Design teams management of conflict in reaching consensus

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the conversation activities of design teams to negotiate task conflict and reach consensus. Design/methodology/approach Four case studies were conducted to analyse the conversation activities that teams use in the course of design projects. Findings The conversation activities that teams used to negotiate conflict and bring about consensus were identified. These conversation activities are associated with collaboration, communication and social skills enabling teams to engage in the high level of information exchange and negotiation that is required to manage task conflict. How they were used to negotiate conflict and help reach consensus is also discussed. Research limitations/implications The findings from this research are based on a small number of participants; hence, it cannot be generalised without further study with larger groups. However, the questions this paper has raised can be generalised to other design tasks and groups. Practical implications The findings have implications for the management of design teams and teams working on complex unstructured problems both in industry and education. They highlight how conflict can be constructively managed to bring about consensus that integrates the knowledge and perspective of all team members. Originality/value The benefits of task conflict have been disputed in the literature. This research has identified the conversation activities that facilitate the constructive management of task conflict to bring about consensus that integrates the perspectives and knowledge of a team.

How Task Conflict Can Support Creative Problem Solving in Teams by Stimulating Knowledge Sharing, Critical and Creative Thinking and Meta-Cognition

“…Team members also regularly built on the arguments of others in order to build on a position being advocated to the group. This concurs with the literature which shows that this is a differentiating factor between experts and novices during episodes of conflict in design problem solving [91].…”

“…This required a balance in the management of the conflict in that, while task conflict led to a creative rethink on solution paths, it was important that task conflict did not stifle creative thinking in the flow of alternative ideas. This supports Kiernan et al [91] who showed that task conflict impacts positively only at certain stages of the creative process, the problem definition and concept development phases. While they recommend moderate levels of conflict at these phases they argue that conflict has the potential to have a damaging impact at the ideation phase by stifling the fluency of ideas.…”

Unraveling the Role of Shared Vision and Trust in Constructive Conflict Management of Family Firms. An Empirical Study From a Mixed Methods Approach

“…A finding which requires further exploration is that close-mindedness and trust are reciprocally influenced. It is suggesting that certain topics may not be openly discussed or that some barriers exist to effectively deal with conflict (Kiernan et al, 2019 ). Perhaps the perception of lack of trust between family and non-family members is a plausible explanation which merits further studies.…”

The Effect of Cultural Intelligence, Conflict, and Transformational Leadership on Decision-Making Processes in Virtual Teams

“…Task conflict enhances decision making due to the presentation of the different perspectives of team members (Wu 2020). Task conflict positively affects decision making, because it is considered to increase information and knowledge sharing (Kiernan et al 2019;Susskind and Odom-reed 2019).…”