Kim experiences a heated disagreement

Kim joined a new project team in a manufacturing company. The first few meetings had a positive lively atmosphere with an agreement that there was a lot to get done and quite tight timescales. Although there was lots of discussion at these meetings, no decisions were made. 

Sub-groups appear

At the next meeting individuals began to get more vocal, expressing opinions about priorities and next steps and views of sub-groups which seemed to have formed based on who worked in the same office building: “we think…” Over the course of the meeting the discussion became heated and there was intense disagreement about particular actions, including accusations of individual suggestions being “ridiculous” and “not based in reality”. Kim was taken aback by the hostility displayed by certain members of the team.

No resolution

The meeting eventually finished when three people left early, commenting, “this project won’t work…” and “this isn’t what I signed up for…”. No decisions were made that day, and there were accusations of people being “controlling” and “out of control.” This was the first time Kim had been a member of a project team and she was surprised at how comfortable other team members felt expressing their dissatisfaction and challenging other people within the team.

Next meeting

At the next meeting there seemed to have been some conciliatory conversations between various members of the team. The motivation team members had to achieve the goal of the team appeared to outweigh the differences of opinion.