Team conflict is not an inevitable occurrence, but it is quite common whenever people end up working together. Let's look at 6 reasons why teams have conflict.

1. COMMON
REASONS
TEAMS HAVE
CONFLICT

2. COMMON REASONS TEAMS HAVE CONFLICT:
1. COMPETITION
▸ A little bit of competition might help
the team work well together, but it can
also increase friction between team
members. Conflicts can arise from all
different types of competition.
Whether employees have conflicting
interests that make them compete for
different goals from the team’s goal,
there are conflicts over limited
resources needed for different jobs, or
if team members want their own
individual recognition instead of team
recognition, conflicts may arise.

3. COMMON REASONS TEAMS HAVE CONFLICT:
2. DIFFERENCES IN WORKING BEHAVIORS
▸ Someone who naturally has their
own habits and behaviors at work
will normally be opposed to
another team member coming in
and messing up those behaviors
with their own different ways of
working. This happens more
commonly with new teams, as
members get used to working with
one another.

4. COMMON REASONS TEAMS HAVE CONFLICT:
3. IGNORING NORMAL TEAM PRACTICES
▸ If at any point a member of the
team starts to act in a manner that’s
inconsistent with normal team
behaviors and expected actions,
conflicts can come about between
members. Over time this sort of
conflict can quickly spread around
to encompass the whole team, so if
this is the source of your own
team’s conflict you will need to
address it quickly.

5. COMMON REASONS TEAMS HAVE CONFLICT:
4. FAILURE TO PERFORM WELL
▸ It can happen that a team member
does not contribute equally, gives
consistently bad work, or generally
is unmotivated about getting
anything done properly. In this
instance it is easy for others to
become frustrated at that person
and conflict can arise.

6. COMMON REASONS TEAMS HAVE CONFLICT:
5. VAGUE WORK SCENARIOS
▸ Teams that don’t have clearly defined goals
will often find themselves fighting about
what exactly they are trying to accomplish. It
is up to management and leading figures to
make sure goals are laid out in a way that all
members of the team can understand.
▸ Another vague working scenario that can
cause problems is when team members
have different ideas about how the goal
should be reached. This sort of ambiguity
about what should be done that comes
about when clear actions are not laid out is
a very frequent source of conflict in many
working teams.

7. COMMON REASONS TEAMS HAVE CONFLICT:
6. NO TEAM ACCOUNTABILITY
▸ Lack of individual and team
accountability can make any of the
above listed issues worse and can
escalate any situation that may not
have caused conflict into a full-on
team conflict.

8. COMMON REASONS TEAMS HAVE CONFLICT:
HELPING TO NAVIGATE THROUGH TEAM CONFLICT
▸ While team leaders and managers
cannot fully avoid conflict, it’s
important to learn how to help your
team get through instances of conflict
before the team is torn apart and
rendered useless. Learn how to
recognise the source of the conflict and
respond to it before it gets out of hand.
▸ Read full article here http://
www.totalteambuilding.com.au/
common-areas-conflict-within-team/

9. COMMON REASONS TEAMS HAVE CONFLICT:
ABOUT TOTAL TEAM BUILDING
▸ Total Team Building specialise in
teams…we facilitate team building
activities designed to enhance
teamwork, team culture,
leadership, communication and
collaboration. For more
information about how Total Team
Building can help you and your
team contact us today.
▸ http://www.totalteambuilding.com.au