The Impact Of Task Conflict On Team Performance: A Review Of Three Studies

Question:

Discuss About The Task Conflict Interact Improve Performance?

A conflict among the team members is the topic that has been discussed since years. This is because when two and more members work together, the conflicts develops because of many reasons such as difference in thinking process, culture, beliefs etc. It has been analysed that difference in the people and their thinking process results in difference perception regarding the task conflicts. Thus, it becomes challenging for the management to manage such a situation. Task conflicts can be perceived as a positive factor in the team but it depends on the perception of the team members. It has been analysed that it depends on the team that how they perceive and take the conflicts rises and their perception results in either positive or negative impact of task conflicts on the team performance. It is the report that discusses about various aspects of task conflicts and their positive or negative impact on team performance. It focuses on three articles which have similar base topic that is task conflicts but have different discussions. The report initiates with the discussion of the various aspects from various articles and follows with the discussion of strengths and weaknesses of the same. The later part is all about the similarities and the differences in the articles along with the conclusion that has been observed by analysing all the articles.

In this article, the relationship between the skewed conflicts and the team performance has been discussed. It discusses about the positive impact on the skewed conflicts on the team performance but suggests that if there are other factors that affect the task conflicts such as relationship, emotional etc. then it may turn anther way and create negative impact on the team performance. The major strength of this research is that it provides the specific information about the pattern of conflict perceptions. This study of  Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S., Greer, L. L., Conlon, D. E., & Edwards, J. R. (2016) deals with two studies, the first study includes the investigation of the impact of positive skewed task conflicts on the performance of the team. The investigation has been conducted on the teams of the MBA students in the business schools of India that are on top. The second study at the same time deals with organizational teams. In this, the investigation has been conducted on the ratings of the supervisor and the impact of positive skewed conflicts on the same. It has been argued in the research of Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S., Greer, L. L., Conlon, D. E., & Edwards, J. R. (2016) that only the task conflicts have positive impact of the team performance but if they are interfered with some other conflicts such as relationship conflicts or any other conflicts then it twisted to different direction and the positive relationship between the task conflicts and the performance deviates. Reflective communications is also another aspect that has been integrated with the task conflicts and studied deeply in this study. The regression analysis approach has been used to determine the results of the study but there is a weakness in the study that deals with the minority members who think that the task conflicts exist. The personality of those members also needs to be analysed to get appropriate results.

Conclusion

This article is also based on the study of task conflicts and their positive impact on the performance of the team but it focuses mainly on the conditions in which the task conflicts have positive impact on the team performance. Various contextual factors and their impact on task conflict and performance relationship has been studied by project teams. One of the factors that have been found by Bradley, B. H., Postlethwaite, B. E., Klotz, A. C., Hamdani, M. R., & Brown, K. G. (2012) that have a great impact on the task conflict and performance relation is the psychological safety. Psychological safety had been suggested as the common beliefs of the team members that their team is safe to take all the risk coming to them. The article argues that if the team have high psychological safety in them then they can easily handle the conflicts that have been generated in the team and thus creatively the decisions are being made that enhances the performance of the team. The variables that have been rested in the research are team performance, task conflicts and the psychological safety among the team members. The only weakness that has been identified in the research is that the sample that has been used for the research. The research studies the students who are undergraduates and which may restrict generalization of the research as undergraduate students cannot represents the whole population clearly.

This article focuses on the concept of personality in the relationship between the task conflicts and the team performance. It has been investigated in the report that how the characteristics of the team members affect the task conflict in the team and their impact on the performance. The investigation has been conducted on 177 project teams. There are two goals of this study, the first deal with the studying of theoretical aspects of the composition of personality characteristics and the other one deals with the how the team composition can later and modify the relationship of task conflicts with the team performance. Two major factors of personality that is openness to experience and emotional stability of the team members have been considered in order to identify the impact of the contextual factors on the task conflicts. The weakness of this report that is conducted by Bradley, B. H., Klotz, A. C., Postlethwaite, B. E., & Brown, K. G. (2013) is that the sample that has been taken is undergraduates. This is not the appropriate sample to be taken. It has been analysed that another weakness of the research is that other big personality traits are not being considered in the study such as extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness. The elements that are considered to be measure in the report are task conflicts, team performance, openness to experience and emotional stability.

Recommendations for Future Research

All the articles that have been studied above have the same basic concepts. It has been analysed that the study of Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S., Greer, L. L., Conlon, D. E., & Edwards, J. R. (2016) discusses about the skewed task conflicts and the positive impact of the same on the performance of the team. The major aspect that has been considered is related to the members who look task conflicts as conflicts and the other members if the same team do not consider the conflicts as conflicts. The perception of the members of the team is the major aspect that deviates the positive impact of task conflicts o the performance of the team. As far as the article of Bradley, B. H., Postlethwaite, B. E., Klotz, A. C., Hamdani, M. R., & Brown, K. G. (2012) is considered, it has been analysed that again the relationship of the task conflicts and the team performance has been assessed but now the aspect that is associated with the research is different. The aspect is psychological safety of the team members. Likewise, the 3 article is about the personality characteristics of the members of the team as the major aspect that has its impact on the task conflicts and the performance of the team. Out of those big five traits of the personality traits of them are using considered in the study. It has been identified that all the three authors have argues about the same concept but there are some variation in terms of the study and the factors that affects the task conflicts. As far as the differences in the studies are considered, it has been analysed that businesses are considered as the sample for studying in the article of Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S., Greer, L. L., Conlon, D. E., & Edwards, J. R. (2016) while the other two authors have confided undergraduates for the study. Undergraduates cannot be taken as the appropriate sample as they des not represents the whole population properly. It has been concluded from the article of Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S., Greer, L. L., Conlon, D. E., & Edwards, J. R. (2016) that skewness in the task conflicts have positive impact on the team outcomes. Any deviation in the task conflicts or the involvement of any other factors such as relationship conflicts can affect the positivity of the impact. In the article of Bradley, B. H., Postlethwaite, B. E., Klotz, A. C., Hamdani, M. R., & Brown, K. G. (2012), it has been concluded that the task conflicts and the team performance are affected by the condition and the mentality of the team members. The major condition that has its impact on the task conflicts and the team performance is psychological safety. The last one concludes that personality and the characteristic of the team members is the reason of variations in the relationship between the task conflicts and the performance of the team.

Conclusion:

It has been concluded from this study that task conflicts can be defined as the conflicts that are generated in the team because of the disagreements in the ideas of the people working in a team related to the task that needs to be performed. It has been analysed from the study that task conflicts among the team members affect the performance of the team in positive manner. However, it should be ensured that no other associated factors have interference in the same. This is because of any of the conflicts such as relationship and cultural conflicts generates that it may deviate the positivity and the team outcomes. There are relatively many factors that affect the generation of the task conflicts and the relationship between the task conflicts and the team performance. It has been analysed that the conditions at the workplace and the mind-set of the team members is also important in order to have the positive relationship between the task conflicts and the team performance. This is because of the team members are ready to the risks positively then they will take decision creatively and with mutual concern which definitely enhances the performance of the team at the end. Along with the conditions and the perception of the people, it depends in the personality of the members as well that whether they will take the conflict as the positive condition for the team performance or as the negative aspect. The big five traits needs to be examined to identify the personality factors that affect the task conflicts.

It has been recommended that some future research should be conducted in terms of analysing more factors that affect the task conflicts and the team performance of the teams. It has been analysed that team performance is very important for the organizations thus the research should be conducted in the organizational teams so that the results can be effective and can be used by the companies to take the decision over the team making. It has also been recommended that the research should be conducted under the different circumstances and contingencies so that the effect of various conditional factors and the workplace situations can also be studied as these factors may affect the team working and the task conflicts that can be generated in the team at the time of their processing.

References:

Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S., Greer, L. L., Conlon, D. E., & Edwards, J. R. (2016). Skewed task conflicts in teams: What happens when a few members see more conflict than the rest?. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(7), 1045.

Bradley, B. H., Postlethwaite, B. E., Klotz, A. C., Hamdani, M. R., & Brown, K. G. (2012). Reaping the benefits of task conflict in teams: the critical role of team psychological safety climate. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(1), 151.

Bradley, B. H., Klotz, A. C., Postlethwaite, B. E., & Brown, K. G. (2013). Ready to rumble: how team personality composition and task conflict interact to improve performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), 385.