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Is difference in opinions good for team building or should we involve the HR department to bring the team on one page?

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Question added by Obaid ur Rehman , HR Executive , Al Bahr Al Arabi Marine Engineering Services
Date Posted: 2017/03/01
Douglas Andrew
by Douglas Andrew , Assistant Sales Manager , ImageGrafix Enterprise Solutions

Difference in opinion is quite natural because everybody has its own way to think & reciprocate. However, in my opinion

"A team is suppose to be a bunch of brains working collaboratively for a universal solution or idea".

tarek El-mourad
by tarek El-mourad , Quality Operations Manager , Nadec

It is normal to have different opinion within the team so that we can see points of view of people regarding the subject discussed. Bringing human resource to bring the team on one page will show weakness for the team . This will depend on the subject discussed , if this is related to a technical debate that requires experience is a certain field , proper argument and evidence shall be presented from each team member to defend his argument and opinion.  If the team have the same goal they will come along with each other and agree on the best action to be taken for the benifit of the company.  

Sure there should have different opinion because we can choose best

Jakub Dabrowski
by Jakub Dabrowski , Coach, IT Consultant (EMEA) , www.jakub.fr

Difference in opinion in what exactly? And how it was shared?

It's good to have and share different opinions, because we all have different experiences, and like that the outcome can be better, than the outcome provided by the team where all people have the same opinion.

On the other hand - company is not about democracy: there is a leader (boss) or the owner who has his vision of the company/department. His decisions should be respected. BUT he hires people just to follow his orders, or for their expertise? He should listen to the input and then make his decision. Sharing constructive opinions by employees means that they are engaged! Just following the orders - not necessarily.

Of course the boss will not explain his decisions every single time to every single employee, but it's good to share reasons from time to time and avoid the answer "No, because I said so". Isn't it better to say "Hey, I really like your idea, but at the moment we need to implement the process I described. Let's discuss yours next week and see how that could improve things".

The teams where boss takes final decisions, but he listens to people and considers their opinions may perform better. And there is a possibility of using that input later on!

 

But, to be clear, there are some situations where you can't do anything as the leader. There are some people who will just complain for complaining: "I don't like the new process". Why? "I just don't like it". Can we make it better? "I don't know". And then this person goes all around to complain to others. This kind of behaviors need to be spotted and solved straight away. But it can't be seen as getting rid of "troublemaker" just because he has different opinion than the boss - that could be even worse for the whole team.

 

Just to finish: is your question posed as the boss or a member of the team?

If you are a team member and some people just always disagree but not in constructive manner - the team should approach their boss first (not one person, as this could be seen bad). Then the boss decides what to do. If you are the boss - it's you to find and solve the problem first. Delegating it to HR - for what exactly? To make the motivational meeting for all the team? Half of people don't need it, the other half will not care and the result may be the opposite from expected...

 

Maher Mashaal
by Maher Mashaal , مدير انتاج , شركة آفاق للتعبئة و التغليف

Involve humain resurce department is better ... Why?

because conflict will be happen ...

Conflict happens when individuals or groups do not meet their needs and when they do not find satisfaction to their own wants or self-interest.

So, You can choose to ignore it, complain about it, blame someone for it, or try to deal with it through hints and suggestions; or you can be direct, clarify what is going on, and attempt to reach a resolution through common techniques like negotiation or compromise. It's clear that conflict has to be dealt with.

The question is how?

It has to be dealt with constructively and with a plan, otherwise it's too easy to get pulled into the argument and create an even larger mess.

Ali Ahmad SHRM-SCP
by Ali Ahmad SHRM-SCP , Group HR Performance Manager , FAMA Holdings Group

It's healthy to have differences in opinion BEFORE a consensus is built and a decision taken for the mutual benefits of the org and the team. However, vice versa is not true!

MOHAMMED ELATTAR
by MOHAMMED ELATTAR , مدير مالي , TAZWEED FOR AGRICULTURE CROPS

The difference in views good work on condition that the group would agree on the supreme interest of the company and there is a strong leader of the specifies the priority of these differences and standardization in the interest of the work and to determine the extent of their impact on the work and anything we start and the collection of the panel in one word in order to strengthen the team spirit and not the difference in work which impact negatively on the interest of the work.

Sheheryar Ahmad
by Sheheryar Ahmad , Recruiter III , Amazon Web Services

The difference of opinion is very healthy when it's in between two different teams or groups because it promotes competition and increases overall performance. It good from the organizational point of view. The difference of opinion is also healthy within one group or team as long as it is aligned with organizational goals and policy.  

saleh Abdu
by saleh Abdu , Administrative Officer , Fawaz A Alhokair & Co.

I agree with the answers given.

Anish Ali
by Anish Ali , Head Projects , LM Energy & Software Pvt Ltd

Difference in opinion is good. Different opinion facilitate you to come out with correct decision. HR is just responsible to heir candidate and thereafter its team leader responsibility to listen team members and their opinion but must have decision reserved within capacity of team leader.

Ashraf E. Mahmoud (PhD)
by Ashraf E. Mahmoud (PhD) , University Lecturer, Freelancer Consultant and Trainer for Int'l Business & Banking TF. , FreeLancer

Thanks for invitation,

As a matter of fact, different opinions are en-reaching the team achievements in general, provided there are cooperation and coordination between all the team members.   

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