Wednesday 1 January 2014

The Small Stuff

    An organization is defined as a group of people with a common goal. Within this group of people, expect to find differences; differences which might seem small in the beginning but might eventually have an overall effect on the group’s dynamics.


Not all conflicts are intense and dramatic. Contrary to office dramas and politics, real life scenarios are usually quite uninteresting and boring. However, what is known as insignificant conflicts now may very well accumulate to become a bigger problem within the organization in the future.

Let’s say that A likes coffee but B does not. A proceeds to buy only coffee for everyone as it is easier that way (since most people prefer coffee), leaving B to feel neglected. To solve this problem, B has no choice but to refuse coffee from A the next time and go out on his own to find another drink.

Imagine the same situation happening over and over again, perhaps in different variation. And like the coffee example, A always takes into account only the majority opinion (thus B is always left out). Over time, A will feel that B is acting selfishly and is not a team player while B will feel that A does not bother listening to opinions voiced out by others. Eventually, this would lead to a major conflict between A and B when they’ve finally had enough of each other.

The coffee incident does not seem so small now, does it? More often than not, a conflict within an organization occurs when parties are unwilling to communicate their differences and compromise. It is human nature for people to perceive things from their own perspective, without taking into account what others might feel.


So how do we break way from these unhealthy habits and move away from the vicious cycle of misunderstandings within the office environment? Team building activities and programmes can be a great way reduce and resolve these differences. There are many stages within a team building exercise that will help to facilitate greater understanding between people. For example, ice breaking segments are a great way to find out more about someone. Solving a problem together, without the usual stress attached to work will give people the opportunity to be more comfortable in voicing out their solutions.

For more information about team building activities or programmes, look up Jambar Team Building at www.jambarteambuilding.com. We organize customized and innovative Team Building and/ or Team Development activities for corporate and private clients. Our programmes are designed with fun and cooperation which are key elements to opening doors leading to positive creativity in any organisation. Your company can easily learn and practise working together more effectively by learning to play our team building games.

1 comment:

  1. There are several ways to benefit fromTeam Buildinga group could be videoed during an activity and the video can be later watched, analyzed, and discussed, to help extract potential learning from those exercises.

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