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Past conflict research and theory has provided insight into the types of conflict and styles of conflict resolution in organizations and groups. A second generation of conflict research is now needed that recognizes that the type of conflict present in a group relative to the other types present (proportional conflict composition) and the amount of conflict perceived relative to the amount perceived by other members (perceptual conflict composition) may be critical to group functioning. Therefore, we propose two types of conflict composition in teams and investigate the links between proportional and perceptual conflict composition conflict, and team effectiveness (i.e., individual and team performance, commitment, cohesiveness, and member satisfaction) in two organizational samples. We find group conflict compositions consisting of high levels of task‐related conflict compared to relationship and process conflict (proportional task conflict) are high performing, satisfied teams. In addition, when team members disagree about amounts of conflict present (high perceptual conflict), we find evidence of negative group outcomes. Implications for managers and group members are discussed.

In this quasi‐experimental study we investigate value congruence and demographic dissimilarity among group members as factors which influence various types of conflict within workgroups. We also examine whether it is beneficial for members to be different or alike, to agree or disagree, in order to foster work group productivity. Results indicate that visible individual demographic differences (i.e., sex, age) increase relationship conflict, while informational demographic differences (i.e., education) increase task‐focused conflict. Value congruence of members decreased both relationship and task conflict, and the specific content of the values held by members influenced performance. Specifically, both detail and outcome group value orientations increased objective performance; outcome, decisiveness, and stability orientations increased perceptions of high performance; and both decisiveness and supportiveness orientations increased the satisfaction level of group members while a team orientation decreased individual member satisfaction in this sample.

Purpose – There are a number of ongoing debates in the organizational literature about conflict in groups and teams. We investigate two “conflicts about conflict” (i.e., two meta-conflicts) in the literature: we examine whether and under what conditions conflict in workgroups might be beneficial and we also explore the idea that group members may not always perceive the same levels of conflict.

Design/approach – We bring together the research and theorizing of the past 15 years to inform the current state of literature and move forward research on these conflicts about conflict. We examine and develop the two meta-conflicts to illustrate the importance of studying these ideas and to provide guidance for future research.

Findings – These two meta-conflicts in the conflict literature are important to investigate as conflict is a multifaceted construct that contains many dimensions that may influence group outcomes. We explore these two issues by briefly reviewing the literature on conflict and then highlighting some of the recent research on the conflict debate (i.e., is conflict constructive or destructive?) and conflict asymmetry in workgroups.

Originality/value – We identify interesting areas that future researchers could explore with respect to team conflict and conflict asymmetry.

Studies of cross‐cultural differences in conflict management behavior are reviewed. This review shows that existing studies are difficult to interpret, because researchers applied Western theories and Western measures to non‐Western cultures, without testing the cross‐cultural equivalence of the constructs and the measures and without searching for emic constructs that might contribute to an understanding of non‐Western behavior. These three problems are discussed, and guidelines to help researchers avoid these problems are proposed.

Personality differences may be a major reason of conflict, as well as the perception of conflict and preference for handling that conflict. This study aims to explore the role of personality traits in determining conflict and performance. The authors also studied the moderated mediated relationship between personality and performance through conflict and conflict management styles.

A field survey was conducted with a sample of 153 employees to test the hypotheses.

As hypothesized, agreeable persons perceive less conflict and extraverts are more likely to use integrating, obliging, compromising and avoiding styles. Emotionally stable people opt for integrating style whereas neurotics opt for dominating style. Conscientiousness, openness and emotional stability have a direct effect on performance, but the interactions between conflict and conflict management styles determine the relationship between personality traits and performance.

The cross-sectional nature of data and somewhat reliable coefficients for personality measures reduce confidence in the results. Future research should use different or multiple measures of personality. Personality traits may be explored in view of the degree of each personality trait or interactions between personality traits.

People are sensitive about engaging in conflict and handling conflict differently because of their personality characteristics. The personality traits should, therefore, be understood and considered for conflict experience, conflict management and performance.

The paper adds to management research by investigating the relationship between personality traits, conflicts, conflict management styles and performance.

In this chapter, we attempt to better understand the mechanisms underlying the effects of process conflict on team performance by exploring the role of negative affect in explaining the negative effects of process conflict on performance. Our findings show that negative affect does fully mediate the relationship between process conflict and group performance. Additionally, we investigate a set of conditions relating to fairness concerns and group context, which may have an influence on the relationship between process conflict and negative affect. We find that when voice is high and perceived goal obstruction and subgroup existence are low, the relationship between process conflict and negative affect is ameliorated, thus allowing for more positive effects of process conflict to emerge.

The aim of this paper is to present a framework that can be used to identify detrimental team processes in high reliability teams (HRTs), such as conflict, asymmetric perceptions and stress and coping appraisals, and develop interventions that eliminate these detrimental team processes. In addition, this paper suggests new directions for future disaster management and conflict research.

This framework is developed based on past theories (i.e. Intragroup Conflict Theory and Biopsychosocial Model of arousal regulation) and their associated empirical studies.

The present article brings a multi-method, multi-level approach to examine the prevalence of detrimental team processes in HRTs, their impact on performance and stress-related health outcomes and how they can be prevented or managed.

This paper provides a novel conceptual framework that highlights the importance of considering human factors and team processes in improving the response speed, accuracy and efficiency of high reliability team members and ensuring the health and well-being of both responders and recipients of care.

This study investigates the benefits and detriments of emotional and task‐related conflict in work groups. Group value consensus (GVC), or the extent to which group members share values, and group value fit (GVF), or the degree to which the culture of the group matches the ideal culture envisioned by external parties with control over the group, are hypothesized to decrease conflict. In examining 88 workgroups performing comparable organizational tasks, it was found that groups with low levels of value similarity among members and between the group and governing superiors had higher levels of conflict than groups with high levels of value similarity. As hypothesized, emotional conflict was negatively associated with group performance and satisfaction, while task conflict was positively associated with group performance. The implications of these results for conflict management and group effectiveness are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and test a model of group processes (e.g. conflict), emergent states (e.g. trust), and group context (e.g. connectedness) to better understand the mechanisms that underlie the traditionally negative effects of conflict.

A total of 27 workgroups of a Dutch telecommunications company participated in a survey. To assess trust as a mediator between conflict and performance bootstrapping analysis was used. In addition, the moderating role of the three connectedness types was investigated with hierarchical regressions.

The results suggest that trust partially mediates the effect of task conflict and fully mediates the effect of relationship conflict on performance. Furthermore, trust is less affected by task conflict when group members are highly cognitively connected and less affected by relationship conflict when group members are highly task connected.

This research implies that task and cognitive connectedness decrease the negative effect of conflict on trust, and hence, performance. Shortcomings include discussing the causality between conflict and trust, and the possibility of different perceptions among group members regarding group phenomena.

The findings suggest that managers can help to provide circumstances in which conflict is not necessarily destructive for intragroup trust and performance.

Provides one of the first empirical examinations of the mediating role of trust in the relationship between task and relationship conflict and perceived group performance. Additionally, examines if connectedness (the level of active involvement of group members with each other) buffers the negative effects of conflict on trust.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of asymmetric perceptions of task conflict (i.e. one person experiencing more conflict than the other) on the anticipated relationship with the partner, as well as subjective and objective performance.

In a 2 × 2 between-participants experimental design, we manipulated participants’ perception of task conflict (perceive task conflict vs does not perceive task conflict) and the perceptual conflict composition of their group (asymmetry vs symmetry). Participants were randomly allocated to each of the four experimental conditions. Eighty-four psychology students at a Dutch university participated (25 men and 59 women; average age = 21).

Results show that when individuals realize that they have asymmetric task conflict perceptions, they have lower expectations about having a positive relationship with their partner and perform worse compared to when they have symmetric task perceptions (i.e. both experiencing either low or high levels of conflict).

Past research on conflict has not often taken into account that individuals involved in a conflict can experience different amounts of conflict. By conducting an experimental study, in contrast to past research on conflict asymmetry, we can better understand the causal relationship between (a)symmetry of conflict and outcomes. We also provide insight into the mediating chain that examines how conflict asymmetry interferes with work processes and leads to negative work outcomes.