A bit deeper on task and relationship conflict.
A couple weeks ago, I wrote about Task vs. Relationship Conflict and mentioned how the two types of conflict can have different effects on decision-making. I thought it was interesting, so I went on to find an article called Task Conflict and Relationship Conflict in Top Management Teams: The Pivotal Role of Intragroup Trust by Tony Simmons and Randall Peterson, which describes and test the interrelatedness of task and relationship conflict.
It turns out that the two types of conflict are interconnected. Task conflict can often lead to relationship conflict, depending on how task conflict occurs. This study sought to understand how does trust affects the shift from task to relationship conflict and it also examined how aggressive tactics affect the likelihood of relationship conflict. They interviewed and surveyed one hundred chief executive officers for multi-site hotel operations and then analyzed the responses.
So, what did they find, you ask? Well, as it turns out, trust is a good thing. The higher the level of trust within the group, the less likely it was for task related conflicts to be taken as relationship conflict. This makes sense. If you trust your counterparts in the group, you’re less likely to be upset if they there is a disagreement about the work.
The results for the second question weren’t as clear. Within the design, the researchers looked at two aggressive tactics: loudness and being positional. Interestingly, the results suggested these two had opposite effects on relationship conflict. In other words, being loud was bad and being positional wasn’t. Of course, this is one study and other aspects of interpersonal relations may be at play that weren’t considered, but if there is a take-away, it is that how we interact is important.
Here’s my thoughts. Our behaviour is a strong signal that can either take us into relationship conflict or keep us in task conflict, but it’s not the behaviour by itself. Being loud is not in itself a behaviour that would push people into relationship conflict, but it may be part of a few different stimuli.
In last week’s post, I mentioned a book titled called Beyond Reason: Using Emotions As You Negotiate by Roger Fischer and Daniel Shapiro. This book comes to mind now because it speaks to how the 5 Core Concerns of Appreciation, Affiliation, Autonomy, Status and Role are at the heart of your relationship. Negatively affect the core concerns and conflict ensues. Positively affect the core concerns and you get the benefit. Of course, tactics like loudness, being positional, and many others would affect how quickly you affect the concerns, but they aren’t the only influence.
I appreciate the work of researchers like Simmons and Peterson who are trying to empirically study how interactions between people work and what might make them fail.
Share your thoughts on the the research or on task and relationship conflict.
Happy collaborating.
The full citation for the research work is:
Simons, T. L., & Peterson, R. S. (2000). Task conflict and relationship conflict in top management teams: The pivotal role of intragroup trust. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(1), 102-111. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.85.1.102
Scott Millar, through Collaboration Dynamics, often works as a "peacemaker" by gathering people with different experiences and values and helping them navigate beyond their differences to tackle complex problems together. As the host of the Cool Collaborations podcast where he explores fun stories and insights of successful collaboration with guests from around the world, and then dives into what made them work. Cool Collaborations is currently available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify.
