Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior - Soltanieh ...

MANAGE INTRA - TEAM CONFLICT THROUGH COLLABORATION
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with confl ict escalation. In contrast, a simple acknowledgment of emotion (e.g. “ What you
said about me makes me angry” ; see Chapter 8 ) is less likely to elicit a heated exchange,
but rather a discussion of causes and attempts to repair.
These negative emotions arise because relationship conflicts often involve threats
to people ’ s self - identity or self - esteem – the conflicts are often deeply value laden. For
example, a conflict over whether a woman or minority could make a good US president
taps into deeply held values and can be very personal both to men and women and majority
and minority members. When negative emotions run high, collaboration between the
disputants might not be possible. Collaboration requires a high level of interdependence
and willingness to work together. Team members that feel animosity, frustration, anger, or
distrust are not likely to be willing to rely on one another.
In contrast, task conflict tends not to be as deeply rooted in people ’ s value systems.
However, that ’s not to say that task conflict is never emotional. Debates of how to perform
a task can get very heated – often because both sides believe they are right and have
strong convictions to their opinions (Cronin and Bezrukova, 2006 ; Jehn, 1997 ).
People can also experience positive emotions in response to conflict. Consider a debate
about an organization’s strategy that is stimulating and energizing. Many positive emotions
can accompany those task conflicts – happiness, elation, positive challenge. Ongoing
research suggests that task conflict elicits more active positive emotions (e.g. active, interested,
alert) as compared to other types of emotions (negative emotions and passive, positive
emotions, e.g. content, at ease, quiet), whereas relationship conflict is more likely to
elicit all types of emotions, but passive, positive emotions to a lesser extent.
Two other aspects of conflict that are important to consider are the dynamic nature
of conflict and the different individual perspectives that members have. Confl icts can
transform from task - oriented conflict to more relationship - focused conflicts over time. We
consider this in the section on using collaboration to overcome the escalation of confl ict.
Thus, when considering the type of confl ict, we also need to take into account the context
within which it occurs and the origins of the conflict ( Jehn and Mannix, 2001 ; Greer,
Jehn, and Mannix, 2008 ). For example, what currently appears as an intense interpersonal
conflict could have begun as a series of conflicts over task performance. On the other
hand, relationship conflicts can also be disguised as, or turn into, task conflicts such that
if a member has a personal issue with another member they may sabotage the group by
undermining any opinion or suggestion the other member may have.
In addition, individuals within groups may have different perceptions about the level
or type of conflict in the group ( Jehn and Chatman, 2000 ; Jehn and Rispens, 2008). One
member may perceive that there is a high level of conflict while others may think there is
no problem. This can interfere with the process of resolution as it is difficult to find a collaborative
solution when there is not even agreement as to whether there is a confl ict or
not. A first step, that we discuss in detail later, is to recognize the differences in perceptions
and communicate openly regarding the existence (or lack) of confl ict within the group.
IDENTIFYING APPROPRIATE COLLABORATION STRATEGIES
We assert that the detrimental effect of relationship conflict can be minimized if collaboratively
managed outside of the task setting and the benefi cial effect of task confl ict can be