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This paper aims to offer an integrative conceptual theory of conflict and reports on the nomological net of team conflict profiles. Specifically, it integrates social self-preservation theory with information-processing theory to better understand the occurrence of team profiles involving task conflict, relationship conflict and process conflict.

The study collected data from 178 teams performing and engineering design tasks. The multilevel nomological net that was examined consisted of constructive controversy, psychological safety and team-task performance (team level), as well as perceptions of learning, burnout and peer ratings of performance (individual level).

Findings indicated mixed support for the associations between conflict profiles and the hypothesized nomological net.

Future research should consider teams’ profiles of team conflict types rather than examining task, relationship and process conflict in isolation.

Teams can be classified into profiles of team conflict types with implications for team functioning and effectiveness. As a result, assessment and team launch should consider team conflict profiles.

The complexity perspective advanced here will allow research on conflict types to move forward beyond the extensive research examining conflict types in isolation rather than their interplay.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest why the theoretically positive relationship between task conflict and team performance has received mixed empirical support.

We review the literature on task conflict and offer explanations for findings that contradict the expected positive relationship between task conflict and team performance.

High levels of correlation among task, relationship and process conflict, and measurement and data analysis issues make it difficult to isolate the effects of each type of conflict. Group-level moderators, including values congruence, goal alignment, norms for debate and the group’s performance history and conflict history affect the relationship between task conflict and performance. The complex relationship between conflict and trust may cause task conflict to have mixed effects on performance. Individual differences and conflict management approaches also affect the relationship between task conflict and performance. Temporal issues and stages of group development are other relevant influences.

To better achieve the theorized performance benefits of task conflict, a context characterized by trust is needed. Then norms fostering task conflict can be cultivated and employees can be trained in conflict management. Individual differences that affect team members’ ability to confidently accept task conflict can be considered in selection.

Suggestions are presented for future research that may explain discrepant findings in the past empirical literature. In particular, it may be difficult for some team members to perceive task conflict in well-functioning teams. Measures of task conflict that avoid the use of words with a negative connotation should be tested.

It is commonly believed that personality traits determine a person's ability to work in a team and academic performance. However, studies have shown inconsistent results with some personality traits better than the other in predicting students' performance in different academic majors. The purpose of this study is to examine the interrelation between personality traits, teamwork competencies and academic performance among first-year first semester engineering students in an Australian university located in the Sarawak state of Malaysia.

The Individual and Team Performance (ITP) metrics were administered among 189 students to gauge their personality traits as well as self-rated and peer-rated teamwork competencies. The correlations between personality traits and teamwork competencies as well as correlations of both the variables to academic performance were subsequently analyzed.

This study shows no significant difference between the self-rated and peer-rated teamwork competencies. Adventurous trait appears to negatively correlate with teamwork competencies. This study also reveals teamwork competencies as better predictors of academic performance than personality traits. Commitment and focus show relatively larger effect on academic performance. It can be concluded that commitment is the most significant factor to excel in first-year engineering in the university. Therefore, interventions that promote commitment is crucial to academic performance of the first-year first semester engineering students.

This study promulgates the development of team competencies which are more crucial to academic excellence than personalities. It is useful for the design of team learning activities which lead to the development of teamwork competencies while improving academic performance. It shows that team activities which reinforce commitment especially and focus secondarily, will have significant positive effect on academic performance of the first-year engineering students generally.

While most studies in this area examine the correlation between personality traits and academic performance, this study is among the very few that looks into the aspect of teamwork competencies. This study also finds its value in its regional significance as such correlational studies are not prevalent in Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for clinical governance, in particular, the compliance of data privacy in a healthcare organisation.

The approach of the research was to highlight problem areas in compliance and governance risk management (governance, risk and compliance (GRC)) in general, and then identify knowledge in other domains that could be combined and applied to improve GRC management, and ultimately improve governance outcomes.

There is a gap in the literature is respect of systems and frameworks to assist organisations in managing the complex minutiae associated with compliance. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a “compliance action framework” which builds on work existing in other domains in relation to education, process control and governance.

The present research provides a starting point for an implementation of the framework within a number of organisations, and opens questions for further research in the field.

The GRC framework proposed in this paper contributes to the state of the art, by proposing processes for improving the governance capability and compliance outcomes within an organisation for governance of data privacy risk and data protection.

Teamwork is important for firms’ innovation and effectiveness, but often within-team conflicts arise. Prior literature reported inconsistent associations between conflict and team outcomes. This study aims to clarify these relationships and examine if team reflexivity improves outcomes and weakens intragroup conflict tendencies.

Data were collected through a survey questionnaire of 288 team members working on projects at 41 different high-tech firms in Jordan. The authors then built a model of intragroup conflict effects and used structural equation modeling to test for both direct and indirect effects.

Indirect effects of intragroup conflict were significantly associated with teamwork quality. Teamwork quality was also significantly related to improved team outcomes, and team reflexivity moderated this relationship. Furthermore, it was found that the direct effect of intragroup conflict was not significantly related to either teamwork quality or effectiveness. Finally, results supported the idea that some conflict is required for teams to remain viable, self-critical and innovative.

This is a cross-sectional study conducted in a single country and business industry, which limits the generalizability of results.

Team leaders should use reflexivity to create a sense of openness for collaborative interaction to improve group performance and member satisfaction.

This study provides a verified model to determine the circumstances in which conflict benefits team innovation and effectiveness. A central study contribution is that reflexivity reduces the negative impact of intragroup conflict.

This study aims to understand workplace conflict outcomes (WCO) literature and identify the research gaps by mapping its knowledge base and theoretical evolution.

This study combines bibliometric and qualitative analysis and encompasses 1,043 Scopus-indexed documents published between 1972 and 2022. The bibliometric analysis used VOSviewer, Excel and Tableau software for descriptive statistics, citation and co-citation analyses of publication patterns, authors, documents and journals. The qualitative analysis critiqued main theoretical perspectives and topical interests.

This study revealed a significant increase in literature after 2000, with authors representing 70 societies, primarily the USA, China, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands. Influential authors and their canonical articles were identified, including Jehn, De Dreu, Spector, Amason and Pelled. Highly cited articles focused on task, relationship, role and process conflict. Four main theoretical schools were categorized: conflict type paradigm, individual differences, conflict cooccurrence and conflict dynamics. Influential journals spanned psychology, management, negotiation and decision-making and business and marketing fields, including JAP, AMJ, ASQ, JM, JOB, AMR, IJCMA and OS.

This study provides implications for future bibliometric analyses, theoretical and empirical studies, practitioners and society based on its quantitative and qualitative findings.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first bibliometric review of WCO literature, serving as a baseline for tracking the field’s evolution and theoretical advancements.

How to depict conflict characteristics? Previous literature has overwhelmingly used intensity and frequency of conflict, resulting in an incomplete understanding of conflict itself and its impacts. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper aims to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework for conflict attributes.

Through a systematic and integrative literature review, this study has achieved the objectives by synthesizing the current state of knowledge on conflict and borrowing insights from event system theory.

A total of 16 conflict attributes were identified to constitute the event-oriented conceptualization of conflict, describing conflict from three dimensions – strength, time and space. Four promising areas for future conflict inquiry are proposed: linking the effectiveness of conflict to its attributes; exploring the interplay and configuration of multiple conflict attributes; progressing from variance- to process-oriented conflict theories; and developing symmetric/asymmetric views of conflict.

This paper conceptually clarifies conflict attributes from the event perspective and offers a nuanced understanding of conflict, which contributes to the current fragmented knowledge of conflict attributes. Scholars can build on this study’s findings to fill gaps and move conflict research forward. It also enhances researchers’ awareness of time and space and thus encourages more longitudinal exploration into the dynamics of conflict.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to extant conflict management theory by presenting evidence from a two-stage study of conflict initiated by pre-graduation Millennials in entry-level work environments.

The paper presents an inductively derived conceptual model, hypotheses and measurement scales grounded in Millennials’ voices. Then, based on survey data, the scales are tested for structural coherence, and hypotheses are validated using structural equation modeling methodology.

Most Millennials initiate conflict with older coworkers and supervisors in the workplace because of the hurt they feel over the unfairness they experience. While confronting their superiors, they take an aggressive stand (“you are wrong, you should change”) and learn that the organization is duplicitous and that they should initiate conflict with superiors in the future to protect against unfairness in a duplicitous organization.

The findings and implications reflect the perspectives of Millennials who initiated conflict with superiors or more experienced coworkers in entry level workplaces. Reports of multiple perspectives and from other contexts are left to future research.

Millennials may well enter the workforce with attitudes and behaviors older coworkers and supervisors find aberrant. However, the interactions between Millennials, older generations and the socio-technical environment of entry-level workplaces lie at the root of the conflict Millennials initiate. Older generations may have implicitly produced – albeit to varying extents – opaque environments in which entry-level Millennials feel manipulated.

The study reports a relatively rare two-stage study that begins with exploration and discovery using qualitative data, and concludes with hypotheses tests based on survey data. A new context is explored; i.e. Millennials initiating conflict in vertical dyads. New concerns about the veracity of the entry-level work environment are raised.

This paper aims to examine the effects of age on counteractive team meeting behaviors (e.g. complaining). Forgiveness is included as a potential buffer against these behaviors. A multilevel model is developed to test individual and team level age effects.

A total of 313 employees nested in 54 teams completed a forgiveness questionnaire and were videotaped during regular team meetings.

Multilevel modeling revealed that both individual age and average team age predicted counteractive team meeting behavior. Team level age diversity was linked to decreased counteractive behavior. Forgiveness moderated the negative link between individual age (but not team average age) and counteractive behavior.

This is the first study examining age effects in the context of counteractive meeting behavior. Although the authors' findings need to be substantiated in further research, they show that older team members engage in significantly more counteractive communication – forgiveness can help alleviate this effect.

Teams with older team members should be sensitized to avoid counteractive behavior. Moreover, team composition should target high age diversity. Managerial interventions should also aim to facilitate forgiveness in the work environment, especially among older team members.

Research on dysfunctional team meeting behavior is sparse, and the role of age effects has not been examined in this context. The authors identify a significant link between age and counteractive meeting behavior. This multilevel model shows differential effects of individual age, team average age, and age diversity on counteractive communication. Furthermore, a buffer against these dysfunctional behaviors is identified: forgiveness.

This study aims to investigate the role of minority dissent (MD) as an antecedent for task (TC) and relationship conflict (RC) in groups engaged in multiparty collaboration. The authors hypothesized that MD triggers both TC and RC and that the association between MD and RC is mediated by TC. Moreover, the authors hypothesized that the positive association between MD and RC is attenuated by social acceptance, while the positive association between TC and RC is attenuated by trust.

The authors have tested the hypotheses in 36 groups comprising in total 145 professionals that attended a two-day workshop on working across organizational boundaries and who filled in three surveys during a multiparty simulation. The authors used multilevel mediation analyses to test the hypotheses.

The results generally supported the role of MD as an antecedent for both TC and RC as well as the mediating role of TC in the relationship between MD and RC. The attenuating role of social acceptance in the relationship between MD and RC was fully supported, while the attenuating role of trust in the relationship between TC and RC was not supported.

This study is based on a rather small sample and used a cross-lagged data collection design, and no causal claims can be derived from the findings. Behavioral multiparty simulations create a realistic context in which the authors investigate the dynamics of conflict transformation and explore the interplay of MD, TC and RC.

As nowadays, multiparty systems are engaged in dealing with important societal challenges and because RC is detrimental for collaborative effectiveness, the results have important implications for facilitating effective collaboration in such complex systems.

This study makes an important contribution to the literature on conflict in multiparty systems by showing that as an antecedent of intragroup conflict, MD can have both a beneficial as well as a detrimental impact on the conflict dynamics of multiparty systems. It points out the importance of social acceptance as a buffer against the detrimental role of MD.