Abstract:

This paper presents some resources used in the settlement of conflicts which were experienced by a group of professors from the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico during their training as a multidisciplinary group in the field of educational research.

The methodology used is qualitative, following a group approach and Action-Research tools. The group was organized through a general coordination and subgroup or module coordinations. Both the general group and the module sessions were observed and recorded. Conflicts were identified from those records and analyzed to propose some solutions.

Among the conflicts experienced, we found that some were due to:
(a) confrontations because of language,
(b) personal histories in relation to the field of research,
(c) different rhythms of work,
(d) different availability of time of members,
(e) different characteristics of the members regarding their motivation, their work styles, their structure of thought, their way of approaching results and their position towards current situations.

Some of the resources generated to provide a solution to these conflicts were the following: systematizing plenary sessions to ensure face-to-face meetings to be able to discuss the different meanings given initially by members to the research language, and to make a common analysis and reflection on the materials and the process in each module; to perform readings in common; give indications by the coordination on aspects that hindered (or obstructed) our task as a group; to generate a sense of belonging to the group; to build the group horizontality; and to make personal and group adjustments to reach our goal.

Keywords:

Conflict, higher education, research groups, Grupo Operativo approach.