Intragroup Processes Research Articles

Does Conflict Help or Hinder Creativity in Teams? An Examination of Conflict’s Effects on Creative Processes and Creative Outcomes

We examine the relationship between conflict and creativity-relevant intra-group processes over time. Morespecifically, we explore whether task and relationship conflict have effects on the extent to which teams engagein information exchange and creative problem solving. We test these relationships with multiple waves oflongitudinal data collected from 141 individuals across 35 project teams. We find that, replicated across multipleperiods of time, task conflict does not have an effect on either information exchange or creative problem solving,but relationship conflict does. Furthermore, while relationship conflict undermines intra-group creativeprocesses, only task conflict appears to affect the creativity of the group’s final outcomes. Contrary to the viewof conflict as functional and stimulating, the outcome effect of task conflict was negative.

Influence of Intragroup Dynamics and Intergroup Relations on Authenticity in Organizational and Social Contexts: A Review of Conceptual Framework and Research Evidence

Despite their shared focus on influence of groups on individual, research bridging intragroup dynamics and intergroup relations as predictors of authentic and inauthentic (self-alienated) experience, behavior and interaction of individuals in organizational and social contexts is surprisingly rare. The goal of the present article is to highlight how understanding the reciprocal dynamic relationship between intragroup processes and intergroup relations offers valuable new insights into both topics and suggests new, productive avenues for psychological theory, research and practice development – particularly for understanding and improving the intragroup and intergroup relations in groups, organizations and society affecting authentic psychosocial functioning. The article discusses the complementary role of intergroup and intragroup dynamics, reviewing how intergroup relations can affect intragroup dynamics which, in turn, affects the authenticity of individual experiences, behaviors and relations with others. The paper considers the implications, theoretical and practical, of the proposed reciprocal relationships between intragroup and intergroup processes as factors influencing authentic psychosocial functioning of individuals in organizational and social settings.

Bridging intragroup processes and intergroup relations: Needing the twain to meet

Despite their shared focus on groups, research bridging intragroup processes and intergroup relations is surprisingly rare. The goal of the present article is to highlight how understanding the reciprocal relationship between intragroup processes and intergroup relations offers valuable new insights into both topics and suggests new, productive avenues for research and theory development - particularly for understanding and improving intergroup relations. The article next briefly reviews key findings from three dominant frameworks in the field of intergroup relations: social cognition, social identity, and functional relations. It then discusses the complementary role of intergroup and intragroup dynamics, reviewing how intergroup relations can affect intragroup processes and then discussing how intragroup dynamics can shape intergroup relations. The final section considers the implications, theoretical and practical, of the proposed reciprocal relationships between intragroup and intergroup processes.

High-Status but Low-Performing: Effects of Group Status on Information Exchange and Group Outcome

Although a significant amount of research exists on how the status of groups affects intergroup behavior, and how the status of individuals influences their behavior toward other individuals, little is known about how intergroup status might affect intragroup processes. In this paper, we explore how and why group status influences group process and outcomes, focusing on information exchange among its members. In a laboratory study of 55 three-person groups engaged in a group negotiation task, we found that members of high-status groups exchanged information less, thereby reaching less desirable outcomes relative to low-status groups. We also found that the effect was moderated by whether the group had cooperative or competitive incentive systems; when groups had a cooperative incentive system, high-status groups exchanged as much information and had as high performance as low status groups. These findings suggest that the decrease in information exchange and group performance among high- status groups is ...

The impact of intra-group processes on family business success

Interpersonal ties and intra-group processes influence the ability of people to work together effectively as teams. In the context of the family business team, intra-group processes describe the interaction that takes place between the family members and the resultant psychological climate that exists in the family business. Given the increasing number of sibling teams among family businesses, as well as the challenges they face as team members, this study focuses on sibling teams in family businesses and the intra-group processes that influence their success. Consequently, the primary objective of this study is to identify and empirically test the intra-group processes influencing the effectiveness of sibling partnerships. A structured questionnaire was distributed to 1323 sibling partner respondents. The respondents were identified by means of a convenience snowball sampling technique, and the data were collected from 371 usable questionnaires. The empirical findings of this study show that the sibling relationship and fairness are important determinants of sibling team effectiveness.

Why Do the Privileged Resort to Oppression? A Look at Some Intragroup Factors

This article shows that (intergroup) oppression can be strategically motivated by (intragroup) processes. It is often assumed that high‐status groups oppress when their social position is declining (relative deprivation). Counterintuitively, research shows that oppression also occurs when their position is improving (gratification): a curvilinear relationship referred to as “the v‐curve effect.” We test the hypothesis that this relationship is due to intragroup processes within the high‐status group: individuals respond strategically to elite norms. Two experiments manipulated participants’ future prospects: to join the nation's elite in future (relative gratification), social stasis, or status decline (relative deprivation, Study 2). Elite norms toward immigrants (positive, negative) were manipulated independently. The curvilinear relationship was only found when norms were negative. In other words, those who anticipate joining the elite tailor their actions to the norms of their prospective in‐group.

Understanding team-level career mentoring by leaders and its effects on individual team-source learning: The effects of intra-group processes

Team-level career mentoring by supervisors is conceptualized as mentoring that provides career support for all team members. A new model of mentoring and individual team-source learning is presented. Data from 192 individuals in 37 intact work groups in the banking industry were used to examine how intra-group processes might influence the team mentoring process. Team-level leader-member exchange, peer mentoring, and proactive member behavior were examined for their influence on team-level career mentoring by supervisors. Our results suggest that aspects of the team context (represented by mean leader-member exchange and mean peer mentoring) influenced team-level career mentoring. Team-level career mentoring (TCM) had a positive effect on individual team-source learning and had mediating effects on the relationships between the team contextual factors and individual team-source learning. The implications of this research for studying supervisory team-level career mentoring are discussed.

Cooperation and Conflict within Groups: Bridging Intragroup and Intergroup Processes

Whereas intragroup processes and intergroup relations are often assumed to reflect discrete processes and cooperation and conflict to represent alternative outcomes, the present article focuses on intergroup dynamics within a shared group identity and challenges traditional views of cooperation and conflict primarily as the respective positive and negative outcomes of these dynamics. Drawing on the ideas, theories, and evidence presented in other articles in this volume, we (1) consider the dynamic tension between stability and change that exists within hierarchical groups; (2) discuss the different perspectives that advantaged and disadvantaged subgroups within a larger group have regarding this tension; (3) propose that cooperation and conflict should be viewed as developmental processes in the life of a group; (4) suggest that constructive resolution of conflict depends upon whether subgroups manage to satisfy the different needs of each group, and (5) conclude by discussing the personal, social, and policy implications of this perspective.

Duration and outcome of intergroup conflict influences intragroup affiliative behaviour

Theoreticians have long suggested that the amount of intergroup conflict in which a group is involved could influence the level of cooperation or affiliation displayed by its members. Despite the prevalence of intergroup conflicts in many social animal species, however, few empirical studies have investigated this potential link. Here, I show that intragroup allopreening rates are highest in green woodhoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus) groups that have the greatest involvement in intergroup conflict. One reason for this relationship is a post-conflict increase in allopreening, and I demonstrate for the first time that both conflict duration and outcome influence subsequent allopreening rates: group members allopreened more following long conflicts and those they lost compared with short conflicts and those they won, perhaps because the former are more stressful. The increase in affiliative behaviour was the result of more allopreening of subordinate helpers by the dominant breeding pair, which may be because the breeders are trying to encourage helpers to participate in future conflicts; relative group size influences conflict outcome and helpers contribute more to conflicts than do the breeding pair. These results emphasize that our understanding of cooperation and group dynamics can be enhanced by investigations of how intergroup interactions affect intragroup processes.

Identity formation in multiparty negotiations

Based on the recently proposed Interactive Model of Identity Formation, we examine how top-down deductive and bottom-up inductive identity formations influence intentions and behaviour in multiparty negotiations. Results show that a shared identity can be deduced from the social context through recognition of superordinate similarities. However, shared identities can also be induced by intragroup processes in which individuals get acquainted with one another on an interpersonal basis. Both top-down and bottom-up processes led to the formation of a sense of shared identity, and this in turn exerted a positive influence on behavioural intentions and actual behaviour in multiparty negotiations.

Small‐Group Research in Social Psychology: Topics and Trends over Time

AbstractResearch on small groups has a long history within social psychology. Unfortunately, interest in studying social processes within small groups has diminished over time despite predictions of its resurgence. Moreland, Hogg, and Hains (1994) computed an index of interest in small groups in the major social psychology journals between 1975 and 1993, finding an increase in the mid 1980s and early 1990s. This increase was due largely to the influence of European and social cognition approaches, which do not focus on intragroup processes. We replicated their procedures through 2006 and found that these trends have persisted. Over half of the group‐related research published from 1975 to 2006 involved intergroup relations (e.g., social identity, stereotyping), whereas other topic areas (i.e., group composition, structure, performance, conflict, and ecology) that involve intragroup processes were largely ignored. The implications of these trends for the fields of small groups and social psychology are discussed.

Cues to identity in online dyads: Effects of interpersonal versus intragroup perceptions on performance.

This article examines the impact of cues to personal identity on the quality of dyadic collaboration via computer-mediated communication systems. Study 1 (N = 180) shows that an absence of cues to personal identity resulted in more work satisfaction and better subjective performance. Analyses suggested that this effect was mediated by perceptions of shared identity that emerged in cueless dyads. Study 2 (N = 91) confirmed and extended these effects, showing parallel effects on objective performance. The effects of Study 1 were replicated among high identifiers but not low identifiers. This provides direct evidence that social identity played a role in enhancing the quality of dyadic collaboration. It also illustrates the distinction between interpersonal and intragroup processes in online interaction. We conclude that when individuals in a dyad consider themselves part of an overarching social group, anonymity can improve collaboration performance as a function of shared social identity.

The loyal member effect: On the preference for ingroup members who engage in exclusive relations with the ingroup.

The goal of this article was to investigate an indirect form of intergroup differentiation in children in the context of racial attitudes: the preference for ingroup members who interact positively with other ingroup members rather than with outgroup members. Study 1 confirmed this general hypothesis with preschool and 1st-grade children, demonstrating that respondents preferred the ingroup member who played only with other ingroup members, evaluated this child more positively, and felt more similar to him or her. Studies 2 and 3 tested the boundary conditions of the phenomenon. Study 4 analyzed developmental changes demonstrating that the effect is no longer observed among 9- to 11-year-old children. Overall, these studies suggest that engaging in positive interactions with the outgroup might have its costs in terms of a relative devaluation and rejection by one's peers. Results are discussed by stressing the importance of intragroup processes for the regulation of intergroup relations among very young children.

Social Psychology and Multiculturalism

AbstractQuestions of multiculturalism give rise to lively and important debates in many countries and in many spheres of life. Diversity is considered desirable and necessary for the development of secure ethnic identities and positive intergroup relations, but is also challenged for being inequitable and a threat to social cohesion. After considering conceptions of multiculturalism and relevant country differences, the paper discusses social psychological research on multicultural attitudes and the effect of multiculturalism on intergroup relations. Subsequently, three issues are addressed that are central in debates about multiculturalism and that present additional topics for social psychological research. The first concerns the importance of intragroup processes, the second the nature of religious identity and Islam in particular, and the third issue relates to tolerance and civil liberties.

Migration Monuments in Italy and Australia: Contesting Histories and Transforming Identities

Rather than focusing on how Italians share the neighbourhood with other groups, this paper examines some of the intra-group processes (i.e. relations between Italians themselves) that produced various monuments to Italian migration in Australia, Brazil and Italy. Through their distinct styles and formulations, the monuments reflect diverse and often competing elaborations of the migrant experience by different generations at local, national and transnational levels. The recent increase in the construction of such monuments in Australia is linked to the gradual disappearance of ‘visibly’ Italian neighbourhoods. These commemorations effectively transform Italian migrants into Australian pioneers and, thus, resolve moral and cultural ambiguities about belonging and identity by de-emphasizing difference (ethnic diversity) and concealing intergenerational tensions about appropriate ways of expressing Italianness. Similarly, the appearance of monuments in Italy is linked to an emergent ‘diasporic’ consciousness fuelled by Italian emigrants’ growing ability to travel to Italy, but also to the attempt to obscure potentially destabilizing dual identities by emphasizing (one, Italian) ‘homeland’.

The Influence of Conflict on Creativity-Relevant Intragroup Processes Over Time

In this extended abstract, we review the preliminary findings from a study examining the relationship between conflict and creativity-relevant intragroup processes over time. More specifically, we examine whether task and relationship conflict have lingering effects on team creative processes and information sharing. We examine these relationships with two-wave longitudinal data collected from 141 individuals across 32 project teams in an academic setting. Our preliminary analysis suggests that, beyond the effect of information sharing at time 1, task conflict and trust interact to influence subsequent information sharing at time 2. The results for relationship conflict suggest that it is trust that has lingering effects on both of these creativity-relevant processes, not relationship conflict. Additional analysis is underway to further explore how conflict and creativity-relevant processes unfold over time.

Perceivers’ Responses to In-Group and Out-Group Members Who Blame a Negative Outcome on Discrimination

The authors extend recent research concerning the social costs of claiming discrimination by examining men's and women's responses to in-group and out-group targets who either blamed a failing grade on discrimination or answer quality. Although participants generally responded more negatively to targets who blamed discrimination, rather than answer quality, dislike was greatest and gender group identification was lowest when participants evaluated an in-group target. Moreover, an in-group target who claimed discrimination was perceived as avoiding personal responsibility for outcomes to a greater extent than was a similar out-group target. Perceptions that the target avoided outcome responsibility by claiming discrimination were shown to mediate the relationship between attribution type and dislike of the in-group target. The authors discuss their results in terms of intragroup processes and suggest that social costs may especially accrue for in-group members when claiming discrimination has implications for the in-group's social identity.

Intragroup Subgroup Clustering, International Intervention, and Intergroup Interaction Patterning: Toward a Dynamical Model of Protracted Intergroup Conflict

Scholars and practitioners working with enduring conflicts have long recognized the complex and dynamical natures and relationships of intragroup and intergroup processes in these settings. The multitude of factors interacting within and between these systems, and their tendency to change over time, largely contributes to their intractable natures. Unfortunately, the ability of conflict scholars to conduct research on such dynamic phenomena has been constrained by the atomistic, linear assumptions of traditional research models and methods. Recent advances in dynamical systems theory have provided a new set of tools for building computer simulations that allow us to model the dynamic patterns emerging over time in these situations. This paper presents one such model: A dynamical model of protracted intergroup conflict. Using data collected from Israeli and Palestinian communities during the current Intifada, we modeled the impact of conflict escalation and international intervention on intragroup subgroup attitude clustering and patterns of intergroup interactions. Next steps and refinements for the model are discussed.

Ethnic minority identity and group context: self‐descriptions, acculturation attitudes and group evaluations in an intra‐ and intergroup situation

AbstractIn an experimental questionnaire study among Chinese participants living in the Netherlands, it was found that self‐descriptions, acculturation attitudes and ingroup evaluation were affected by the comparative group context. Following self‐categorization theory, different predictions were tested and supported. Self‐ratings on trait adjectives systematically differed between an intragroup (Chinese) and an intergroup (Chinese versus Dutch) context. Furthermore, ethnic self‐categorization turned out to be related to self‐descriptions in the intragroup context, whereas ethnic self‐esteem showed an effect on self‐descriptions in the intergroup context. Acculturation attitudes and ingroup favouritism were also affected by the comparative context. In the intergroup context, participants were more strongly in favour of heritage culture maintenance and reported higher ingroup favouritism than in the intragroup context. It is concluded that studies on ethnic minorities should consider the important and often neglected intragroup processes and comparisons in addition to the familiar minority–majority group comparisons. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Subjective Uncertainty Reduction through Self-categorization: A Motivational Theory of Social Identity Processes

A motivational extension of social identity theory is proposed: the uncertainty reduction hypothesis. Building on social identity theory and self-categorization theory, a subjective uncertainty reduction model of motivation associated with social identity process and group and intergroup behavior is developed and described. Contextually generated subjective uncertainty about important, usually self-conceptually relevant, matters motivates uncertainty reduction. The processes of self-categorization and prototypical depersonalization responsible for social identification and group behaviors are well suited to subjective uncertainty reduction; they contextually assimilate self to a prescriptive prototype that guides and consensually validates perception, cognition, affect and behavior. Group membership, social category-based self-conceptualization, group behavior, and intergroup relations are motivated by uncertainty reduction. Contextual uncertainty can be reduced by group membership and group action. This model integrates self-enhancement and self-evaluative motives into a single motivational framework for social identity processes. Derivation and explanation of the model recruits literatures on social identity, self-categorization, uncertainty, social comparison processes, self-motives, self-esteem, uncertainty related motives. sociostructural motivations, intragroup processes, intergroup relations, extremism, prototypicality, entitativity. social influence, and social change. Some direct tests of the uncertainty reduction hypothesis are described.