpersonal antagonism are detrimental to team performance and morale, task conflicts can be beneficial if managed collaboratively. The authors' central argument is that collaboration can benefit both task and non-task conflict, but that task conflict should be actively managed (not necessarily eliminated) through collaboration in the work setting whereas non-task conflict should be collaboratively managed off-line, outside the work setting, (or avoided) to ensure higher performance of teams. There are three fundamental steps in managing team conflict through collaboration. The first step is to identify the type of intra-team conflict. The second is to identify appropriate collaboration strategies. The third is to identify useful collaborative techniques. Topics also discussed include identifying the type of intra-team conflict, collaboration strategies and intra-team conflict, collaborative techniques, and the role of negative emotions.