“Conflicts can be good because you get the devil’s advocate position,” says Mary Osswald, senior manager at Kamehameha Schools, Honolulu Hawaii. “Conflict usually comes because someone doesn’t want change or they don’t agree with how you’re making change. it certainly inspires better conversation and more thought whats being done and why its being done. It forces the project to evolve.”

The absence of conflict is not always a good sign, Ms. Osswald believes: “If you have a project with no conflict, you might have just as much of a leadership problem as if you were experiencing massive conflict. Ms. Osswald suspects groupthink is at work: “Its very unlikely everybody always agrees with how the project activities are progressing. If you have zero conflict, my thought is you’ve got a bunch ‘yes men’ who are keeping their mouths shut and simply doing what they think the leaders want”.

Your Task

Do you agree with Mary Osswald’s views on work-place conflict and groupthink? Look back at your teamwork experience and consider tension that arose. How were they addressed and settled? Have you worked on teams that were conflict-free? Were you ever afraid to speak up? Could negative situations have been salvaged with the tips suggested in this chapter?