Conflict Resolution

Xerox Corporation has been a champion in the innovation to drive growth. A few years ago, the company was working on an innovative product that combined two different technologies: a new solid-ink system and existing copier technology. Two different teams managed these two technologies. Due to the conflicts between the teams, the project got a year behind schedule. Xerox sought the help of Belbin, a company specialising in providing guidance to increase personal effectiveness and engagement, enhance team performance and improve working relationships. Belbin found that the two main teams were imbalanced in their team roles, both having an overabundance of some roles and gaps in other roles. They were imbalanced in different ways. Both teams attended workshops and learnt collaboration skills. The teams realised their strengths and weaknesses, and combining their strengths, they developed a better understanding of each other's dynamics and communicated in ways that avoided future problems. Soon Xerox was able to release to the market their new ColorQube printer ( Belbin, 2022 ).