What?
Conflict in team and group work is inevitable. No group is going to completely agree on everything, nor should it. While many people view conflict as unhealthy or destructive, it can actually be very healthy and productive!
However...
There is a difference between conflict and dysfunctional conflict.
Healthy conflict is when group members trust one another and they feel free to express divergent feelings and opinions. This contrary views are valued and there is tolerance for disagreement.
A group having dysfunctional conflict does not have psychological safety. A great explanation of psychological safety is found in this TedX Talk.
But simply put, psychological safety is "the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes".
So what?
I think Amy Edmondson in the TedX talk does a pretty good job of explaining why psychological safety matters. If people do not feel safe to speak up, if conflict is viewed as harmful instead of helpful, mistakes are made, group think takes over, and people are not happy or satisfied with their jobs.
I once worked somewhere that looking back I can categorize as being no psychologically safe. People didn't want to speak up against the leadership, even when potentially harmful decisions were being made. There was an undercurrent of hostility. Team members were pitted against each other. Conflict interfered with us accomplishing goals. Overall, it was a dysfunctional work environment. Unsurprisingly, those who wanted to speak up but felt like they couldn't, left, myself included.
Now what?
You may be thinking, "everyone works for a dysfunctional office at some point". Sure, most of us will, which is why understanding the causes of dysfunctional conflict are important. If you can understand why the office or group is acting like it is, then you can try to counteract.
In my example, I could have tried to frame my descent around specific tasks or goals instead of remaining silent or critiquing the office as a whole. By focusing on the task, individuals may not feel attacked. I could have also tried to be more clear in my communication. It is possible that we had a great deal of miscommunication, misinformation, and misperception happening. Communication may have also helped to highlight where the disconnect was coming from, what differences in styles or values. Maybe if we had found other ways to communicate, we would have realized we all wanted the same thing, for our office to be successful.
