Conquering Team Conflict

"Teamwork doesn't mean sitting around singing 'Kumbaya' in four-part harmony," allows author Kenneth Kaye in this handsomely produced, heavy-on-the-info/light-on-the-filler guide to getting along in teams. Combining commentary from a well-spoken host, interview clips with Kaye (author of Workplace Wars & How to End Them), funny archival film footage and useful live-action skits, Conquering Team Conflict outlines the pros and cons of team conflict, while offering various solutions to resolving differences. Correctly pointing out that conflict is not only inevitable in a team but is actually the breeding ground for fresh ideas, the program maps out the most common ways teams get stuck. For example: 1) the team leader assigns someone else a juicy account, 2) you avoid this person (actually wishing that he or she would take up scuba diving in piranha infested waters), 3) you assume the team leader is sleeping with the person who got the plum assignment, 4) the team leader takes you aside and (gulp!) gives you an even bigger account, and 5) you feel like a mean-spirited backbiting worm. It doesn't have to be this way: Conquering Team Conflict demonstrates how to get the conflict out in the open, analyze underlying patterns, strive toward win/win solutions, make a commitment to change, and--when appropriate--stick to your original idea. A workbook is included and referred to on the tape, but the series works well without it. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)