What do you do if your team in Economics is facing conflicts and disputes?

One thing I have found helpful is to have a partnership with Human Resources. They typically have seen similar situations before in other areas, and can offer useful practical ideas on different ways to handle the situation. Don’t just delegate to HR, but do listen to their advice.

Begin by pinpointing the root causes of conflicts within your economics team. Listen actively to understand concerns, whether they're about goals, personalities, or roles. Clarifying these issues sets the stage for effective resolution.

Promote a culture of empathy and understanding can help team members appreciate each other's viewpoints, leading to more constructive discussions. Also, regularly reviewing and revising team goals and roles can ensure alignment and prevent future conflicts stemming from misunderstandings.

Isolate facts from ideology and its cognocidals, as the latter usually polluts decision-making. For instance, class strugle is far from being a fact, and more a narrative to fit into an ideology. By explicitly identifying these cognocidals, the team will be capable to avoid what in social psychology is known, as the fundamental attribution error.

When facing conflicts and disputes within an economics team, it's crucial to initiate a structured approach that starts with identifying the underlying issues driving the discord. By engaging in open, honest dialogue, you can facilitate a better understanding among team members.

To deepen the open dialogue, consider incorporating active listening techniques such as summarizing others' points to ensure understanding and using non-verbal cues to show empathy and engagement. Additionally, creating a safe space for expressing emotions can help team members feel heard and validated. Encouraging the use of "I" statements can also promote personal responsibility and prevent defensiveness. Finally, setting clear expectations for the outcome of the dialogue, such as reaching a consensus or developing an action plan, can keep the discussion focused and productive.

Foster open conversations among team members, allowing everyone to share thoughts and feelings respectfully. Guiding discussions toward solutions instead of blame ensures a constructive environment, essential for resolving conflicts.

To get empowered the whole economic group I think it is relevant to identity 5-to-7 people groups that conform real teams, and for that, some testing tasks could define wich team members get along well to do the job, considering their strenghts and opportunities. That will enhance each team's skills and its authority on some particular economic fields (macro, bonds, stocks, commodities, etc), avoiding unnecesary basic conflicts to better complement one another skills, for developing more ambititius economic projects.

Establish clear ground rules promoting respect and professionalism in team interactions. Guidelines on feedback, listening, and behavior set expectations and prevent future disputes.

To complement the ground rules, consider incorporating regular check-ins to assess how well the team is adhering to the established guidelines and to address any emerging issues promptly. Encouraging self-reflection and accountability can also empower team members to uphold the agreed-upon standards. Additionally, periodically reviewing and revising the ground rules based on feedback and evolving team dynamics can ensure their continued relevance and effectiveness in promoting a positive team environment.

Beyond our civilization values based on freedom, human rights, rule-of-law, and mutual-respect, it is quiet important to ensure the whole economic team adopts/absorbs the organizational culture and its working/convivency norms and protocols, including the feedback/auditing processes that guarantees the gearing of the economic area within the entire organization and outside of it. On the ethical side, being economics a very complex field, that could easily deviated by economic noise and false assumptions, I would recommend keeping the major scientific/mathematical rigor possible to properly manage its risks scenarios, even more when the decisions to be taken are highly impactful.

I once heard a football coach saying that to decide which team to field he had asked his players to write their dream team among the members of their team. He then collected all the dream teams and by making a synthesis of these he deployed the team. I believe that this is a beautiful example of cooperation although aimed at a decision by who have the authority!

Collaboratively brainstorm solutions, leveraging diverse perspectives for innovative ideas. Evaluate options based on their economic impact and alignment with team objectives.

Three kind of feasible solutions may emerge: 1 - An intervention that restore/ensures/improves the homeostatic equilibrium (sustainability) of the economic system (low risk). 2 - An intervention that takes advantage of a consolidated homeostatic equilibrium to boost organization growth (medium risk). 3 - An intervention that replaces the previos economic system with another one - disruptive reengineering (high risk). The higher the risk level, the higher the implementation requirements in terms of skills, people involved, feedback mechanisms and time.

With a clear understanding of the conflicts and a communication process set, I’d steer the team towards brainstorming solutions. This involves evaluating ideas not just on their merit or economic soundness but also on how they foster collaboration and address the concerns raised by team members.

Execute agreed-upon solutions effectively, whether they involve role adjustments or new communication strategies. Ensure accountability and patience during the adjustment period.

Usually the challenging part of change is not implementing a solution but its adoption by the prevalent culture. An eventual optimal solution may be way ahead of its time. Previous factorial analysis may help to forecast the times require for a cultural adoption, e.g. cell-phones lasted about 20 years to its full adoption. Having a long term plan for how solutions will be implemented, renovated and eventually replaced is paramount, all of that framed under a sustainabilty umbrella.

Regularly check in with the team to track the impact of implemented changes. Celebrate successes and address any lingering issues promptly to maintain a harmonious team dynamic.

Absolutely, monitoring progress is essential for any leader trying to navigate team conflicts and implement changes. Regularly checking in with the team allows me to not only see if the conflict has indeed been resolved but also to assess the health of team dynamics overall.