title: Task conflict and team creativity: a question of how much and when.
abstract: Bridging the task conflict, team creativity, and project team development literatures, we present a contingency model in which the relationship between task conflict and team creativity depends on the level of conflict and when it occurs in the life cycle of a project team. In a study of 71 information technology project teams in the greater China region, we found that task conflict had a curvilinear effect on team creativity, such that creativity was highest at moderate levels of task conflict. Additionally, we found this relationship to be moderated by team phase, such that the curvilinear effect was strongest at an early phase. In contrast, at later phases of the team life cycle, task conflict was found to be unrelated to team creativity.
authors: School of Business, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
authors: Jiing-Lih
authors: JL
authors: Farh
authors: Cynthia
authors: C
authors: Lee
authors: Crystal I C
authors: CI
authors: Farh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003405:Creativity; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D019451:Information Management; D007324:Institutional Management Teams; D008297:Male; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis