Signs of Healthy Conflict

04/02/2004

"The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn." - Gloria Steinem

SIGNS OF HEALTHY CONFLICT

The article "When Friction Flares -- Dealing with Staff Conflict" by Roger Neugebauer, which appears in the Exchange guidebook, The Art of Leadership: Managing Early Childhood Organizations, observes that conflict can be constructive if it...

* generates new ideas, new perspectives
* provokes an evaluation of organizational structures or center design
* brings individual's reservations and objections out into the open
* heightens the debate about pending decisions or problems
* forces the reexamination of current goals, policies or practices
* focuses attention on problems inhibiting performance at the center
* energizes staff -- gets them actively involved in the life of the center

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