Antecedents of Conflict
A number of studies provide evidence on antecedents of conflict in workgroups. Generally, these antecedents could be considered within two broad areas—(1) how group members interact with each other and (2) elements of individual members’ traits or group composition.
For example, in terms of interactions, Eddleston, Otondo, and Kellermanns (2008) found that organizations with participative decision making and several generations of ownership experienced more task and relationship conflict, while participative decision making with only one or two generations of ownership experienced less task and relationship conflict. Also, looking at how interactions serve as antecedents to conflict, Swaab, Phillips, Diermeier, and Medvec (2008) studied dyadic side conversations within groups. They found that the absence of side conversations led to better performance with tasks that benefit from group unity but that the presence of dyadic side conversations led to better performance in problem-solving tasks that benefited from diverse opinions. With regard to individual members’ traits and group composition, Kotlyar and Karakowsky (2006) examined how leadership styles might influence workgroup conflict. A transformational leader was positively related to productive task conflict but was also potentially related to relationship conflict. Workgroup conflict has also been related to group size (Amason & Sapienza, 1997; Wheelan, 2009) and selfefficacy (Desivilya & Eizen, 2005). Bridging these two types of antecedents, Boros, Meslec, Curseu, and Emons (2010) examined how interdependence and status might interact to predict conflict management styles. Boros et al. found that members who feel equal status-wise and interdependent were likely to use collaboration and cooperation, while members who perceived status differentials and felt independent from each other were more likely to use avoidance with conflicts.
More on the topic Antecedents of Conflict:
- Antecedents of Conflict
- Relationships Among Levels
- Workgroup Conflict and Network Analysis
- Research Within the Instrumental Perspective
- Conflict-Related Beliefs
- Defining and Exploring Work-Life Conflict
- CONCLUSION
- Oetzel John, Ting-Toomey Stella. The SAGE Handbook of Conflict Communication: Integrating Theory, Research and Practice. SAGE Publications,2013. — 912 p., 2013
- Precolonial Antecedents
- References
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