Search

Purpose: A dynamic and changing international business environment and higher needs for innovation have increased the importance of creativity in organizations. Organizations need creative employees to develop new methods and procedures that stimulate innovation. However, prior research indicates that employees are sometimes passive and avoid engaging in creative behavior. To promote individual creative behavior, this study aims to better understand the role of task conflict and conflict management. More specifically, the authors draw on Deutsch's conflict theory of cooperation and competition to test whether an employee's conflict management moderates the indirect relationship between task conflict and creativity through cooperation. Design/methodology/approach: To test the hypotheses, the authors conducted a three-phase survey study with 428 employees from different German organizations. Findings: The results suggest that task conflict has only a positive indirect relationship with creativity through cooperation with teammates when employees avoid a competitive conflict management style. Originality/value: The authors draw on Deutsch's conflict theory of cooperation and competition to integrate research on task conflict and conflict management, allowing them to explain why and when task conflict with teammates influences an employee's creativity. The findings show that task conflict is particularly beneficial for cooperation and creativity if employees avoid closed-minded discussions and competitive interactions with coworkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Teams often cannot fulfill their managers' expectations due to unfairness issues and dysfunctional conflicts with teammates. This paper aims to create a fair team environment, it is important to analyze the interrelationship between unfairness and conflict. However, only a few studies have done this and reported inconsistent results. Using negative reciprocity research as a theoretical foundation, this paper analyzes the interconnection between unfairness and conflict dimensions in the team context. This paper further integrates conflict management research to show employees and managers how to handle unfairness and conflict in teams. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a longitudinal survey study (three points in time) with 237 employees from different German organizations. Findings: The results of cross-lagged structural equation modeling provide some evidence that interpersonal, procedural and informational unfairness predict relationship conflict and process conflict. Several of these effects become non-significant over time. Further, relationship and process conflict have several significant relationships with the unfairness dimensions, while task conflict did not have any significant relationship. The results also suggest that employees can break up the vicious cycle of unfairness and conflict by using a cooperative conflict management approach. Research limitations/implications: This paper focuses on members of autonomous, interdependent and existing teams and the interpersonal relationship of a team member with her or his teammates. Future research could analyze leader-member relationships in different team types. Practical implications: The application of cooperative conflict management enables employees to break up the vicious cycle of unfairness. Originality/value: This paper clarifies the interrelationship between unfairness and conflict and shows that a team member can apply a cooperative conflict management style to handle effectively unfairness and conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]