Functional conflict is a healthy disagreement about content or tasks. It can drive progress, innovation, and growth, unlike dysfunctional relationship conflict, which harms relationships and psychological safety. section 8.1.1
Use these questions to distinguish constructive disagreement from harmful conflict:
- Is the disagreement primarily task-related or emotion-related? section 8.1.1
- Is it helping the group improve its progress and outcome, or hindering them? section 8.1.1
- Investigate competing opinions and alternatives before dismissing them; unresolved disagreement can become hidden resistance. section 8.1.1 section 8.2.2
From disagreement to design progress
During a design EventStorming session, Jack and Rose disagreed about the best bounded-context design. Facilitation helped resolve the dysfunctional relationship conflict and turned their remaining disagreement into functional conflict: they could listen to each other, but still needed a carefully facilitated decision process to avoid returning to an unhealthy conflict stage. section 9.3
