Breaking Silos: A Field Experiment on Relational Conflict Management in Cross-Functional Teams

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• 作者：Smaranda Boroş ; Lore van Gorp ; Brecht Cardoen…
• 关键词：Relational conflict asymmetry ; Conflict management strategies ; Cross ; functional teams ; Group emotional awareness ; Integration management ; Social networks ; Field experiment
• 刊名：Group Decision and Negotiation
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：March 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：26
• 期：2
• 页码：327-356
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Business and Economics
• 刊物主题：Operation Research/Decision Theory; Social Sciences, general;
• 出版者：Springer Netherlands
• ISSN：1572-9907
• 卷排序：26

文摘

In this paper we investigate how effective conflict management in conflict asymmetry situations impacts the quality of cross-functional management teams’ performance. During a 5-day business simulation, we explore the consequences of the relational conflicts and conflict asymmetry experienced by team members. We use two different measures of conflict asymmetry: the traditional group conflict asymmetry measurement of Jehn (Adm Sci Q 40:256–282, 1995) and a social networks method. We find that when some team members evoke more conflict than others, this affects the evolution of team dynamics (and ultimately the performance of the team) even more than high levels of conflict altogether; however, group emotional awareness can mitigate this negative effect and improve the team performance through the appropriate use of conflict management strategies. Since group emotional awareness can be fostered and trained within teams, this is of practical value to improve the performance of cross-functional management teams.