The Impact of Leadership on Fostering Problem Solving

Conflict plays important roles in the problem-solving team process. Team members bring differences in background, expertise, views, habits, preferences, and personalities, therefore conflict is inevitable. Since it can be anticipated, effective planning can ensure that conflict adds to the productivity of the process. If left to chance, on the other hand, it can be destructive to the process. Leaders must make it a priority to teach team members the skills needed to resolve conflict among themselves (Townsley, n.d.). If originated from personality conflict differences, disagreements are more likely to prove destructive to the task performance. On the other hand, if originated from task conflict, disagreements could induce productivity through the development of innovative insight (De Dreu, 2001). School leaders will benefit the team problem-solving process by providing professional development to teach specific conflict management strategies and the use of positive debate strategies to reach desirable conclusions. Burns, Peters and Noell (2008), stated that providing performance feedback consistently to the problem-solving team will increase task fidelity in the problem-solving process.

Burns, M. K., Peters, R., & Noell, G. H. (2008). Using performance feedback to enhance implementation fidelity of the problem-solving team process. Journal of School Psychology, 46, 540. doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2008.04.001

De Dreu, C. (2006). When too little or too much hurts: Evidence for a curvilinear relationship between task conflict and innovation in teams. Journal of Management,32(1), 84. doi:10.1177/0149206305277795

Townsley, C. A. (n.d.). CSWT Reports-Townsley. Retrieved May 5, 2013, from http://gram.eng.uci.edu /~ghubbard/mae189/Townsley.html Townsley, C. A. (n.d.). CSWT Reports-Townsley. Retrieved May 5, 2013, from http://gram.eng.uci.edu/~ghubbard/mae189/Townsley.html