Negative Effects Of Relationship Conflict Research Articles

The influence of relationship and task conflict on the knowledge-sharing intention in knowledge-intensive organisations

Purpose: It is well known that knowledge sharing amongst employees contributes positively to an organisation’s competitive advantage, but that individuals are sometimes, for various reasons, reluctant to share knowledge. Although various types of conflict may influence employees’ knowledge-sharing intention, there is a dearth of empirical research in this regard. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of relationship and task conflict on the knowledge-sharing intention of individual employees and to establish whether extrinsic or intrinsic motivation moderates the negative effect that relationship conflict, if any, may have on knowledge-sharing intention.Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 597 respondents employed at knowledge-intensive organisations. The hypothesised relationships in this study were assessed by means of general linear modelling.Findings/results: The results of the study reveal that ‘relationship conflict’ is significantly and negatively related to the dependent variable ‘knowledge-sharing intention’ and that this negative relationship is moderated by employees’ ‘intrinsic motivation’.Practical implications: The results imply that by intrinsically motivating employees, the negative effect of relationship conflict on knowledge sharing can be alleviated.Originality/value: Given the importance of managing conflict in the workplace in general and its potential negative influence on knowledge sharing, as well as the dearth of recent empirical research on the relationship between conflict and employees’ knowledge-sharing intention, this study addresses this gap in knowledge-sharing research. In addition, this makes a practical contribution by providing recommendations on how to manage conflict in the workplace. Understanding and managing different types of conflict in the workplace could increase knowledge sharing amongst employees and subsequently enhance organisational and employee performance.

Relationship between Team Conflict and Performance in Green Enterprises: A Cross-Level Model Moderated by Leaders’ Political Skills

It is evident that, being a member of the organization, the team has to cue the influx of the green management concepts. This study focuses on the aspect of team management in green enterprises. Applying leadership theory to sample green enterprises, this paper proposes that political skills of team leadership have moderating effects on the relationship between team conflict (relationship conflict and task conflict) and performance at both the individual and team levels. Empirical data were collected from 85 dyads of leaders and team members in 36 green enterprises in China. It was found that the leaders’ political skills weakened the negative effects of relationship conflict on individual performance and team performance. Further, leaders’ political skills strengthened the positive effects of task conflict on individual and team performance. The results of this study deepen the cognition of two types of team conflict in theory and provide theoretical guidance for green enterprises in carrying out effective team conflict management and practical political skills training for leaders.

Relationship Dynamics and Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence Among Female Chinese College Students.

In China, most intimate partner violence (IPV) research focuses on male perpetration and female victimization, whereas studies on dating violence and female IPV perpetration are less common. Although research on female IPV perpetration in China has surfaced recently, there have been limited studies examining factors related to female perpetration in dating relationships in China. In the current research, we sought to examine how relationship factors, including anger management, communication problems, relationship conflict, and relationship distress, are linked with female physical and psychological IPV perpetration. We included 857 female college students in three regions in China from the International Dating Violence database. We found that Chinese women's anger management skills and communication problems were both significantly associated with physical and psychological IPV perpetration on both minor and severe levels. Furthermore, we found that relationship conflict was significantly associated with minor and severe physical abuse perpetration and severe psychological abuse perpetration. Anger management skills moderated the negative effects of relationship conflict on minor physical IPV perpetration as well as minor and severe psychological IPV perpetration. Anger management skills also moderated the negative effects of relationship distress on minor and severe physical IPV perpetration among Chinese women. Our findings suggest that it may be important to explore the role of college women's anger management skills, communication problems, and conflict resolution skills in their dating relationships, as well as to develop female-based intervention programs to increase Chinese college women's relationship skills to reduce their levels of IPV perpetration.

Are teams experiencing relationship conflicts destined to fail

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to find ways to mitigate the negative consequences of relationship conflict under the situation that while the negative role of team relationship conflict has been underscored in prior literature, few studies try to alleviate it. With the development of positive psychology, a stream focusing on the role of emotion in conflict management emerges. First, the authors want to explore the mediating role of members’ work engagement in the association between relationship conflict and members’ job performance. Moreover, they want to explore contingent roles of perceived team leader’s emotional intelligence and members’ emotion regulation strategies (i.e. cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) in moderating the effect of relationship conflict on members’ work engagement.Design/methodology/approachUsing a data set of 363 individuals working in 73 teams in service sectors, the authors empirically examined the cross-level model with hierarchical linear model.FindingsRelationship conflict was negatively related to members’ job performance while members’ work engagement mediated this relationship. Moreover, perceived team leader’s emotional intelligence mitigated the negative effect of relationship conflict on members’ work engagement, while members’ expressive suppression strategy intensified the negative effect.Originality/valueThe authors address the void of the cross-level mediating process by examining the role of individual work engagement that mediates relationship conflict and individual job performance. The individual work engagement is highlighted in this study for the hope of serving as the basis of finding effective moderators to alleviate the negative relationship conflict–performance relationship by mitigating the decrease of work engagement. Moreover, the claim that the role of emotion from different status subjects varies in regulating the effect of relationship conflict contributes to the development of positive psychology by combining emotion with conflict management.

Understanding the Relationships Between Requirements Uncertainty and Nature of Conflicts: A Study of Software Development Team Effectiveness

Requirements uncertainty and conflict are the two pervasive phenomena that are currently receiving more attention in the development of information system (IS) projects. The existing literature based on requirements engineering indicates that, as a result of frequent interactions between users and IS practitioners, requirements uncertainty can negatively affect team performance. However, the nature of conflicts and requirements uncertainty have limited exploratory power with regard to software team effectiveness. The main objective of this work is to obtain additional insight into this phenomena by examining the relationships between requirements uncertainty (which comprises both requirements instability and variability) and conflict (i.e. task and relationship conflict). Furthermore, the impact of task and relationship conflict on team effectiveness has also been investigated separately. In order to address these relationships, a theoretical research model was developed and validated through an empirical study based on an online questionnaire survey. We gathered 71 complete responses, mostly from experts within the Indian software industry. The findings of this study indicate that there is a strong positive relationship between requirements instability and variability and relationship conflict; however, task conflict task conflict was not found to have a significant relationship with these dimensions. Additionally, we have observed a strong stronger negative effect of relationship conflict on team effectiveness than that of task conflict during the requirements uncertainty.

Buffering relationship conflict consequences in teams working in real organizations

PurposeRelationship conflict has important negative organizational and personal consequences. However, papers analyzing how to buffer the negative effects of relationship conflict at work-unit level are lacking. This study aims to extend the literature by examining which specific conflict management styles used by work teams (avoiding, integrating and compromising) reduce or increase the link between relationship conflict and collective emotional exhaustion.Design/methodology/approachRegression analysis was conducted using 91 teams (398 employees) from 42 hotels and 42 restaurants.FindingsResults revealed that, as it was expected, relationship conflict was positively related to emotional exhaustion at a team level; this relationship depended on how team members handle relationship conflicts. That is, avoiding and integrating conflict management styles buffered the link between relationship conflict and collective emotional exhaustion, whereas compromising increased this positive link.Research limitations/implicationsOrganizations would include conflict management skills as a requirement for preventing negative consequences of conflict in teams, such as anxiety/depression and bullying.Originality/valueBy considering the unique perspective of team member’s shared perceptions of conflict management styles, important implications for the span of influence of collective perception of conflict on well-being have been indicated.

Take It Personally? Performance of Diverse Teams: The Interplay of Relationship and Task Conflict

Combining social identity theory with an attribution theory perspective, we argue that task conflict can counteract the negative effects of relationship conflict on team performance in diverse groups. Particularly, we assume that in teams with high levels of task conflict, employees may attribute relationship conflicts to both interpersonal aspects and task characteristics. Under these circumstances, team members can still concentrate on task fulfillment. Contrary, in teams with low levels of task conflict, employees may assume that the only explanation for relationship conflicts is that individuals do not get along on a personal level. This inhibits team performance because employees focus on differences in the team rather than address task-related issues. We test our hypotheses in a sample of 57 organizational teams. 350 employees provided us with task and relationship conflicts ratings and their leaders assessed the team performance. Gender diversity was slightly negatively linked to team performance, and this relationship was mediated by relationship conflict. Task conflict was identified as a moderator, such that gender diversity had a particularly strong negative effect on team performance via relationship conflict when there was low task conflict. Our results suggest that scholars and practitioners should consider the interplay between task and relationship conflict when dealing with gender diversity.

Decreasing the Effects of Relationship Conflict on Family Businesses

The study examines how family climate counteracts the constraints in the business system created by relationship conflict that is known to negatively affect business outcomes (firm satisfaction and firm performance). Cross-sectional self-reported data were obtained from a nationally representative sample of 392 Austrian family businesses. The core tenet of sustainable family business theory provided the theoretical underpinnings for the study’s hypotheses. Family climate includes measures of cohesion, adaptability, and open communication. Results demonstrate the negative effects of relationship conflict on firm satisfaction and firm performance. Adaptability was significantly related to firm performance. Cohesion and adaptability moderated the negative effect of relationship conflict on firm satisfaction; adaptability moderated the negative effect of relationship conflict on firm performance.

Breach of belongingness: Newcomer relationship conflict, information, and task-related outcomes during organizational socialization.

Previous studies of newcomer socialization have underlined the importance of newcomers' information seeking for their adjustment to the organization, and the conflict literature has consistently reported negative effects of relationship conflict with coworkers. However, to date, no study has examined the consequences of relationship conflict on newcomers' information seeking. In this study, we examined newcomers' reactions when they have relationship conflict with their coworkers, and hence cannot obtain necessary information from them. Drawing upon belongingness theory, we propose a model that moves from breach of belongingness to its proximal and distal consequences, to newcomer information seeking, and then to task-related outcomes. In particular, we propose that second paths exist-first coworker-centric and the other supervisor-centric-that may have simultaneous yet contrasting influence on newcomer adjustment. To test our model, we employ a 3-wave data collection research design with egocentric and Likert-type multisource surveys among a sample of new software engineers and their supervisors working in India. This study contributes to the field by linking the literatures on relationship conflict and newcomer information seeking and suggesting that despite conflict with coworkers, newcomers may succeed in organizations by building relationships with and obtaining information from supervisors.

Diversity in team composition, relationship conflict and team leader support on globally distributed virtual software development team performance

Purpose– This study aims to investigate whether diversity in team composition leads to relationship conflict, and, consequently, relationship conflict leads to team performance, and whether team leader support moderates the negative effects of relationship conflict on team performance.Design/methodology/approach– For the study, 216 team members working in globally distributed virtual software development projects responded. To examine the hypothesized relationships, structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation was performed.Findings– It was found that diversity in team composition leads to relationship conflict, relationship conflict leads to team performance and team leader support moderates the latter relationship.Practical implications– The findings suggest the role of team leaders in reducing the harmful effect of relationship conflict on team performance. The findings imply the need of providing training to team leaders to create cohesive teams that deliver on project goals.Originality/value– Empirical studies on globally distributed virtual teams could provide new insights into challenges and issues associated with team composition, relationship conflict and team leader support in achieving higher levels of team performance.

"Breach of Belongingness: Newcomer Relationship Conflict, Information, and Task-Related Outcomes"

Previous studies of newcomer socialization underline the importance of newcomer information seeking for adjustment to the organization, and conflict literature has consistently reported negative effects of relationship conflict. However, to date, no study has examined the effects of relationship conflict on newcomers’ information seeking. Thus, in this study we examine newcomers’ reaction when they have a relationship conflict with their coworkers, and hence cannot obtain necessary information from them. Drawing upon belongingness theory, we propose a model that moves from breach of belongingness (relationship conflict) to its proximal (social anxiety and relationship building) and distal (information adequacy) consequences to newcomer information seeking, and finally to task-related outcomes. We use a three-wave data collection research design with egocentric and Likert-type multi- source surveys among a sample of new software engineers and their supervisors working in India to test our model. This study...

The Interactive Effects of Relationship Conflict, Reward, and Reputation on Knowledge Sharing

The relationship between relationship conflict and knowledge sharing (KS), and the moderating effects of reward and reputation on this relationship were investigated. A survey was administered to 170 full-time employees in China and results indicated that relationship conflict has a negative effect on KS. This relationship was moderated by reward and reputation such that the negative effect of relationship conflict on KS was found to be weaker when reward is high compared to when it is low, and the negative effect of relationship conflict on KS was found to be weaker when reputation is high compared to when it is low. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Not So Bad After All: How Relational Closeness Buffers the Association Between Relationship Conflict and Helpful and Deviant Group Behaviors

AbstractPast research has left unanswered the question of how to reduce the negative effects of relationship conflict in work groups. This study investigates whether relational closeness in work groups buffers the negative association between relationship conflict and two important group behaviors that are often overlooked in conflict research: group‐level helping behavior and counterproductive work behavior. The results of this field study show that the degree of relational closeness in work groups indeed buffers the negative affiliation between relationship conflict and group‐level helping behavior and the positive association between relationship conflict and group‐level counterproductive work behavior. Specifically, the results suggest that relationship conflicts are only harmful in relationally distant work groups in which members do not know each other well personally and do not feel close to each other. Theoretical implications and suggestions for organizational practice are discussed.