The influence of situational features on perceived conflict styles and self-construals in work groups

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.