Managing relationship conflict and the effectiveness of organizational teams

Past research has revealed that team effectivenesss and satisfaction suffer when teams experience relationship conflict - conflict related to interper sonal issues, political norms and values, and personal taste. This study ex amined how teams should respond to these conflicts. Three types of conflict responses were studied: collaborating responses, contending responses, and avoiding responses. A field study involving a heterogeneous sample of team s performing complex, non-routine task showed that collaborating and conten ding responses to relationship conflict negatively relate to team functioni ng (i.e., voice, compliance, helping behavior) and overall team effectivene ss, while avoiding responses were associated with high team functioning and effectiveness. It is suggested that collaborating and contending responses to relationship conflict distract team members from their tasks, while avo iding responses appear more functional in that they allow team members to p ursue task performance. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.