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The field of chance discovery has been established by Ohsawa (2003) more than 10 years ago. It considers a chance as an opportunity or risk for future decision making. Such chances can be identified by focusing on rare but significant events in a given data set. The first representative example of a chance discovery system was the KeyGraph system that clustered events according to co-occurrences in a graphical presentation. Sometimes two clusters were connected by bridge elements that represented events which rarely occurred together with elements in both clusters. The bridge elements suggest new combination patterns of elements from both clusters. The user can than create scenarios where these pattern play a crucial role. As there usually are more than one bridge element, pattern and scenario, a team of experts will discuss the KeyGraph output. In this context the relationships within the team become important. A team where the members trust and respect each other and interact in a harmonious way, is more constructive and creative than a team that is dominated by negative relationships (Oehlmann, 2002).
An example of the tight coupling between the analysis of large data sets and intra-team team interactions is the double-helix approach (Ohsawa & Nara, 2003). The team interaction and the data analysis are considered as two strands of a helix. As described above data are analysed by KeyGraph and the result is discussed in the team of experts. The transcripts of the discussion are considered as new data, which are processed by the KeyGraph system. In repeating this process that helix reaches higher and higher levels, until the team reaches agreement.
The importance of intra-team interactions for the discovery process has also been emphasised by Oehlmann (2002; 2003), who has shown that such interactions may facilitate or prohibit the discovery of novel solutions. In a follow-up project Oehlmann (2006b) developed a model, which describes how improved scenarios for decision making can emerge during the human-centred chance discovery process. A crucial role in that model was the interplay between conflict and harmony.
Some authors, such as Jehn (1995) have argued that conflict facilitates creative problem solving. But this debate appears to have its root in a definitional misconception. Jehn investigated the consideration of different views in the team interaction as opposed to acrimonious interpersonal conflicts. Oehlmann (2006a) has shown how such constructive conflicts can be achieved and that the interplay between this type of conflict and harmonious interactions can lead to novel creative solutions. Such a constructive use of conflict has also been exemplified in the Innovators Marketplace Game (Ohsawa, 2010; Ohsawa et al., 2010), which promotes innovation by effective use of the process of chance discovery combined with aids for thinking and communication. During the game innovative ideas are created from conversations among the participants. These are the organizers of the game, inventors of new ideas and the users of those ideas. Inspired by the initial KeyGraph approach, the participants create business scenarios by inspecting computer generated graphs, which represent initial data. During scenario creation they combine elements of the graphs.
By contrast acrimonious interpersonal conflicts tend to prohibit successful collaboration (Schwenk & Cosier, 1993). Throughout this paper we consider conflict with such a destructive quality and how they can be avoided or if they arise, how they can be dealt with for instance by creating a more harmonious situation.
The influence of a harmonious predisposition on conflict situations has been widely ignored in the current group-psychological discussion. However this view has a long tradition in Asian cultures. For instance Confucianism has emphasised the balance between humans and nature as well as the balance between humans and heaven. This led to a perspective that placed humans at the center of a harmonious universe (Chen, 2020). Also, Taoism has focused on the natural equilibrium that involves all beings and their interactions (Fang, 1990).