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Article
Publication date: 13 February 2009

Development and empirical exploration of an extended model of intra‐group conflict

Kjell B. Hjertø and Bård Kuvaas

The purpose of this study is to develop and empirically explore a model of four intra‐group conflict types (the 4IC model), consisting of an emotional person, a cognitive…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to develop and empirically explore a model of four intra‐group conflict types (the 4IC model), consisting of an emotional person, a cognitive task, an emotional task, and a cognitive person conflict. The first two conflict types are similar to existing conceptualizations, whereas the latter two represent new dimensions of group conflict.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a heuristic distinction between cognition and emotion, the four conflict types are defined, and scales for measuring them are developed. The psychometric and statistical properties of the scales were analyzed by data collected from four company samples and two student samples (n=208). The validity of the constructs was evaluated by comparing them with similar constructs, in particular, the Intra‐group Conflict Scale (ICS), developed.

Findings

A theory‐driven exploratory factor analysis elicited a 19‐item structure of four reliable factors, representing the four conflict types. A confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated satisfactory properties of the data matrix compared with the proposed model. Furthermore, a refined 12‐item scale was developed to consider the validity of the 4IC, with reasonably satisfactory findings.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations concerning sample size, wording of items, the demarcation between conflict types and conflict approaches, and the robustness of the constructs are discussed. It is suggested that researchers may find the model useful for future studies of conflict in groups.

Practical implications

The model may be of assistance in handling conflicts in organizations. In particular, managers and employees may become aware that emotional conflicts are not always associated with relational or person‐oriented issues; they may as well concern task‐oriented issues. Furthermore, cognitive conflicts do not always have to be task‐oriented; they may also concern relational or person‐oriented issues. The introduction of the emotional task‐oriented and the cognitive person‐oriented conflict types may thus extend the conflict management toolbox for managers and employees.

Originality/value

The results of the study challenge common use of emotional and relationship/person conflicts as interchangeable conflict types, and cognitive and task conflict as interchangeable conflict types. Accordingly, the study suggests new ways to understand conflicts in groups.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/10444060910931585
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

  • Internal conflict
  • Conflict management
  • Individual psychology
  • Job satisfaction
  • Organizational culture
  • Team performance

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Article
Publication date: 1 January 2004

Organizational culture, group diversity and intra‐group conflict

You‐Ta Chuang, Robin Church and Jelena Zikic

Past research on group diversity tends to overlook organizational contextual and group process variables. Although recent studies have revealed the main effects of group…

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Abstract

Past research on group diversity tends to overlook organizational contextual and group process variables. Although recent studies have revealed the main effects of group diversity on intra‐group conflict, it is important to examine the contextual factors reducing or facilitating those effects on intra‐group conflict. This paper presents a conceptual analysis and research proposals that build on past research on intra‐group conflict and organizational culture to examine the relationships between organizational culture, intra‐group conflict, and group diversity. The paper proposes that organizational cultural intensity and content have direct impact on intra‐group conflict and moderate the relationship between group diversity and intra‐group conflict, depending on the degree of value congruence and the value content shared among group members.

Details

Team Performance Management: An International Journal, vol. 10 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/13527590410527568
ISSN: 1352-7592

Keywords

  • Internal conflict
  • Diversity management
  • Organizational culture

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Article
Publication date: 8 February 2016

The effect of team empowerment on team performance: A cross-cultural perspective on the mediating roles of knowledge sharing and intra-group conflict

Xueting Jiang, Hector R. Flores, Ronrapee Leelawong and Charles C. Manz

Based on extant literature on empowerment and team management, this paper aims to examine the effect of power distance and collectivism on the relationship between…

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Abstract

Purpose

Based on extant literature on empowerment and team management, this paper aims to examine the effect of power distance and collectivism on the relationship between empowerment and team performance through the mechanisms of knowledge sharing and intra-group conflict.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper conceptualizes a model depicting the relationship between team empowerment and team performance across cultures.

Findings

The authors argue that team empowerment can increase both knowledge sharing and intra-group conflict in working teams. Knowledge sharing facilitates team performance, while intra-group conflict impairs team performance in the long run. Team empowerment yields different team performance across cultures due to the respective moderating effects of power distance and collectivism.

Originality/value

This paper explicates the moderating roles of power distance and collectivism on the relationship between empowerment, knowledge sharing, intra-group conflict and team performance. The authors suggest that the effectiveness of team empowerment is contingent on the cultural context that the team operates in.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-07-2014-0048
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

  • Knowledge sharing
  • Collectivism
  • Power distance
  • Team performance
  • Intra-group conflict
  • Team empowerment

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Article
Publication date: 18 September 2019

A moderated mediation model of intragroup conflict

Taghrid Saleh Suifan, Salah Alhyari and Rateb J. Sweis

Teamwork is important for firms’ innovation and effectiveness, but often within-team conflicts arise. Prior literature reported inconsistent associations between conflict…

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Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Research limitations/implications

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

Practical implications

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

Originality/value

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.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 31 no. 1
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-05-2019-0084
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

  • Team effectiveness
  • Team innovation
  • Structural equation modelling
  • Intragroup conflict
  • Team reflexivity
  • Teamwork quality
  • High-tech industry
  • Leadership
  • SEM
  • Team leaders
  • Work groups

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Article
Publication date: 11 July 2016

Workplace fun for better team performance: focus on frontline hotel employees

Heesup Han, Wansoo Kim and Chul Jeong

The aim of this study is to reveal how workplace fun promotes team performance in the hotel business context.

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to reveal how workplace fun promotes team performance in the hotel business context.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual model of this study was tested based on responses from 271 frontline hotel employees (including managers) in the USA, who had full-time work tenure of more than three months in a three-star or above-rated hotel.

Findings

This study revealed that workplace fun activities enhance team performance by promoting employees’ workplace fun experience and by facilitating interpersonal trust and group cohesion, which, in turn, reduce intra-group conflict and stimulates interpersonal citizenship behaviors, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

First, this study adopted subjective team performance measures. Although it can be exaggerated unconsciously, the literature suggests that how team members perceive their team’ performance is also an important indicator of team effectiveness. Second, the conceptual model of this study was tested in the US context. So, in a more collectivistic culture, the model might generate somewhat different results from those of this study.

Practical implications

The findings of this study indicate that workplace fun initiatives by the management are an effective means to promote the performance of frontline work teams at a hotel. Discussions are extended to incorporating fun elements into existing organizational cultures.

Originality/value

By adopting the input–process–outcome framework, this study shows how workplace fun, as a critical input, creates positive group processes and, thereby, promotes positive group outcomes in the hotel business context.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 28 no. 7
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-11-2014-0555
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

  • Team performance
  • Interpersonal trust
  • Interpersonal citizenship behavior
  • Group cohesion
  • Intragroup conflict
  • Workplace fun

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Article
Publication date: 12 October 2015

Understanding the relationship between mental models, conflict and conflict asymmetry

Erich B. Bergiel, Thomas W. Gainey and Blaise J. Bergiel

The purpose of this study is to test theoretically based hypotheses linking task and team-shared mental models (SMMs) with multiple dimensions of conflict and conflict…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to test theoretically based hypotheses linking task and team-shared mental models (SMMs) with multiple dimensions of conflict and conflict asymmetry. SMMs are viewed as an underlying mechanism of team processes. While current research has begun to clarify their influence on functional team processes, their influence on dysfunctional processes is still unknown.

Design/methodology/approach

The survey was administered to 17 graduate business classes working on intense semester-long group projects. A total of 295 individual responses were received which comprised 90 (N = 90) teams.

Findings

Results suggest that team SMMs reduce all dimensions of conflict and relationship conflict asymmetry, while task SMMs increase all dimensions of conflict and relationship conflict asymmetry.

Research limitations/implications

This study captured the influence of SMMs on conflict at one stage of group development. Future research should examine the impact of SMMs on conflict at multiple stages of group development.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on both mental models and conflict. In addition, based on our literature review, it was the first to empirically link SMMs and conflict asymmetry.

Details

Team Performance Management, vol. 21 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/TPM-02-2015-0009
ISSN: 1352-7592

Keywords

  • Teams
  • Conflict

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 1997

Supporting the social processes of software development

Steve Sawyer, Joel Farber and Robert Spillers

One key to improving team‐based software development is to support the developers’ ability to work together. Sets out one site’s response to this challenge. Developers at…

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Abstract

One key to improving team‐based software development is to support the developers’ ability to work together. Sets out one site’s response to this challenge. Developers at this site have a facility, which we will call the “team room”, allowing team members to work together. This is a computer‐supported meeting room that arose from the voluntary, and reflective, efforts of software developers to make it easier for them to work together. The team room’s popularity shows up in its extensive use for meetings and its acceptance as an integral part of software development at this site. When people use the team room, they work on a shared screen, making it easier to work together. Because they can work together, meetings become a time of work, not a pause between work sessions. Explains how these positive work outcomes have had some unexpected effects. For example, developers at this site now rely on room use to help deal with intra‐group conflict, so that the team room has become a buffer to social interaction, serving as a conduit for action.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09593849710166156
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

  • Individual behaviour
  • Software development
  • Teamwork

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Article
Publication date: 17 October 2008

Virtual communicating, conflicts and performance in teams

Remco de Jong, René Schalk and Petru L. Curşeu

This paper aims to examine the influence of the level of team virtuality on the effects of intra‐team conflicts on team performance, which have hardly been investigated.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the influence of the level of team virtuality on the effects of intra‐team conflicts on team performance, which have hardly been investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

A framework is proposed based on the extent to which team members use communication media to coordinate their actions and execute their tasks, taking into account the extent to which the communication media are synchronous and the extent to which the communication media convey para‐verbal and nonverbal aspects of communication. Data of 49 teams with 172 team members were analyzed using stepwise multiple regression analysis.

Findings

The level of team virtuality influences the relation between intra‐team conflict and perceived team performance. The higher the level of team virtuality, the greater the positive impact of task conflict on perceived team performance. In teams with a low level of virtuality task conflict has a negative impact on perceived team performance, and in high virtual teams task conflict has a positive impact. In addition, process conflict has a negative impact on perceived team performance.

Research limitations/implications

The present study provides a framework for the effects of the level of team virtuality that can be used in further research and has implications for practice.

Originality/value

The study shows the effects of the level of team virtuality on team performance, which is important considering the emerging use of virtual communication tools in organizations.

Details

Team Performance Management: An International Journal, vol. 14 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/13527590810912331
ISSN: 1352-7592

Keywords

  • Team performance
  • Conflict management
  • Conflict
  • Virtual organizations
  • Communication

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Article
Publication date: 25 January 2020

Conflict factors investigation among construction professionals in Nigeria

Benjamen Sunkanmi Adeyemi and Clinton Ohis Aigbavboa

This paper aims to determine various factors that cause conflict among professionals in the Nigerian construction industry.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to determine various factors that cause conflict among professionals in the Nigerian construction industry.

Design/methodology/approach

This study made use of quantitative approach. Questionnaires were used as a form of data collection, and it was distributed to construction professionals such as quantity surveyors, architects, builders, civil engineers, project managers and construction managers in Ondo and Lagos state to ascertain various factors that cause conflict among professionals in the Nigerian construction industry. A total number of 150 questionnaires were distributed, but 135 were received from the respondents that represent 90 per cent of response rate. In this study, the descriptive analysis and exploratory factor analysis were used.

Findings

The findings from this study show that the major cause of conflict among the professionals is favouritism. This is followed by role ambiguity that occurs due to improper definition of the role of different construction professionals, and it leads to a misunderstanding culminating into conflict. Also, other major causes of conflict among construction professionals in Nigeria include differences in professionals’ experience, differences in level of education, differences in personalities and differences in professionals’ goal and views.

Originality/value

It should be emphasized that professionals must avoid and desist from any factors that can cause conflict among them. Strict adherence by construction professionals in Nigeria will encourage free flow of ideas and will help them progress. This will actually lead to improvement on professionals tasks.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology , vol. 18 no. 5
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JEDT-08-2019-0210
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

  • Conflict factors
  • Construction industry
  • Construction professionals
  • Nigeria

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Article
Publication date: 4 May 2012

Betwixt or beyond the lines of conflict? Biculturalism as situated identity in multinational corporations

Susanne Blazejewski

Biculturals are portrayed as “ideal” boundary spanners and conflict mediators in MNC who switch between or transcend multiple cultural and/or organizational. The paper…

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Abstract

Purpose

Biculturals are portrayed as “ideal” boundary spanners and conflict mediators in MNC who switch between or transcend multiple cultural and/or organizational. The paper aims to critically analyze the assumptions behind this positive view on dual identity in MNC and provide an alternative conceptualization re‐positioning dual identity as a situated and potentially contested process.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper theoretically juxtaposes existing concepts of dual identity in the international business literature with recent advances in research on identity in organization studies and psychology as well as critical perspectives on identity.

Findings

A situated approach to biculturalism provides for a greater variety of identity management strategies corresponding to the metaphors of “surfer”, “soldier”, “struggler”, and “strategist” alike, depending on the identity repertoire available, the perceived situation at hand and the interactive processes of identity construction unfolding. From this perspective, the conflict potential associated with dual identity in MNC does not automatically dissolve as suggested by the literature so far, but depending on the situated enactment of dual identity might actually increase, intensify or even re‐direct the lines of conflict.

Research implications and limitations

The paper develops a comprehensive concept of situated bicultural identity processes in organizational contexts, which can serve as a guiding framework of further empirical research on biculturalism in MNC and also provides initial discussions about suitable hypotheses development in this area.

Originality/value

The international business literature so far is dominated by a limited understanding of biculturalism in MNC, strongly influenced by the concept of frame switching in cross‐cultural psychology. The paper introduces an alternative concept of biculturalism as a situated process, which can serve as a framework for further and more varied research on biculturalist identity negotiation in MNC.

Details

Critical perspectives on international business, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/17422041211230703
ISSN: 1742-2043

Keywords

  • Biculturalism
  • Dual identity
  • Conflict
  • Boundary spanner
  • Situated identity
  • Multinational companies

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