Suchergebnisse

We introduce a model of teams' early and late conflict states, conflict processes, and performance. In a study of 529 individuals in 145 teams, we provide a theoretical framework and empirically test a series of hypotheses pertaining to the influence of conflict states, including task and relationship conflict, on performance, as well as the moderating effect of two conflict processes (cooperative and competitive management approaches). We address inconsistencies in the literature related to the effect of team conflict, specifically task conflict, within teams. Our results suggest that task conflict in the end of a team's life cycle, like relationship conflict, can have a significant negative effect on performance, but only when teams' conflict management approaches are competitive (rather than cooperative). We also provide evidence that conflict management approaches are affected by the type of conflict teams exhibit in their early life cycle stages. Thus, we present a study of how early levels of conflict types affect conflict management approaches, and how these approaches affect later levels of the conflict type/performance relationship. Our model suggests that conflict types and conflict management approaches should be modeled together to better understand team conflict.

We advance the literature on faultlines by theorizing about how and why perceived faultlines (i.e., realized subgroupings as perceived by team members) not only influence team characteristics (e.g., decision-making structures), but also change in response to these team characteristics over time. Drawing on current team theories, we reason that strong perceived faultlines lead teams toward a decentralized decision-making structure (i.e., distributed decision-making responsibility), but a decentralized decision-making structure weakens future perceived faultline strength. We also build a theory suggesting a decentralized decision-making structure mitigates the dysfunctional effect of perceived faultlines on team performance. We find support for our theory in a sample of 230 undergraduate students in 48 teams, and we discuss implications for faultline and team research.

The authors elaborate a multilevel model of faultline perceptions across individuals in groups. They develop the concept of individual perceived faultlines and build logic about an individual-level antecedent—expectations for relationship conflict held even before a group is formed. They explain how its impact persists over time to influence individual satisfaction with the group, and how individuals update faultline perceptions in response to common contexts and social processes. Findings indicate that expectations for relationship conflict, despite being held before the group forms, influence individuals' satisfaction with the group. The effect is mediated by initial and later-stage individual perceived faultlines.