Jg. Oetzel, The influence of situational features on perceived conflict styles and self-construals in work groups, INT J INTER, 23(4), 1999, pp. 679-695
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of situational featu
res on self-construal and conflict styles in work group settings. A total o
f 504 participants completed a questionnaire about a cooperative or competi
tive task with members from an ingroup or outgroup. The major findings of t
his study include: (a) competitive group tasks lead to more dominating, avo
iding, and third-party help and a great er emphasis of the independent self
-construal than do cooperative group tasks; (b) ingroup situations lead to
less avoiding and emotional expression, and a lesser emphasis of the indepe
ndent self-construal than do outgroup situations; and (c) cooperative/ingro
up situations lead to more integrating and more compromising than either co
operative/outgroup or competitive/ingroup situations, and a greater emphasi
s of the interdependent self-construal than cooperative/outgroup situations
. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discuss
ed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.