Community Health Volunteer's Training Manual - Population Council

Waste of human effort and time
Conflict Prernclonnt MnMarernctMnnt reoolclon
Volunteers spend more time complaining and being disgruntled than giving of their best.
Skills and expertise are exchanged for criticism. And time is wasted. One project can take
twenty years to complete because of conflicts!
Waste of other resources
Money, building materials, buildings, machines, documents may lie around idle or even
locked up for no other reason than conflict. Who loses? The people who need the health in
the community. Women die because the VHC is quarrelling with the CHO over a rumour
that says she called them ineffective!
Low productivity
Because of all the problems, little is achieved by the team or organisation. The health of the
community does not get better. The whole community is affected.
For example – the community blamed the CHO for not effectively managing several
diarrhoea and vomiting cases, when a cholera outbreak was reported, instead of cooperating
they criticised her till she also got angry and reacted.
You can also think of many effects of conflicts on yourselves and your work. But conflict
also has benefits.
The positive side of conflicts
Every cloud has a silver lining, so they say. Conflicts too have something positive about
them.
1. Conflicts force team members to think through a situation and try to find solutions.
2. Conflicts bring about change and development. New people bring in fresh ideas and
old members find innovative ways of doing things.
3. Conflict situations encourage healthy competition between team members and serve as
fertile grounds for leaders to emerge.
4. Conflicts themselves offer a learning opportunity on how to prevent and manage future
conflicts.
In sum, conflicts, if managed properly result in good things in a team or organisation.
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