Before this course: Difficult Conversations: feedback and boundaries (course 9.7.2). You already know how to plan a hard talk with the three conversations, give feedback with SBI, set boundaries and pause when you are flooded. Here we go from one conversation to whole systems: teams and families, where many people and many relationships are involved.
Before this course, and what research says about teams and families
When two people argue, it is like two cars bumping. In a team or a family, it is more like a traffic jam: many cars, and one bump can slow everyone. To fix a jam, you first look at the whole road.
- Three kinds of team conflict. Researchers separate task conflict (disagreeing about the work itself), relationship conflict (personal friction) and process conflict (disagreeing about who does what, how and when).
- Newer team evidence is more complex. In course 9.7.2 you met De Dreu and Weingart (2003). A later meta-analysis by de Wit, Greer and Jehn (2012) combined 116 studies covering 8,880 groups. It found stable negative links between relationship conflict and group outcomes, and between process conflict and group outcomes. Unlike the 2003 review, it did not find a strong negative link between task conflict and group performance.
- When task conflict looked better. In the same review, task conflict and performance were more positively related when task conflict was only weakly tied to relationship conflict, in top management teams, and when performance meant decision quality or financial results. Plain meaning: arguing about ideas seems less harmful when it does not turn personal.
- Families: how parents handle conflict matters. A review by Harold and Sellers (2018, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry) reports that children are affected by how parents express and manage conflict, across a range "from silence to violence", and whether the adults live together or are separated.
- Parent and teen conflict. A meta-analysis by Laursen, Coy and Collins (1998) found that how often parents and teens argue goes down from early to late adolescence, while how intense the arguments feel goes up from early to mid adolescence. It found little support for the common idea that conflict rises and then falls.
- Limits. These studies show averages and links (correlations), mostly from some countries and settings. They do not prove that one change will fix your team or family.
| Type | Example | What research suggests (on average) |
|---|---|---|
| Task | "Should we launch in May or June?" | Not strongly harmful; can be useful if it stays impersonal |
| Relationship | "She always looks down on me." | Linked with worse group outcomes |
| Process | "Why do I always do the boring jobs?" | Linked with worse group outcomes |
- Choose one team or family conflict you know well (school, work, sports, home).
- Write each disagreement in it on its own line.
- Label each line: task, relationship or process.
- Circle any task disagreement that has turned personal.
- Write one sentence on what the research says about that type.
- Write one limit: what the research cannot tell you about your case.
- Check: every line has a label, and you wrote one limit.
Read the video script
[Host] "A team fight is rarely one fight. It is usually three kinds mixed together."
[Text on screen: Task · Relationship · Process] "Task: what we do. Relationship: how we feel about each other. Process: who does what and how."
[Text on screen: 116 studies, 8,880 groups] "A big review found relationship and process conflict were linked with worse group outcomes. Task conflict was not strongly harmful on average."
[Host] "So keep the debate about ideas, and stop it from turning personal."
Take one real conflict and split it into task, relationship and process lines. Write which line you would work on first and why.
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I'm learning "Conflict Resolution: teams and families" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Before this course, and what research says about teams and families". What the lesson teaches: - Three kinds of team conflict. Researchers separate task conflict (disagreeing about the work itself), relationship conflict (personal friction) and process conflict (disagreeing about who does what, how and when). - Newer team evidence is more complex. In course 9.7.2 you met De Dreu and Weingart (2003). A later meta-analysis by de Wit, Greer and Jehn (2012) combined 116 studies covering 8,880 groups. It found stable negative links between relationship conflict and group outcomes, and between process conflict and group outcomes. Unlike the 2003 review, it did not find a strong negative link between task conflict and group performance. - When task conflict looked better. In the same review, task conflict and performance were more positively related when task conflict was only weakly tied to relationship conflict, in top management teams, and when performance meant decision quality or financial results. Plain meaning: arguing about ideas seems less harmful when it does not turn personal. - Families: how parents handle conflict matters. A review by Harold and Sellers (2018, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry) reports that children are affected by how parents express and manage conflict, across a range "from silence to violence", and whether the adults live together or are separated. - Parent and teen conflict. A meta-analysis by Laursen, Coy and Collins (1998) found that how often parents and teens argue goes down from early to late adolescence, while how intense the arguments feel goes up from early to mid adolescence. It found little support for the common idea that conflict rises and then falls. - Limits. These studies show averages and links (correlations), mostly from some countries and settings. They do not prove that one change will fix your team or family. - Type - Example - What research suggests (on average) The exercise I'm working on: Take one real conflict and split it into task, relationship and process lines. Write which line you would work on first and why. I'm stuck. Please: 1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example. 2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step. 3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Before this course, and what research says about teams and families" from the course "Conflict Resolution: teams and families". Here's what the lesson says: When two people argue, it is like two cars bumping. In a team or a family, it is more like a traffic jam: many cars, and one bump can slow everyone. To fix a jam, you first look at the whole road. The activity: Take one real conflict and split it into task, relationship and process lines. Write which line you would work on first and why. Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words. Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Sources
- de Wit, Greer & Jehn (2012), "The paradox of intragroup conflict: a meta-analysis," Journal of Applied Psychology (PubMed): pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21842974/
- Harold & Sellers (2018), "Interparental conflict and youth psychopathology," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (PubMed): pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29574737/
- Laursen, Coy & Collins (1998), "Reconsidering changes in parent-child conflict across adolescence: a meta-analysis," Child Development (PubMed): pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9680687/
Map the conflict before you act
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Build teams that handle conflict well
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Run a structured problem-solving meeting
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Family conflict, children and teens
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Repair and forgiveness after conflict
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Edge cases: power, culture, safety and when to refer
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Final project
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Quiz
What are the three kinds of team conflict in this course?
Task, relationship and process conflict.
What did de Wit, Greer and Jehn (2012) find about relationship and process conflict?
Both had stable negative links with group outcomes.
Did the 2012 review find task conflict strongly harmful to performance?
No; it did not find a strong negative link, and task conflict looked better when it stayed separate from relationship conflict.
What does a conflict map show?
People, issues, positions and interests, history, power and warning signs.
What did Mathieu and Rapp (2009) find about team charters?
Teams high on both a good charter and a good performance strategy kept the highest performance.
What is team psychological safety?
A shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.
Name three steps of a structured problem-solving meeting.
Any three of: separate talks, ground rules, each side speaks, shared problem question, interests, options, choose with fair criteria, agree and review.
According to research on families, what matters most for children?
How adults express and manage conflict, not only whether it happens.
Which factors were linked with forgiveness in the 2010 meta-analysis?
Empathy and receiving an apology (and less forgiveness when harm seemed intended or people felt angry).
When should you not hold a joint meeting?
When there is violence, threats, abuse, fear or someone cannot safely speak up for their needs.
Why can a power gap make an agreement weak?
The weaker person may agree under pressure, so the agreement may not last.
What should you do if someone is in danger right now?
Call your local emergency number.
Final exam
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Certificate
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