Task Conflict and Team Creativity: A Question of How Much and When

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Farh, Jiing-Lih; Lee, Cynthia; Farh, Crystal I. C.
• 署名单位: Northeastern University; Hong Kong University of Science & Technology; Hong Kong Polytechnic University; University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/a0020015
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 1173-1180
• 关键词: TASK CONFLICT; creativity; teams

摘要

Bridging the task conflict, team creativity, and project team development literatures, we present a contingency model in which the relationship between task conflict and team creativity depends on the level of conflict and when it occurs in the life cycle of a project team. In a study of 71 information technology project teams in the greater China region, we found that task conflict had a curvilinear effect on team creativity, such that creativity was highest at moderate levels of task conflict. Additionally, we found this relationship to be moderated by team phase, such that the curvilinear effect was strongest at an early phase. In contrast, at later phases of the team life cycle, task conflict was found to be unrelated to team creativity.