Organizational Behavior

Conflict is defined as a process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party (Kinicki & Kreitner 2009). Conflicts typically occur due to having a lack of understanding. If one of my coworkers is always standoffish I may think that she is just rude, but it could be that she actually has many things on her plate personally. When she comes to work she just wants to relax, do her work, and enjoy the solitude that coming to work provides for her. Not having an understanding of others is what typically causes conflicts in a group.

If I were in charge a group that seemed to be experiencing conflict of some sort, I would want to hold a day of getting to know one another. The first thing that would be done during my day of team building would be to sit down to have breakfast together as a group. Having breakfast would give everyone a chance to loosen up and have small talk, sort of like an ice breaker. After breakfast would consist of having speakers come in and discuss the importance of a strong team. I would also want to have several small exercises that would not only be considered team building, but trust building as well since team trust is essential for meeting team goals (Harlan 1992).

One of my favorite trust building activities is having one person be blindfolded and having to be led by another person. For the sake of true team/trust building I would pair people together that aren't typically seen conversing around the office. I think that pairing people who wouldn't typically converse is key in exercises like this because it give the participants an opportunity to get to know people other than the ones they are familiar with. The second activity I would orchestrate would be similar to a speed dating session, each participant would get to spend five minutes with each of the other team members and ask questions that they feel are important. The last thing my group would do before lunch would be to give every group member a jumbo sticky note and have them place it on the wall and stand next to it. Down the side of the sheet I would have each person write their name down the side of the paper, next I would have them write a characteristic that describes themselves that begins with the letters in their name. After this is completed I would then have them to write a slash, and a trait of how they think others view them.

This part of the team building exercises in my opinion will be the most beneficial of the