Excited to Disagree?A Study of Emotions in

Team Conflict

Laurie R. Weingart

Tepper School of Business

Carnegie Mellon University(in collaboration with Julia Bear and Gergana Todorova)

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TheoryFormation

Identify Cultural FactorsCUNY, Georgetown, CMU

Computational ModelsCMU, USC

Virtual HumansUSC

ImplementationCMU

RESEARCHPRODUCTS

Surveys & InterviewsCUNY, CMU, U Mich, Georgetown

Cross-Cultural Interactions

U Pitt, CMU

Data AnalysisCUNY, Georgetown,

U Pitt, CMU

validation

validation

validation

Validated Theories

Models

Modeling Tools

Briefing Materials

Scenarios

Training Simulations

Common task

Subgroup task2

Teams And Team Outcomes• Team

– Small group

– Task focused

– Common goal

– Interdependent, collaborative, actions

– Interdependent outcomes

• Team Outcomes– Performance

– Attitudes

– Learning

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Conflict in Teams• Conflict = active discussion of disagreements• Conflict and team performance

– Positive – constructive debate

– Negative – escalation

• Conflict Types– Task - conflict about the task itself: how to perform the task, what

needs to be done, etc.

– Process - conflict about how to get a task done: managing deadlines, who should do what, etc

– Interpersonal - conflict while working that is more personal in nature: about personal preferences, personalities, non-work related issues, etc 4

Emotion in Conflict• Why study emotion?

– Emotion has a strong influence on subsequent behavior

– Different types of conflict elicit different levels of emotion.

• What is emotion?– Subjective experience of affect that is short-term,

discrete and has an attributed cause (Barry, 1999; Frijda, 1993)

– Not = mood 5

Negative Emotions• What do we know?

– Team conflict (overall) is associated with high levels of negative emotions (Greer & Jehn, 2007; Jehn, 1995)

– Interpersonal conflict is largely defined by the experience of negative emotions (Jehn, 1995; Jehn & Mannix, 2001)

• However…– very little empirical research in this area– Task and process conflict may also invoke negative

emotions (Cronin & Bezrukova, 2006; Greer & Jehn, 2007)

– Some conflict may invoke positive emotion

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Example of Circumplex Models of Emotionactive

passive

negative positive

Attentive, active, interested, alert, energetic

Calm, content, at ease, quiet, sympathetic

Frustrated, anxious, angry, annoyed, tense

Dissatisfied, tired, irritated, worn out, exhausted

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(e.g., Feldman & Russell, 1998; Larson & Deiner, 1992; Russell, 1980; Watson & Tellegen, 1985)

Stream of Research• Measurement development pretest• Study 1: How do team members experience conflict?

– Both positive and negative emotions?– Both active and passive emotions?– Different emotions during task, process, and interpersonal

conflict?

• Study 2: What role do conflict emotions play in team collaboration and performance?

• Study 3: How does the process differ across cultures and when people from different cultures interact?

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Measurement Development Pretest• Procedure:

– Identified 10 representative emotions from each category– Determined face validity in conflict setting using a sample of MBA

students enrolled in Groups and Teams course (n = 25)• Ranked each set “in terms of how likely team members involved in conflict are

likely to experience them”• Selected top 5 from each category

• Results:

– Positive Active: Attentive, active, interested, alert, energetic

– Positive Passive: Calm, content, at ease, quiet, sympathetic

– Negative Active: Frustrated, anxious, angry, annoyed, tense

– Negative Passive: Dissatisfied, tired, irritated, worn out, exhausted9

Study 1: Exploratory Online Survey

• Sample– Markettools – marketing research firm– Selection criteria – significant experience working in teams (“worked

regularly on an important task for more than 1 month in duration”)– Sample size: 86 respondents met our criteria– Sample description: majority were18-34 years old, 4 year college

degree, white, employed, management experience• Procedure

– Retrospective Study: recall experiences and report on emotions– Defined conflict type (task, process, interpersonal)– Asked participants to report how they felt when engaged in each type of

conflict• Self-report Likert-type scales• 5 items for each type of emotion

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Findings

• Repeated-measures (2 X 2 X 3) ANOVA– Main effects:

• emotion valence, F (1, 85)=15.35, p<.0001

• emotion activation, F (1, 85)=65.61, p<.0001

• conflict type, F(1,85)=.24, ns

– 2-way interactions: • between conflict type and emotion valence, F (2, 84) = 9.72, p<.0001

• between emotion valence and activation, F (1, 85) = 56.44, p<.0001

– 3-way interactions:

• between conflict type, emotion valence, and emotion activation, F (2, 84) =10.11, p<.0001

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Active > passiveNegative active > positive passive

Summary of Findings• Positive-active emotions are the most prevalent in

team conflict situations• Different emotional profiles for different types of

conflict (task, process vs. interpersonal)• Enough evidence to begin studying effects of conflict

emotion on team performance across types of conflict

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Progress in Research Stream• Study 1: How do team members experience conflict?

– Both positive and negative emotions? YES– Both active and passive emotions? YES– Different emotions during task, process, and interpersonal conflict? YES

• Study 2: What role do conflict emotions play in collaboration and performance?– Currently collecting data

• student multidisciplinary software/product development teams

• Continuing care facility (independent living through nursing home)

• Study 3: How does the process differ across cultures and when people from different cultures interact?– Design and conduct this study in the next 18 months

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Next Steps:Conflict Emotions and Culture

• Does the circumplex hold across cultures? Do emotions cluster according to pleasantness and activation the same way in other cultures?

• What are the links between conflict types and emotions in other cultures?

• How do conflict and emotions interact to influence collaboration, cooperation, and team performance within and across cultures?

• What are the dynamics of emotion in conflicts?15