A study of conflict in group design activities: implications for computer-supported cooperative work environments

Elam, Joyce J.; Walz, Diane B.

doi:10.1109/hicss.1988.11914

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…If used effectively, the template allows researchers to capture detailed descriptive data about the conflict episodes that take place within teams. The template expands on the work of Elam and Walz (1988) by giving focus to the form of conflict, the intensity, and whether and how it was resolved.…”

Section: Team Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results from this study are similar to those found in the other SE studies of conflict. The researchers who carried out the previous SE studies (Elam & Walz, 1988;Gobeli, Koenig, & Bechinger, 1998;P. Sawyer et al, 1999;S.…”

Section: Team Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of more relevance to the work described in this article are those studies that looked specifically at conflict in an SE context (Elam & Walz, 1988;P. Sawyer, Sommerville, & Viller, 1999;S.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sawyer, 2001). An outcome of one of the aforementioned studies (Elam & Walz, 1988) was the development of a descriptive conflict model having four dimensions: time, people, content, and process.This model of conflict is presented in Table 1, and it was used as a starting point for the creation of the template that will be described later in the article.Measuring the effect of conflict on software engineering teams J. S. KARN AND A. J. COWLING University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England This article describes a project that aimed to uncover the effects of different forms of conflict on team performance during the important feasibility, requirements analysis, and design phases of software engineering (SE) projects. The research subjects were master of science students who were working to produce software commissioned by real-world clients.…”

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Measuring the effect of conflict on software engineering teams

Karn

Cowling

2008

Behavior Research Methods

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582This article describes how observational methods were used to ascertain the effect of conflict on the performance of software engineering (SE) teams during the important feasibility, requirements analysis, and design phases of software projects, and the subsequent development of social and conflict interaction protocols to allow researchers to record conflict episodes when they occurred. Three teams consisting of master of science (MSc) students at the University of Sheffield were observed as they worked through the feasibility, analysis, and design phases of the SE life cycle. Each occurrence of conflict between team members was recorded, as well as the form and intensity of the conflict.There were several reasons for pursuing this line of research. The first is that commercial SE is a team-based activity, and, as in other related contexts, success is dependent to a large extent on whether or not team members have succeeded in establishing a cooperative environment (Cohen & Bailey, 1997). Additionally, several scholars have opined that the social factors of SE are potentially more important than the technical aspects (Curtis, 1991(Curtis, , 1998Curtis, Krasner, & Iscoe, 1988;Curtis, Walz, & Elam, 1993). This view is reinforced by other scholars who hold the belief that future SE research should focus more on human factors (Crowston & Kammerer, 1998a, 1998bPetre, Budgen, & Scholtz, 2004). The rationale behind this argument is that further exploration into these areas will play an important role in the maturation of SE as an academic discipline.The importance of teamwork in SE has long been recognized at a pedagogic level. It is now common for SE degree programs to include one or more team projects. These projects should enable team members to develop what has been termed positive interdependence (Johnson & Johnson, 1978), which theoretically should result in enhanced short-term memory, long-term retention, greater understanding of course material, and critical thinking and problem-solving skills.Although there are numerous advantages to working in teams, there are also several problems that one needs to be aware of (Harris & Looney, 1999). Harris and Looney stated that one of the main problems is that a team approach to a project usually generates a greater degree of conflict than many people are accustomed to. This conflict can be a serious impediment to performance.This situation raises the question of what the exact nature of conflict actually is. Some (Amason, 1996;Galinsky, 2002;Jehn, 1995) have argued that conflict is an inevitable and pervasive aspect of organizational life. People are said to be in conflict when the actions of one person are interfering, obstructing, or in some other way making another's behavior less effective (Tjosvold, 1997).Previous team-process research has distinguished three separate forms of conflict: task (or cognitive), relationship (or affective) (Amason, 1996;Amason & Schweiger, 1994;Pinkley, 1990), and process (Jehn, 1995). These forms of conflict have been found to have ...

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Section: Team Cmentioning

confidence: 99%