Page 312 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J

Managing Conflict in the Small Group 295

automatically change the others. Suppose you decide that Vou is a jerk, so you rip
his criticism of your proposal to shreds. That will certainly affect Vou, who may
now conclude that you are a jerk who just can’t take constructive criticism. Vou may
then decide to escalate the conflict or try to destroy your credibility within the
group. On the other hand, if you indicate to Vou that you genuinely want to know
more about his criticism and the reasons for it, he may decide that you are an
enlightened, cooperative group member whom he can trust and on whose good
judgment he can rely. This may lead him to seek your opinions, support, and ideas
in the future.

Positive and Negative Outcomes of Conflict
Communication scholars concur that conflict has both beneficial and harmful
outcomes. We will now examine some of these positive and negative effects.
6
Benefits of Conflict Conflict can affect group decision making, teamwork, and
satisfaction. Here are several potential benefits of conflict:
1. Conflict can produce better understanding of both issues and people.
We often assume that most people see things as we do and feel as we do, and
are often surprised to discover otherwise. When students realize others hold
differing opinions on an issue, they become uncertain about their own
positions, seek actively to get more information about the issue, are able to take
the perspective of the other students, and are better able to retain information,
both about their own position and those of other people. Disagreement fosters
7
learning about the issues. The speaker committee discussion in the opening
8
case about the value of entertaining versus educational speakers helped
members clarify their criteria for choosing speakers.
2. Conflict can increase member motivation.
People who do not care will not expend any energy disagreeing about an issue.
However, when group members participate in a conflict episode, they are
actively involved with the issue. They are interested and excited and pay close
attention, so they learn more about the issue. Thus, some conflicts can be
motivating.
3. Conflict can produce better decisions.
This outcome is the goal of good group problem solving. Through conflict, you
discover first that others disagree, then why they disagree. Pavitt and Aloia have
discovered that when groups agree early on, members tend to only share their
9
preferences and not the reasons for those preferences. Offering those reasons
allows groups to find flaws in reasoning, holes in arguments, factors that other
members failed to consider, or hidden profile biases that were ignored. Thus,
you help the group prevent mistakes. One of us belonged to a campus staff
charged with developing a plan for cutting costs at a commuter campus. The
developer of the plan recommended closing the snack bar at 5 pm. Another
member of the staff countered that closing at 5 pm would leave many evening

gal37018_ch11_291_320.indd 295 3/28/18 12:38 PM