The impact of individual conflict experiences on proximal task performance in a multi-team context

Abstract

Conflict is a dynamic phenomenon that may manifest in different fashions over time. In understanding conflict in small groups and teams, however, much of our understanding is still limited around team-level perceptions and distal outcomes without much consideration of individual members’ experiences who are directly involved in the process. Moreover, teams are increasingly working in a multi-team context, in which team members may interact with individuals within and between their team boundaries at different times. In this study, building upon the behavioral manifestation of team conflict and theories of cognitive resource allocation, I advance and test a new framework that investigates the influence of members’ conflict experiences on individual proximal performance. Specifically, I differentiate and consider conflict in terms of their directionality (sender vs. receiver), team boundaries (within vs. between team), and cumulative experience effects. Using continuous behavioral data from paramedics completing simulated mass-casualty incidents, I found that sending conflict was beneficial to individual proximal task performance when it was directed within team boundaries, whereas it was detrimental when it was directed between team boundaries. In contrast, receiving conflict was beneficial to individual proximal task performance when it was emanated between team boundaries. Lastly, these relationships were moderated by senders’ and receivers’ cumulative conflict experiences throughout the day. implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.