Conflict within Teams – Inevitable & Necessary ?

This was originally a scholarly article written as a discussion of whether conflict in teams is both inevitable and necessary.  The style is a little more formal for that reason.

Modern organisations are increasingly reliant on teams and teamwork to conduct the bulk of their business. These teams exist at all levels – from manufacturing and customer support at the front-line of operations, through management layers and even into the executive management of a organisation and its board of directors or trustees. Teams can be formed from groups of workers within a single area of responsibility, or can be cross-functional teams including participants from many different parts of the organisation working together on a single project. Following improvements in telecommunications and information technology, team members may not even be in the same physical location, but make up “virtual” teams representing different geographic locations or simply taking advantage of the ability to work remotely.

At the same time as teams and teamwork are becoming more important, the working population is continuing to diversify, including people with obvious differences in gender and racial background, but also including the less-obvious diversity of people from a wider range of disciplines and training backgrounds than were previously evident in business. With the aging population of many Western nations, there is also greater likelihood of a wide range of ages being included in any given work group, which in turn leads to diversity of experiences, attitudes and expectations between team members.

This increase in diversity leads to the question of conflict occurring between team members. Although conflict is traditionally regarded as a negative thing, and not conducive to productivity and satisfaction, some recent theories of management practice suggest that conflict may have beneficial effects on performance. This essay examines the question of whether conflict in teams is both inevitable and necessary, with a focus on the modern working environment. The evolution of thinking around this question – in particular the necessity of conflict – will be studied along with the results of experiments performed by researchers in the field.

It is clear from the literature that this topic is very controversial and the subject of continuing debate amongst management theorists. This paper will examine and present the argument that although conflict of some form is highly likely in modern teams, and although it can lead to some benefits in innovation and performance, the negative factors are such as to make it highly undesirable, and that conflict management techniques should be used to mediate these negative effects.

What is conflict?

In order to properly understand whether conflict is inevitable or necessary, it is important to understand what is meant by conflict in the context of workplace teams. Intragroup conflict can be broadly defined as perceived incompatibilities between team members (Jehn, 1995), but it is self-evident that incompatibilities can take more than one form, and so the nature of conflict must be further investigated.

Early theories of the types of conflict include structural models (Deutsch, as cited in Korsgaard, et al, 2008), and process models (Pondy, 1967). Structural models theorise that conflict occurs as a result of interdependence and incompatibility between parties; when goals of one team member can only be achieved at the expense of another team member, conflict is increasingly likely to result. It is the structure of the inter-relationship between parties which gives rise to conflict, and in this theory focus is given to the importance of task characteristics, social context, and the relationships of participants.

Process models take the view that conflict is a series of episodes, each of which commences with some pre-existing conflict potentials, and concludes with an aftermath which affects future episodes. The participants in the conflict go through a process of interpretation, or sense making, after each event which leads to feelings, thoughts and actions in response, which in turn leads to consequences for future interactions of the parties. The process model highlights the role of perception in conflict development, and is infused with affective reactions such as anger (Korsgaard et al, 2008).

The combination of structural and process theories suggest that conflict can be seen as three linked factors leading to conflict (Korsgaard et al, 2008), viz:

• Inputs (individual differences; individual traits; task structure; social context) leading to...
• Behaviour (conflict provoking behaviour; 2-person exchanges; group interactions) leading to...
• Sense Making (identifying an event as an offence; laying blame on another party) which leads to conflict

Manifestations of conflict include frustration, anger, intentions to rectify and/or retaliate, and interference of cognition and effectiveness.

More recent studies of intragroup conflict have focussed on distinguishing between different types of conflict, and their effects on teams where the group is responsible for some collective product or decision (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003). The current typology of conflict includes three broad areas; task conflict, relationship conflict, and process conflict (Jehn, 1997; Korsgaard et al, 2008)

Task conflict (also known as cognitive conflict) is disagreement related to the job at hand: what should be included in the task, how to approach it, ideas, issues and content. Task conflict has a predominantly intellectual basis, and is strongly influenced by disparate backgrounds in the participants of a team (Li & Hambrick, 2005).

Relationship conflict (also referred to as affective conflict) involves interpersonal incompatibilities, tension and antagonism (Jehn, 1995). It has an emotional basis and impacts the ability of team members to share and assess information within the group (Jehn & Mannix, 2001)

Process conflict, according to Jehn (1997), is “conflict about how task accomplishment should proceed in the work unit, who's responsible for what, and how things should be delegated”. It is more about the logistics of “who does what” rather than the task conflict nature of “what should be done”. Process conflicts impact on the team's ability to coordinate effectively (Greer, Jehn & Mannix, 2008).

It is also important to understand that conflict is dynamic – it evolves over time, and the above three types of conflict can interact and transform from one kind into another during the lifespan of a team (Greer, et al, 2008).

Is conflict inevitable?

It can be asserted that conflict in teams is inevitable since creative collaboration is often the team's reason for existence (Kling 2009), and indeed although this assertion may not be completely borne out in all cases, the literature generally seems to take conflict of some kind as a given in team environments and any other kind of group or organisation (eg Jehn, 1995; De Dreu 2008).

In a study of 60 cross-functional teams in high technology companies (Lovelace , Shapiro & Weingart, 2001), it was found that all teams experienced some degree of intra-team disagreement. Hobman & Bordia (2006) also found direct associations between dissimilarity in individuals and the likelihood of conflict; given that everyone brings some degree of difference to any group, conflict of some kind is likely to occur.

However, it is worth considering whether the inevitability of conflict in the workplace is influenced by cultural constraints. Individual performance and achievement is generally well-regarded in the individualistic Anglo-American cultures (including Australia), but in collectivist cultures such as those found in Asia and Southern Europe, greater emphasis is placed on intragroup harmony and personal relationships, and conflict may be perceived as a threat to the interests of the team (Passos & Caetano, 2005; Hempel, Zhang & Tjosvold, 2009).

Is conflict necessary?

From the 1990's until the present, conflict in teams has been interpreted as a vital component of team success (eg Amason et al, 1995; Karnani, 2008; Flanagan & Runde, 2009), and studies have shown that some degree of conflict may be required to develop more creative thinking than might be achieved in a group with convergent thinking (Jehn, 1995). It has also been suggested that in cases where pressure is being applied by an external source, the “groupthink” of convergent teams may lead to the premature selection of a less than optimal solution (Paulus, 2002). Conflict, however, can introduce “vigorous debate” on issues requiring critical analysis or innovative thinking (Flanagan & Runde, 2008).

Through interviews with managers of teams, Amason et al (1995) found that the presence of task conflict enhanced the ability of teams to make creative decisions. This improved creativity was reported in cases where participants brought different points of view to a problem and were supported by the right environment to manage the conflict. In their interviews, participants related the belief that the improved creativity of teams with some degree of task conflict resulted in valuable business decisions, and that the lack of conflict in some decisions resulted in substantial costs or failures.

It is important to note that the type of conflict apparently yielding positive results in the above is task conflict. In cases where relationship conflict is evident in a team, the effect becomes dysfunctional, and can be a serious impairment to team performance (Amason, 1996). Similarly, process conflict has be found to have both a negative impact on team performance itself, and also the quality of transforming to other types of conflict over time, especially if experienced in the early life of a team (Greer et al, 2008).

As mentioned above, the correct supportive environment must be in place to gain the maximum innovative benefit of task conflict. This includes the freedom of team members to express doubts without a “win-lose” position being taken by other members of the team: that ideas can be freely expressed without the danger of participants self-censoring. When combined with collaborative communications, this allows for differences in ideas to be exchanged and developed by the team as a whole, rather than becoming the focus of antagonism and dissatisfaction (Lovelace et al, 2001). Participants must have a sense of trust and safety in their interactions, and possess sufficient emotional intelligence to be aware and cope if and when constructive conflict deteriorates into destructive behaviours (Flanagan & Runde, 2009).

Whilst the introduction of task conflict into a team in order to generate more creative ideas is often regarded as a positive thing, West (2002) has argued that it is implementation rather than creativity and idea generation that is the important factor in team performance, and that this requires high degrees of collaboration. Furthermore, De Dreu (2006) shows that the positive benefits of conflict on performance follows a curve – although a small amount can help stimulate ideas outside the status quo, too much conflict has a greatly negative impact (see Figure 1)

Figure 1: Curvilinear Relationship Between Task Conflict and Team Innovation (from De Dreu 2006)

This curvilinear effect was also noted by Jehn (1995), and can be explained in part by the conflict transformation discussed by Greer et al (2008): each of the three types of conflict (relationship, task, process) can feed into the others over time. The drop-off in innovation can also be attributed to situations where teams have positions that are so divergent at the start that they may never come to an agreed conclusion, or may not completely synthesise their ideas into a commonly-agreed solution within the timeframe required.

Intentionally introducing conflict (by, for example, assembling extreme diverse teams) is extremely difficult to manage; Chen (2006) notes that careful timing of positive conflict is necessary, along with training in conflict awareness and the development of significant trust and psychological support within the team. This may be a significant additional effort, since the diverse groups assembled in order to introduce task conflict are also likely to be sufficiently divergent that process conflicts will also arise (Jehn, Northcraft & Neale, 1999). The time taken for conflict awareness training and the development of team cohesion must be accounted for in a project's schedule and costs.

Similarly, in their study of cross-functional teams, Lovelace, Shapiro & Weingart (2001) found that innovation and time & cost efficiency was most positively influenced by the way their disagreements were managed by teams members as well as leaders. Successful conflict resolution techniques require the team members to have a shared sense of responsibility and purpose (Flanagan & Runde, 2009), yet developing the skills for effective conflict management are an additional cost to the organisation in terms of both money and time.

Careful management of conflict is also needed because, according to De Dreu (2008), there is only a very narrow set of conditions under which conflict has a positive function. For example, conflicts should be task conflicts only, be of no more than moderate intensity, and are only of use if the team would otherwise have preferred a “suboptimal” solution.

It should also be noted that for teams working on a well-defined procedural task rather than a problem requiring innovative solutions, task conflict is perceived as a significant source of dissatisfaction and negative performance impact, since it distracts team members form the “real” work they are trying to achieve (Jehn, 1995).

Meta-analysis of many research reports has found that while relationship conflict had the expected negative impact on team effectiveness and satisfaction, task conflict was equally negative in many the reported studies, and could not be clearly identified as purely positive in any (De Dreu & Weingart , 2003). De Dreu (2008) also notes the various costs of conflict and conflict management: in time, health and well-being of participants, and the displacement of costs to a third party (for example, the end-customer). The introduction of these (often initially hidden) costs must affect an organisation's decision on whether to introduce conflict, and how best to manage conflict overall. With this in mind it has been suggested that constructive conflict management is essential for mitigating the broadly negative effects of conflict in teams (De Dreu 2008).

Conclusion

The investigation, classification and analysis of different types of intragroup conflict has been going on for several decades, leading to ever-more nuanced understandings of how people interact in teams. That conflict will occur seems to be universally accepted as inevitable in the Anglo-American world, although the prevalence of intragroup conflict may be muted in more collectivist cultures where group harmony and interpersonal relationships are an intrinsic part of business.

Relationship conflict is almost universally regarded as being detrimental to team performance, and process conflict has been shown to be very damaging especially when encountered in the early stages of a team's lifespan. What remains contentious is the degree to which task conflict is necessary or even desirable. It certainly appears to be the case that for teams required to produce innovative results (as opposed to those performing well-defined and standardized procedures), some degree of task conflict is necessary in order to generate a wider range of ideas that might otherwise be developed by a group with convergent thinking. This concept has even given rise to the saying “thinking outside the box”, which is often hailed as a positive concept in modern business.

It is important to understand that all conflict - however benign - comes at a cost of some kind, and the additional time required to work through the increased range of ideas brought about by task conflict may not be available in certain types of project. Similarly, process conflict can substantially affect the efficient delivery of the end result, and if implementation is an important factor, then group cohesion and well-defined roles should also be considered vital. Finally, attention should be paid to the idea that conflict is dynamic, and without careful management can easily transform from task-based to relationship- and/or process-based, and hence cause significant damage to team cohesion, performance and participant satisfaction.

It appears that introducing conflict in order to improve team performance is a technique fraught with peril, and requires a great deal of skill to manage effectively: if conflict is necessary, it is a necessary evil. In any case, proper management strategies should be put into place in order to deal with the inevitable conflict that will arise in teams, with a focus on reducing the negative impact, rather than any attempt to engender productivity gains which may never be realised.

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