Things Are Not Always What They Seem: The Origins and Evolution of Intragroup Conflict*

Teams scholars have historically conceptualized and measured intragroup conflict at the team level. But emerging evidence suggests that perceptions of intragroup conflict are often not uniform, shared, or static. These findings suggest important questions about the microfoundations of intragroup conflict: Where does conflict within teams originate? And how does it evolve over time? We address these and other questions in three abductive studies. We consider four origination points-an individual, dyad, subgroup, or team-and three evolutionary trajectories-conflict continuity, contagion, and concentration. Study 1, a qualitative study of narrative accounts, and Study 2, a longitudinal social networks study of student teams, reveal that fewer than 30 percent of teams experience team-level conflict. Instead, conflict more commonly originates and persists at individual, dyadic, or subgroup levels. Study 2 further demonstrates that traditional psychometric intragroup conflict scales mask the existence of these various origins and trajectories of conflict. Study 3, a field study of manufacturing teams, reveals that individual and dyadic task conflict origins positively predict team performance, whereas traditional intragroup task conflict measures negatively predict team performance. The results raise serious concerns about current methods and theory in the team conflict literature and suggest that researchers must go beyond team-level conceptualizations of conflict.

Automated summary

Teams scholars have traditionally focused on intragroup conflict at the team level, but emerging evidence shows conflict can originate and persist at individual, dyadic, or subgroup levels. Current psychometric scales on intragroup conflict may not accurately capture these various origins and trajectories of conflict. A field study revealed that individual and dyadic task conflict origins actually predict team performance positively, contrary to traditional intragroup task conflict measures.