Don't Take It Personally: Exploring Cognitive Conflict as a Mediator of Affective Conflict

Research has sought to explain the multi‐dimensionality of conflict and its paradoxical effects on decision making (Amason, 1996; DeDreu and Weingart, 2003; Jehn, 1995). The primary prescription to emerge from this work has been for teams to seek the benefits of cognitive (task) conflict while simul...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of management studies 2007-07, Vol.44 (5), p.733-758
Main Authors: Mooney, Ann C., Holahan, Patricia J., Amason, Allen C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cognition & reasoning
Conflict
Conflicts
Data analysis
Decision making
Empirical research
Group behaviour
Group integration
Management theory
Mediation
Studies
Teamwork
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Research has sought to explain the multi‐dimensionality of conflict and its paradoxical effects on decision making (Amason, 1996; DeDreu and Weingart, 2003; Jehn, 1995). The primary prescription to emerge from this work has been for teams to seek the benefits of cognitive (task) conflict while simultaneously avoiding the costs of affective (emotional) conflict. The problem is that these two types of conflict often occur together and researchers have offered few explanations as to why this happens or guidance as to how it can be avoided. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence that cognitive conflict can contribute to affective conflict. As a result, by encouraging cognitive conflict, teams may inadvertently provoke affective conflict. We provide evidence that behavioural integration can mitigate this tendency.
ISSN:0022-2380
1467-6486
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-6486.2006.00674.x