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The role of group personality composition in the emergence of task and relationship conflict within groups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Marc H Anderson
Marc H Anderson*
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Department of Management, College of Business, Iowa State University, Ames IA, USA
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Abstract

Conflict is a ubiquitous feature of groups in organizations that clearly affects group performance. While prior research has investigated the role of personality on conflict resolution styles at the individual level, little work has examined the role of personality on the emergence of conflict. This may be partially due to the fact that the emergence of conflict is inherently a group-level phenomenon, and thus requires the aggregation of personality to the group (or at least dyadic) level of analysis. I propose that each of the Big Five personality traits (or specific facets), at the group level, affect the emergence of either task conflict, relationship conflict, or both. Developing our understanding of how group personality composition affects both of these types of conflict is necessary to better enable groups to manage conflict, and thereby lessen potentially harmful outcomes resulting from conflict.

Keywords

task conflictrelationship conflictgroup personality compositionBig Five traitsgroupsteams
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 82 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2009

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