Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior - Soltanieh ...

328 LAURIE R. WEINGART AND KAREN A. JEHN
collaboration strategies to resolve disputes. We argue that collaboration is a key strategy, but
it needs to be applied differently, depending on the type of dispute. The third step is to cultivate
conditions that increase the likelihood of collaboration. We address each step below.
IDENTIFYING THE TYPE OF INTRA-TEAM CONFLICT
The first major principle in dealing with intra - team conflict collaboratively is to determine
the type of confl ict. Task conflict involves disagreements among team members on
performance - related activities. Some of these performance - related activities have to do
with the actual task and others have to do with the process of doing the task or delegating
resources and duties.
Task content conflicts are disagreements among group members regarding ideas and opinions
about the task being performed, such as disagreement regarding an organization’s
current hiring strategies or determining the information to include in an annual report.
Task content conflicts include debates over facts (driven by data, evidence) or opinions
(De Dreu, Harinck, and Van Vianen, 1999 ). Task process conflicts are about logistical and
delegation issues such as how task accomplishment should proceed in the work unit, who ’s
responsible for what, and how things should be delegated ( Jehn, 1997 ). They are often
about the coordination of the task (e.g. three subtasks need to be completed) or coordination
of the people (e.g. we should meet at 3 pm each day to update; Behfar, Mannix,
Peterson, and Trochim, 2008 ). One important distinction about task conflict is that it
often provides more useful information about the task, the process, or the people involved
and their capabilities (Chapter 17 ). While the debate can be contentious, the differing
views discussed will add to the group ’s overall store of knowledge. Relationship confl ict is
less likely to have this informational advantage (Cronin and Bezrukova, 2006 ).
Relationship conflicts are disagreements and incompatibilities among group members
about personal issues that are not task related. Relationship conflicts frequently reported
are about social events, gossip, clothing preferences, political views and hobbies ( Jehn,
1997 ). Relationship conflicts are characterized by more personal and interpersonal concerns,
can be driven by personality differences, and are more likely to affect group maintenance
functions, such as cohesiveness, but can also interfere with task performance.
Take an R & D team: when the different researchers disagree about data interpretation
and the meaning of the results, they are experiencing task content conflict. If they argue
about who ’s responsible for writing up the final report and who will make the presentation,
they are having a task process conflict. Disagreements about the fastest route to
work, automobile gas mileage requirements by the government, politics, religion, and the
intelligence level of anyone who would take the bus (which one member does) are relationship
conflicts. Ongoing research on the distinction between task and relationship confl ict
is beginning to separate the content of the relationship confl ict (on - task vs off - task) from
the emotionality and source of that conflict (Cronin and Bezrukova, 2006 ; Jehn, Greer,
Levine, and Szulanski, 2008 ; Weingart, Bear, and Todorova, 2008 ).
Relationship conflicts are characteristically more emotional than task confl icts – and
those emotions tend to be negative ones – frustration, anger, stress (Greer and Jehn, 2007 ).
Behavioral expressions of negative emotions include yelling, crying, banging fi sts, slamming
doors, and having an angry tone and, when expressed in this way, are associated