Lord Shiva’s Family©: Project Team, Differences, Conflict and Growth

Manoj is the project manager of a team of 20 employees with different expertise in the field of software, hardware, designing etc. All come from different culture and parts of  the country. Almost everyone has a different mother-tongue and language for communication. Manoj had tough time in bridging the gap between members. Lot of time the reason for conflict between team members was the differences in their background which is non technical and inevitable because those are natural property of any human being.

Family of Lord Shiva is an excellent example of Harmony in diversity. He lives in faraway Himalayas with his wife Parvati. The vehicle used by Lord Shiva is Nandi, which is a bull and the one used by Parvati is a lion. The couple has two sons, fat Ganesha and strong Kartikeya. Ganesha rides mushika, the mouse and Kartikaye rides Parvani, the peacock.  Lord Shiva wears five serpents as ornaments. Bull, Lion, Mouse, Peacock and serpent, all are enemies to each other. Lion can attack on bull, serpent can attack on mouse and peacock can attack on serpent. This is because of their natural property but the fact is that no one harms each other. Every one’s pace of moving is different but still harmony exists between each of them. This family is known as one of the best families in the Hindu mythology.

The team with project manager is also like a “Lord Shiva’s Family^©”. Team has been set up to fulfil needs of the project and ultimately of the organization. In current corporate culture there are lots of differences among team members in terms of culture, physical attributes, gender, values, opposing interests, personality conflicts, language and communication and finally personal problems etc.

Conflict among team members is inevitable. In fact, conflict can be helpful when it challenges team members to explore new ideas, increase curiosity about differences, and stretch the group’s problem-solving abilities. When there was a competition between Ganesha and Kartikaye to circle the earth three times in shortest time then Ganesha’s new idea of rotating around his parents has been welcomed by the whole world and has established a culture of worshiping parents forever.

Team building techniques that help members understand the nature of intercultural conflict and constructive methods for resolving it. It will help them work out disagreements on their own. The following are some guidelines to keep in mind when developing the team and managing conflict.

      1.    Avoid Conflict

• Deal with conflict immediately
• Be Open to all
• Implement and practice clear and communication
• Concentrate actionable solutions
• Stop the blame-game
• Demonstrate respect
• Keep team issues within team

     2.    Resolving Conflict

• Prepare for Solution
• Understand the situation
• Conclude agreement

Conflict is inevitable and because one need to form team to accomplish the project & organizational goals. The solution is not to target the differences but the similarities and seek the harmony between team members. Also one need to target that how the differences can be utilized as strategic benefits.

Copyright © 2013 Prashant Pathak. All rights reserved.