IT Management Slideshow: 10 Ways to Defuse Conflict Within Your IT Teams

In leading IT teams, it's inevitable that you'll see things heat up among members. Heck, you may even find yourself drawn into the fire. In many cases, the best way to put out these blazes is to douse the flames early on. In other cases, it's best to let conflict take its course and allow your employees to work things out like mature professionals. Clearly, this is a judgment call - a nuanced aspect of management that they likely didn't teach you in school. The recent book "Conflict 101: A Manager's Guide to Resolving Problems so Everyone Can Get Back To Work" (Amacom/Available now), examines the essence of workplace confrontation and offers a wide range of best practices for CIOs and other senior executives to consider. Author Susan H. Shearouse establishes guidance and modeling behaviors that you can provide to help your teams work things out on their own. And it also sheds insight on steps you need to take if your personal involvement is required. Shearouse is a consultant and mediator specializing in differences resolution for organizations such as Lockheed Martin, the Federal Aviation Administration and the IRS.