How Organizational Cultures Moderate the Relationship between Demographic Diversity and Intragroup Conflict: A Meta-analysis

Abstract

Research suggests that as work groups become more demographically diverse, they are more likely to experience relationship and task conflict (Barak, 2016; Holck, Muhr, & Villeseche, 2016; Mohammed & Angell, 2004). In an increasingly diverse, global workforce, one way to mitigate this conflict might be to promote organizational cultures that support group harmony and respect, such as team-oriented culture (Galinsky et al., 2015; Lambert, 2016; Nielsen, 2017; Williams & O’Reilly, 1998). In this paper, we sought to test the moderating potential of organizational culture on the relationship between worker diversity and conflict using a meta-analysis. Using 40 samples, we examined the effect of culture (team oriented and outcome-oriented cultures) on the relationship between sample diversity (in terms of gender, race, age, and organizational tenure) and group conflict (task and relationship conflict). The results indicated that team-oriented culture significantly moderated the association between demographic diversity and relationship conflict, with greater levels of team-oriented culture associated with weaker associations between demographic diversity and relationship conflict. Thus, the current findings illustrate that team-oriented culture may serve as a substantial contextual moderator that may mitigate the amount of relationship conflict occurring within diverse groups. Outcome-oriented culture, meanwhile, appeared to enhance the detrimental positive association between sample demographic heterogeneity and relationship conflict. The current meta-analysis suggests that different types of organizational cultures may be used to reduce task and relationship intragroup conflict in demographically diverse groups.