Conflict management, efficacy, and performance in organizational teams

The study empirically links conflict management literature with research on efficacy and organizational teams. Sixty-one self-managing teams with 489 employees were recruited from the production department of a leading electr onic manufacturer. Structural equation analysis supports the model that a c ooperative instead of competitive approach to conflict leads to conflict ef ficacy that in turn results in effective performance as measured by manager s. Findings suggest how organizational teams can be prepared to make use of their autonomy to deal with problems and conflicts so that they are produc tive.