Conflict is a fact of work life. It can be especially pronounced when the two parties involved see the world from different lenses, as is often the case with marketing and IT. Conflict can be the catalyst for creativity resulting in innovative, productive teams. It can also be the catalyst for emotionality, polarizing people and generating counter-productive behavior. Let's look at the following scenario to see how conflicts can be managed.

Situation:

Executive management wants to encourage the use of teams to streamline decision-making and communications during CRM implementation.

Marketing:

You are the marketing vice-president, co-chairing the CRM cross-functional implementation team. You know little to nothing about technology implementation but you really believe in the CRM philosophy and the power of the technology to make things happenfor the sales force. This week two key people from the IT staff, who were supposed to be on the CRM team, did not show up for the weekly meeting. You need these people to participate at the implementation meetings. You meant to confront the IT director about this right after the meeting, but she got called away. You have called her several times this morning already.

Here is some self-talk that the VP of marketing might be having with himself about this situation: I'm ticked off. I have resource allocation issues myself but this project is critical. This no-show behavior can't happen. It's obvious that IT hasn’t made this a high enough priority.

IT:

You are the IT director, co-chairing the CRM cross-functional implementation team with the VP of marketing. You have many internal clients who require ongoing support as well as assistance with new projects. You just checked your voice mail and there are several messages from the marketing vice president. You know what it's about. Quite frankly, in the

Executive management wants to encourage the use of teams to streamline decision-making and communications during CRM implementation.

Marketing:

You are the marketing vice-president, co-chairing the CRM cross-functional implementation team. You know little to nothing about technology implementation but you really believe in the CRM philosophy and the power of the technology to make things happenfor the sales force. This week two key people from the IT staff, who were supposed to be on the CRM team, did not show up for the weekly meeting. You need these people to participate at the implementation meetings. You meant to confront the IT director about this right after the meeting, but she got called away. You have called her several times this morning already.

Here is some self-talk that the VP of marketing might be having with himself about this situation: I'm ticked off. I have resource allocation issues myself but this project is critical. This no-show behavior can't happen. It's obvious that IT hasn’t made this a high enough priority.

IT:

You are the IT director, co-chairing the CRM cross-functional implementation team with the VP of marketing. You have many internal clients who require ongoing support as well as assistance with new projects. You just checked your voice mail and there are several messages from the marketing vice president. You know what it's about. Quite frankly, in the

Here is some self-talk that the VP of marketing might be having with himself about this situation: I'm ticked off. I have resource allocation issues myself but this project is critical. This no-show behavior can't happen. It's obvious that IT hasn’t made this a high enough priority.

IT:

You are the IT director, co-chairing the CRM cross-functional implementation team with the VP of marketing. You have many internal clients who require ongoing support as well as assistance with new projects. You just checked your voice mail and there are several messages from the marketing vice president. You know what it's about. Quite frankly, in the

IT:

You are the IT director, co-chairing the CRM cross-functional implementation team with the VP of marketing. You have many internal clients who require ongoing support as well as assistance with new projects. You just checked your voice mail and there are several messages from the marketing vice president. You know what it's about. Quite frankly, in the rush to move the CRM implementation forward, you feel that you've over-committed people to the CRM team. You're not opposed to the "team" approach, but the reality of running day-to-day operations is making it a struggle to send two of your staff to weekly meetings, plus attend yourself. You did not realize when you authorized days off for that week that it would mean no-shows in this morning’s meeting.

Here is some self-talk that the IT director might be having with herself about this situation: We have so many demands. I can't allocate two people to this team—only one—and that person may have to rotate with others on the team. He (VP of marketing) is just going to have to be more flexible.

Not a Personality Conflict

The next interaction between these two people is critical. It will determine whether Mars and Venus crash and burn, or if they align in the right orbits. Let's take a look at what the research tells us about conflict and the usual areas of disagreement at work. It often surprises people that personality conflicts are rarely the culprit.

Most conflicts at work are a function of lack of clarity around one or more of the following variables:

Roles: I know what your job is, you know what my job is, and we both understand our own roles. When you have role clarity, each party shares mutual expectations for performance.

Goals: We both buy in to the organization goal to be achieved and there are no hidden agendas. When you have goal clarity, each party understands and agrees upon what is to be accomplished.

Procedures: I want to do it this way; you want to do it that way. Procedures can be changed and are simply the means to the end goal. Can you brainstorm an alternative procedure to execute the goal?

Personality: A true dislike exists between the parties based on personal characteristics, behaviors, mannerisms, etc. Perhaps history has c