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Conflict and Complexity: Goal Diversity and Organizational Search Effectiveness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Michael D. Cohen
Michael D. Cohen*
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
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Abstract

There is a long-standing concern in organization theory with the effect of conflict on search. This article uses a computer model of organizational decision making to demonstrate an effect called “search-enhancing conflict”: organizational decision-making performance when there are conflicting subgoals may be better than it would be if all subunits evaluated alternatives in terms of a single organizational goal.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 78 , Issue 2 , June 1984 , pp. 435 - 451
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1984

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