Citation
Posthuma, R.A. (2014), "Groups, teams, and conflict management: introduction to a special issue", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 25 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-12-2013-0101
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Groups, teams, and conflict management: introduction to a special issue
Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Conflict Management, Volume 25, Issue 2
This special issue contains five studies that focus on groups, teams, and conflict management. All of these studies include empirical analyses of data collected using well designed survey or experimental research designs. These studies highlight the international nature of conflict management scholarship by including researchers from six countries (Australia, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA) and participants from seven different countries (Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Pakistan, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA).
These studies also show how the scholarship on conflict management of teams has advanced beyond the study of how contextual effects such as team climate or national culture can influence team performance to research that examines more complex interactions among and between intermediary variables (e.g. debate, emotion regulation, trust, types of conflict) and the influence of these variables on multiple criterion measures (e.g. innovation and decision comprehensiveness). This suggests that the effective management of conflict within teams is more complex than previously thought.
The study by Seyr and Vollmer focuses on how the social-moral climate, debate, and decision comprehensiveness can combine to enhance the effectiveness of teams that are striving for innovations. Teams were measured on the degree to which they had varying degrees of social-moral climate (cooperation and communication, openness, trust, appreciation, and respect), debate (discussing different points-of-view), and decision comprehensiveness (different alternatives were evaluated and integrated into common decisions). These factors were compared team innovative behaviors that were directed toward identifying and acquiring information and developing new skills to enable them to solve problems based on their organizations market and business needs. They used a survey design to study 534 employees within 67 teams across several industries located in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. The results confirmed that teams that operated within a context that had a higher social-moral organizational climate engaged in more debate and made decisions that were more comprehensive. Higher levels of debate and decision comprehensiveness increased the level of innovativeness.
The study by Garcia-Cruz and colleagues focuses on relationship conflict in top management teams (TMTs). TMTs were measured on the degree to which they had intragroup trust (within the TMT), value consensus (similar values among members of the TMT), behavioral integration (TMT members share information and communicate openly), high levels of performance in the past, TMT tenure, and TMT size. These factors were compared to the level of relationship conflict (emotional friction, personality clashes, distrust) on the TMT. They used a survey design to study 114 people who were members of the top management teams (i.e. CEOs and others) of 64 businesses in Spain. All of these businesses had been previously identified as having a focus on innovation. The results showed that intragroup trust, value consensus, and team tenure increased behavioral integration within the TMT. Higher levels of TMT behavioral integration reduced the level of relationship conflict.
The study by Griffith and colleagues focuses on emotional regulation and intra-group conflict. They studied the effects of relationship conflict, task conflict and two types of emotional regulation (cognitive reappraisal and distraction) on the level of team cohesion and team performance. They used an experimental design with 280 undergraduate students at a university in the southwestern part of the US. The results showed that emotion regulation can play an important role in moderating the negative consequences of relationship conflict. In particular, distraction (i.e. presenting information on a topic that was not related to the primary group task) helped to regulate negative emotions resulting and increased the level of cohesion and task performance when there was a higher level of relationship conflict.
The study by van den Berg and colleagues focuses on how emotion regulation can moderate how task and process conflicts are transformed into relationship conflicts. They measured individual level perceptions of task conflict, process conflict, and emotion regulation. These measures were compared to team level perceptions of relationship conflict. They studied 23 pairs of client and supplier teams with a total of 94 respondents that were working on multiple information system development projects in The Netherlands. The results showed that increases in emotion regulation transformed the relationship between process conflict and relationship changes from positive to negative. Also, process conflict was shown to mediate the effect of the interaction of task conflict and emotion regulation on relationship conflict. This study suggests that if managers influence team members to be better at emotion regulation, the result will be that task and process conflicts may be less likely to transform into relationship conflicts.
The study by Ayub and Jehn focuses on the effects of national diversity and national separation on group processes and performance. Participants were asked to imagine that they were participating in a team with three other people, and the team would develop an advertisement. The composition of the other team members for the Dutch sample was manipulated to include British, German, and/or Chinese team members and the Pakistani sample was manipulated to include British, Indian, and/or Chinese team members. Participants completed measures of social distance; national stereotypes; task, process, and relationship conflict; and group performance. This study included 117 participants from The Netherlands and 122 participants from Pakistan. The results showed that diversity can sometimes improve performance. It was shown that high variety moderated the negative effects of separation on conflict and performance. This suggests that adding diversity to team member composition can reduce the negative effects of social attitudes and beliefs within workgroups.
In summary, these studies highlight the importance of research that considers upstream concepts such as organizational and team climate and the national composition of team members; intermediary concepts that study team social processes and perceptions such as emotion regulation, debate, and types of conflict (process, task, and relationship). It also includes downstream outcomes including innovativeness, decision comprehensiveness, and performance. Future research is needed to explore the complex interplay of these factors in other contexts and cultures. These studies also have significant practical implications. For example, managers should consider enhancing the social moral climate of their work groups and emphasize value consensus and behavioral integration to encourage debate resulting in more innovative solutions and greater comprehensiveness of decisions. In addition, they should also consider implementing normative interventions to increase emotion regulation so task and process conflicts do not transform into more serious and performance impairing relationship conflicts. Finally, mangers should recognize that in the context of international organizations, there will often be nationally diverse teams, and that diversity of the teams may actually reduce the negative effects of national stereotypes and distance across countries and cultures.
Richard A. Posthuma