Conflict Management, Efficacy, and Performance in Organizational Teams

Abstract

The study empirically links conflict management literature with research on efficacy and organizational teams. Sixty-one self-managing teams with 489 employees were recruited from the production department of a leading electronic manufacturer. Structural equation analysis supports the model that a cooperative instead of competitive approach to conflict leads to conflict efficacy that in turn results in effective performance as measured by managers. Findings suggest how organizational teams can be prepared to make use of their autonomy to deal with problems and conflicts so that they are productive. The authors thank &off Maruyama, David W. Johnson, and other members of Steve Alper's dissertation committee for their support. They appreciate the financial support of the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, RGC grant project No: U3890/96H to the second author, and thank Eleanor MacDonald and Michelle Berner for their valuable contributions. Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Dean Tjosvold, Department of Management, Lingnan University, Then Mun, Hong Kong; tjosvold@ln.edu.hk. COPYRIGHT 0 2000 PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY. INC. 625 626 PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGYdevelop efficacy that they can deal with their conflicts; this efficacy in turn results in effective team performance. Conflict in Organizational TeamsAlthough organizational research on groups and conflict have proceeded somewhat independently (Hackman

Team conflict management and team effectiveness: the effects of task interdependence and team identification

“…As in other research on work teams (Alper et al, 2000;Cohen & Ledford, 1994;Somech, 2006), in this study as well obtaining objective work outcome measures proved impossible, despite the willingness of the organization to provide such measures. The companies did not collect team-level productivity data.…”

“…In contrast, the competitive approach persuades team members to resolve differences of opinion by ''I-win-you-lose'' dominance games, or makes some participants reluctant to stand up for their opinions. Overall, the empirical literature indicates that a more cooperative conflict management style is likely to produce positive team outcomes, while a competitive style frequently results in conflict escalation and negative outcomes (e.g., Alper et al, 2000). Gobeli, Koening, and Bechinger (1998) studied conflict in a new product development team; they found that cooperation was the effective approach to conflict resolution, whereas competition was ineffective.…”

“…Tjosvold's approach, in contrast, underscores individual cognitions about whether the goal structure of the other parties to the conflict are distinct or mutual goals. Therefore, this approach is more appropriate for the study of teams in general, and particularly for team effectiveness (e.g., Alper, Tjosvold, & Law, 2000), which is the aim of this study. Second, studies that have adopted Tjosvold's approach have stressed the critical role of contextual cues in shaping the chosen conflict style (e.g., Tjosvold et al, 2005).…”

“…Gobeli, Koening, and Bechinger (1998) studied conflict in a new product development team; they found that cooperation was the effective approach to conflict resolution, whereas competition was ineffective. Alper et al (2000) showed that conflict management based upon mutual benefit predicted the degree to which team members believed they could tackle various conflicts, as well as their supervisor's evaluations about their team's effectiveness.…”

International Arbitration Practices in Nigeria: A Construction Industry Appraisal

“…Its aim is to enhance learning and group outcomes, including effectiveness or performance in organisational settings (Rahim, 2002), and properly managed conflict can improve group outcomes [9]. …”