ENHANCING EFFECTIVENESS - AN INVESTIGATION OF ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF VALUE-BASED INTRAGROUP CONFLICT

This study investigates the benefits and detriments of emotional and t ask-related conflict in work groups. Group value consensus (GVC), or t he extent to which group members share values, and group value fit (GV F), or the degree to which the culture of the group matches the ideal culture envisioned by external parties with control over the group, ar e hypothesized to decrease conflict. In examining 88 workgroups perfor ming comparable organizational tasks, it was found that groups with lo w levels of value similarity among members and between the group and g overning superiors had higher levels of conflict that groups with high levels of value similarity. As hypothesized, emotional conflict was n egatively associated with group performance and satisfaction, while ta sk conflict was positively associated with group performance. The impl ications of these results for conflict management and group effectiven ess are discussed