Nairobi, April 16 -- Ever found yourself locking horns with a colleague or boss who turns every meeting into a battleground and every daily task into a debate? As you reflect on your situation, John Murage recalls having similar trouble in his team.

He says while working for a construction company his teammate would pretend that she did not fully understand the assignment or have all the necessary resources. This would then force her colleagues to work on her particular tasks.

"When we worked together on a project, she was always complaining about what goes wrong with the project, instead of performing the tasks. Sometimes I even avoided giving her tasks because it was uncomfortable for me to get into conflict," he recalls.

While the e...