Issues Teams Face

What?

During the summer and on breaks from school I work at a gym, ACAC. Specifically, I work in the Kidz Zone, taking care of children while their parents workout. The Kidz Zone employees many people of different ages and backgrounds, so teamwork is a key factor in avoiding conflict. At work, I take care of many children, ages 0-12. There are two sections of the Kidz Zone, one for ages 5 and up and the other for ages 4 and younger. On the "little kid" side, there are play tubes, a kitchen, and many toys for the kids to play with. On the "big kid" side, there is a gym with basketball nets, a video game room, and a TV room with games and puzzles for the kids. On both sides I supervise, play with, and care for kids.

So What?

According to Levi, conflicts in teams can have either negative or positive effects depending on the task. Effects of conflicts about routine tasks tend to be negative, while non-routine tasks tend to be positive. At the Kidz Zone, one routine task is that we are supposed to keep the children on their respective side according to age. Conflicts arise when some employees don't enforce this rule. Some employees let certain children roam back and forth between the two sides. This doesn't become an issue until a particular employee disagrees with the breaking of the rule. When this happens, a conflict between the two employees must be resolved.
A non-routine task that occasionally occurs is when a child comes in with a disability. For example, there has been a child with Autism who has come in to the Kidz Zone. Not all of the employees know the best way to care for him while he is there, especially when he gets upset. The first time he came in crying it was hard to find a way to soothe him. One employee suggested blowing bubbles, another suggested giving him a snack, and another suggested giving him a toy. In the end, we found that giving him a red toy car would make him happy. Without our conflicting ideas, we might not have found a solution to the problem.

Now What?

For resolving the conflict over the routine task, we can use Dewey's Rational Problem-Solving Approach. First, we must recognize that the problem exists and define it properly. From there, we could generate solutions that we think would help and then select the best solution. If it works, the problem is solved. If not, we must try again until the problem is solved. For example, one solution could be letting a younger child who is upset go to the older side to see a sibling, in order to keep them from crying. The employee who wanted to stop the roaming will compromise because of the need of the child. The employee who allowed the roaming will compromise by only allowing the child to roam under certain circumstances.

With the non-routine conflict we followed Dewey's approach and found a solution quickly. In Levi's discussion of decision making, he concluded that it is important to have a variety of different resources when solving a problem. By coming up with different ideas for solutions, we were able to find one that worked.