According to the four of us, "A team is a group of people working together sharing thoughts and ideas to meet common objectives and goals. " Conflict," as defined by our team, "is a force of energy created by individuals with different personalities and perspectives while working toward a goal." Recognizing that team conflict is inevitable, by identifying potential conflicts prior to their occurrence and implementing various resolution strategies, conflict can actually be turned into a positive experience benefiting the overall outcome of the team.
Conflicts are broken into two basic types. Emotional conflict, also known as A-type or affective conflict, is best identified as "personal, defensive, and resentful" (Thompson et al. 218). The second type of conflict, known as cognitive or C-type conflict, is largely depersonalized and consists of argumentation about the merits of ideas, plans, and projects (218). On a positive note, "cognitive conflict is often effective in stimulating creativity because it forces people to rethink problems and arrive at outcomes that everyone can live with" (218).