The Five Dysfunctions of a Team question

Conflict

Of all the dysfunctions from Patrick Lencioni’s book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, the dysfunction that causes the most trouble for a team in my experience is fear of conflict. The five dysfunctions occur naturally, and it takes conscious behavior and effort to get past them. “By acknowledging the imperfections of their humanity, members of functional teams overcome the natural tendencies that make trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, and a focus on results so elusive” (220). Here Lencioni is saying that we are not perfect and the first thing we ought to do is realize that we have some or all of these dysfunctions present in our teams. Just like in the book, I believe the best way to change a team is by going through the five dysfunctions and first identifying all the specific ways in which a team is violating any of the dysfunctions.
Just as the main character Kathryn said in response to Carlos wanting to have more than one major goal “If everything is important nothing is” (106), I will focus primarily on the dysfunction fear of conflict. Fear of conflict occurs on all sorts of teams, not just in business. Kathryn pointed out on page 75 that not just sports, but almost any activity that includes a group of people involves teamwork. Whether it be a sports team, a business team, or a group project team at school, anyone who has been part of a team has inevitably dealt with the dysfunction fear of conflict. This dysfunction is especially problematic for several reasons.
We don’t like to tell equals what to do.
The character Nick explained why it is more difficult to have conflict with an equal, compared to a subordinate; “Because we’re supposed to be equals. And who am I to tell Martin how to do his job, or Mikey, or Jan? It feels like I’m sticking my nose into their business when I do” (99). In our society it is often regarded as arrogant to tell coworkers or teammates what we think they should do unless we are in a position that gives us the authority to do so. This is especially true on a team where everyone has a specific assignment to focus on. When everyone has a specialty on a team, they are not only equals, but in regards to their specific focus they are deemed superior compared to their teammates. This can make conflict even more difficult because our culture just about prohibits subordinates giving advice to their superiors. Lastly we may believe that a superior knows so much about their craft that if we thought they were doing something incorrect, we would be wrong. Sometimes we put too much trust in our superiors.
We like to pretend it’s all good.
This reason goes hand in hand with not wanting to tell equals what to do. When one thinks a teammate could improve on something, or has an idea that clashes with a teammate the easiest thing to do is to let it go. We like to pretend we all get along or agree with the way an individual teammate or the team as a whole is executing a task. Lencioni explains the concept of “artificial harmony” through Kathryn; “It’s the lack of conflict that’s a problem. Harmony itself is good, I suppose, if it comes as a result of working through issues constantly and cycling through conflict. But if it only comes as a result of people holding back their opinions and honest concerns, then it’s a bad thing” (92). Lencioni’s concept of “artificial harmony” is when members of a team do not agree with each other or the group’s decisions as a whole, and instead of communicating that they do not agree, they settle with pretending they do agree. We do this to create an “artificial harmony” that can fool outsiders or sometimes even ourselves that we make a good team.
Conclusion
Conflict is needed for a team to function at its full potential. It is easy to ignore everyone’s input on a team if we do not have constructive arguments with one another. There are a few reasons that make the fear of conflict dysfunction problematic. First of all we do not like to tell teammates who we view as equal to us what to do. Secondly, It is very easy for us to keep our opinions or feelings bottled up inside and to go ahead and pretend that everyone agrees on an issue. The only way to get past the fear of conflict dysfunction, as well as the other dysfunctions is to work at it and change our habits. Lencioni gives advice for building teamwork “Success is not a matter of mastering subtle, sophisticated theory, but rather of embracing common sense with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence” (220). In order to be part of a successful team, everyone has to practice getting past the five dysfunctions.