Conflict Is Good

The main aim of this study was to explore the impact of the interplay between intra-group conflict and leadership styles on group processes. It was argued that relations oriented leadership style attenuates the negative impact of task and relationship conflict on group processes. The results presented here only support this moderation hypothesis for relationship conflict. This means that in groups with leaders oriented toward establishing and maintaining good working relationship among the group members the relation between relationship conflict and teamwork quality is less negative as compared with the groups whose leaders have a low orientation toward relations. These results are consistent with the conceptualization of relations oriented leadership as a style that impacts on the interactional dynamics of the group. Because relations oriented leaders are concerned with the satisfaction of the group members and with their well being in the group, it is likely that they will find more efficient ways of solving the relationship conflict in a more constructive way than leaders with a lower orientation toward the relations. This is just a possible explanation for the results reported in this study. Further research should investigate this relation more thoroughly. In particular, a research question worth being explored in empirical settings concerns the mediating role of conflict management styles in the relationship between leadership styles and group processes and group outcomes. In this way it can be empirically tested to what extent the impact of leadership styles on group processes and outcomes can be explained by the conflict management style adopted by the leader.

The results also show that relations oriented leaders are effective in steering effective teamwork processes especially when task conflict is high, a relational orientation of the leader does not yield the expected benefits for teamwork quality. Therefore the results presented here document a differential role of relations oriented leaders in mitigating the negative effects of relational and task related disagreements on the quality of interaction processes in teams. One practical implication derived from this pattern of results is that in order to be effective, the leadership style should fit with the type of disagreements experienced by the team. If the disagreements are relational, a relations oriented leadership style seems to be more effective, while if the disagreements are task related, a task oriented leadership style seems to work better (as indicated by the positive yet not significant beta coefficient of the interaction between task conflict and task oriented leadership style). Future empirical research should focus on the differential impact of the two leadership styles discussed above on these two types of group processes presented here (task related and interaction related processes). One possible hypothesis to test would be that relationship oriented leaders will have a stronger impact on the interaction processes than on the task related processes, while task oriented leaders have a stronger impact on task related processes than on interaction processes.

Figure 1. Interaction effects of relationship conflict (RC) and relations oriented leadership style (ROLead) on teamwork quality (TWK quality).

Figure 2. Interaction effects of task conflict (TC) and relations oriented leadership style (ROLead) on teamwork quality (TWK quality).

Another relevant research finding concerns the role of the intra-group conflict types on teamwork quality. In line with previous research this study shows that task and relationship conflicts both have negative effects on teamwork quality. Further research, however, is needed to test the independence of these two types of conflict, not only in strict covariance terms, but rather in a more meaningful way by relating the two concepts with different criteria variables related to group dynamics.

Finally, this study contributes to the leadership literature by exploring the impact of relations and task oriented leadership styles on teamwork quality. The results reveal a positive impact of relations oriented leadership on the quality of interaction processes in teams. This is in line with the general literature suggesting a positive impact of relations oriented leaders on group members’ satisfaction, commitment with the group and the productive outcomes of the group. The task oriented leadership has a small negative impact on teamwork quality. The independence of the two leadership styles should be subjected to further exploration. According to results presented here, the two styles are not independent and it might be that their impact on the interplay between intra-group conflict and group processes is different in a setting in which group leaders exhibit more differentiated behavioral patterns with respect to relations or task orientation. From a pure managerial perspective, it seems wise to stress the benefits of relations oriented leadership in order to improve the quality of group processes and ultimately group performance.