How to deal with conflicts between managers
Once, my friend John complained to me that his business activities were going worse than ever. I asked him to tell me about his team. He told me Jack was a great producer who could make anything except for ideas. His sense of worth was in the professional development whereas his friend Ben tried to clearly sort his thoughts and that made Jack feel anxious. But the concept of organization was created by another talented person Clave. He offered new ideas, tried to get his foot in the door but suddenly gave up. As for my friend, he tried to make his team socialize so that they got on well. Instead of succeeding, the company got into trouble. So, that was an experience of total chaos.
I told John that in every team there is a producer, administrator, entrepreneur, and an integrator. The conflicts happen because these are different personality types. In such situations, the best way of dealing with the conflict is to manage the teamwork so that every person understands his unique role and that of others. Let's schematize these characters and describe the case.
Ben, a balanced and judicious administrator, had a conflict with the entrepreneur, Clave, who was eager for changes. Jack, a producer, wanted everything at once while the entrepreneur focused on the long-term outcome. The entrepreneur shut the door in John's face because Clave was used to holding forth. The unhappy integrator, Alex, and witness, Jason, preferred not to listen to such clutter. I offered them a very simple but effective method - to give everyone whatever he wants but not forgetting about their common business.
Having knowledge of people's motivation, the integrator is able to deal with that conflict.
The producer has to make the system work and for that he needs an administrator. The last one is good at making plans but he needs someone to see through the fog. The entrepreneur would lurch from one objective to another without the producer. And to make them understand their functions, they need the integrator.
