Moving Beyond Relationship and Task Conflict: Toward a Process-State Perspective

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: DeChurch, Leslie A.; Mesmer-Magnus, Jessica R.; Doty, Dan
• 署名单位: University System of Georgia; Georgia Institute of Technology; University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Wilmington
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/a0032896
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 559-578
• 关键词: team; group; CONFLICT; management; Meta-analysis

摘要

Teams are formed to benefit from an expanded pool of expertise and experience, yet 2 aspects of the conflict stemming from those core differences will ultimately play a large role in determining team viability and productivity: conflict states and conflict processes. The current study theoretically reorganizes the literature on team conflict-distinguishing conflict states from conflict processes-and details the effects of each on team effectiveness. Findings from a meta-analytic cumulation of 45 independent studies (total number of teams = 3,218) suggest states and processes are distinct and important predictors of team performance and affective outcomes. Controlling for conflict states (i.e., task and relationship conflict), conflict processes explain an additional 13% of the variance in both team performance and team affective outcomes. Furthermore, findings reveal particular conflict processes that are beneficial and others detrimental to teams. The truth about team conflict: Conflict processes, that is, how teams interact regarding their differences, are at least as important as conflict states, that is, the source and intensity of their perceived incompatibilities.