Question

Think about an interteam challenge or conflict that you have either been part of or have observed in your organization. Describe what the issues were and discuss what steps you would take to reduce the chances of conflict escalation between the teams if you saw this occurring in the future.

Answer 1

I was a part of the game design team that was responsible for the production of the last video game project that the company was going to start work on. There was an inter-team conflict that came about due to the differences between the design team and the programming team that occurred due to the differences in their goals and schedules. This became a huge hindrance to the project when the management was incapable to resolving the issues to a point where no work was actually being pushed and the company even had to decide to replace the entire creative team. The conflict was an issue of improper management, conflict resolution, intermediation and the inability of people in either team to understand the needs and the goals of each other.

If the management had been aware of the internal conflict of the team, the situation could have been resolved in such a way that neither department had to bear the burden of the problem alone. With proper intermediation and proper division of schedules and goals for either party, they could have created a system of "give and take" which is essentially the best type of system any company can follow. To reduce the chances of such conflict, the managers need to be aware or relationship dynamic of the people and essentially allow every worker to raise their concerns, discuss their problems and essentially control the outcome of the situation which could easily grow worse eventually.