Researchers and practitioners have long asserted thattask-related conflict can be beneficial by stimulating creativityand critical thinking in group decision making. However, two recentstudies examining the effects of task-related conflict acrossmultiple studies failed to find support for an overall positiverelationship between task conflict and group performance. Thesefindings led researchers Scheepers and Jehn to delve a littledeeper into the relationships between task conflict, relationshipconflict, and decision making. They found that when relationshipconflict was present during task conflict, group members were morelikely to rigidly hold onto less than optimal starting positionsduring group interactions, leading to poor decision outcomes. Thefindings suggest that task conflict is neither universally good noruniversally bad. Instead, its potential benefits in group decisionmaking may depend on whether relationship conflict is alsopresent.(p 243) Why is relationship conflict so detrimental togroup decision making? Why can task conflict be potentiallybeneficial? What can you do as managers to facilitate potentiallybeneficial conflict while minimizing potentially detrimentalconflict?
