title: Moving beyond relationship and task conflict: toward a process-state perspective.
abstract: Teams are formed to benefit from an expanded pool of expertise and experience, yet 2 aspects of the conflict stemming from those core differences will ultimately play a large role in determining team viability and productivity: conflict states and conflict processes. The current study theoretically reorganizes the literature on team conflict--distinguishing conflict states from conflict processes--and details the effects of each on team effectiveness. Findings from a meta-analytic cumulation of 45 independent studies (total number of teams = 3,218) suggest states and processes are distinct and important predictors of team performance and affective outcomes. Controlling for conflict states (i.e., task and relationship conflict), conflict processes explain an additional 13% of the variance in both team performance and team affective outcomes. Furthermore, findings reveal particular conflict processes that are beneficial and others detrimental to teams. The truth about team conflict: conflict processes, that is, how teams interact regarding their differences, are at least as important as conflict states, that is, the source and intensity of their perceived incompatibilities.
authors.affiliation: Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. dechurch@gatech.edu
authors.forename: Leslie A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: DeChurch
authors.forename: Jessica R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Mesmer-Magnus
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Doty
mesh_terms: D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis