Relationship Conflicts Modeling and Measuring Within Work Teams

2. Related Works

In general, there are two main types of team conflicts, i.e., task led conflict and relationship conflict. The task led conflicts exist when there are disagreements among team members about the content of tasks being performed including differences in viewpoints, ideas, and opinions. And relationship conflicts occur when there are incompatibilities within a team including tension, animosity, and annoyance (Jehn, 1995).

Early conflict theorists have focused on the negative effects of team conflicts (Brown, 1983; Hackman & Morris, 1975; Pondy, 1967; Wall & Callister, 1995). Conflicts have been suggested to interfere with team performance and reduce satisfaction because they produce tension, antagonism, and distract team members from performing the tasks. Empirical evidence has supported the negative relationship between conflict and team productivity and satisfaction (Gladstein, 1984; Saavedra, Earley, & Van Dyne, 1993; Wall & Nolan, 1986). Jehn (1994, 1995, 1997) proposed an alternative perspective by differentiating task conflicts from relationship conflicts. The later generally decrease satisfaction and interfere with task performance, and the former can be beneficial to task performance when working on nonroutine tasks.