The read on the chapter about conflicts gave me an opportunity to think again about conflicts within a team. Examining Shackleton`s story, it seems especially vital to them to deal with conflict because conflict can easily lead to a life and death matter. Slight disagreements about what may seem to be the littlest thing to us, such as who gets the last piece of biscuit, can lead to a nasty battle. Especially when survival is involved, the want of small things even can be reason for dispute, and for those small things dispute can evolve in to a full fledged violent threat. During Shackleton`s expedition, even truces that were formed through talking things out were temporary and often found broken which caused more conflicts. I imagine that conflict resolving would be one of the top priorities for leaders in such a situation where men are cold, hungry and constantly on the brim of death. Conflict is something that cannot be avoided in those predicaments but depending on how it is managed, damage can be reduced to a great degree.
Whenever I find conflict within a team, I try to take everybody`s mind of it by concentrating on a different issue or issue some off time to let off steam. It is effective in that everyone can refresh their minds and hopefully see a new perspective of teams, but like Shakleton crew, if we were faced with survival issues I don`t think it is easy as that. As quoted from the book, "The Challenge is not how to eliminate the conflicts but, rather, how to manage them in productive ways that strengthen bonds among team members"Sometimes the conflicts can`t be escaped and must be addressed immediately. I have a tendency to hush up the conflicts, but it is true that the conflicts itself can`t be eradicated, and the win approach to it would be to leverage the conflict to creating better bonds in the team. The approach I take now is basically shutting out the main issue here, and it isn`t very productive. By hiding from the main conflict, one day the little tremors may accumulate and cause a big disruption to the team.
Managing conflicts is a very fragile topic, and I have trouble when confronting conflicts as a team. I do not mind having disagreements, but when it gets to consulting to other team members that is more of a conflict for me. As you have said, in life or death situations like the Shackleton expedition solving team conflicts is vital for survival. Knowing that managing conflicts is important, and acting as a problem solver is so different. I wonder what kind of training Shackleton had, him being so skillful.
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