102.35 35. HOW TO FRAME DISAGREEMENTS

When groups make decisions, conflict is inevitable, but it can also be quite positive. The best decisions usually emerge from a productive conflict in which group members challenge ideas by presenting counterexamples and considering alternatives in order to either strengthen the original idea or find a newer, better one. Such issues-based conflicts allow members to debate problems and brainstorm potential solutions. Alternatively, person-based conflict can also erupt, wherein members fight with each other for power, for credit, for less or more responsibility, and so on. Person-based conflicts waste time, reduce morale, and generally impede the group agenda.