Managing Conflict for Effective Leadership and Organizations

Managing Conflict for Effective Leadership and Organizations

Dean Tjosvold, Department of Management, Lingnan University, Alfred S. H. Wong, Department

of Management, Lingnan University, Nancy Yi Feng Chen, Department of Management,
Lingnan University

https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.240
Published online: 28 August 2019

Summary
Leaders and employees deal with conflict as they collaborate in the everyday life of organizations and as they
confront crises. Depending how they manage conflict, they can frustrate employees and provoke customer
complaints but also stimulate their relationships and decision-making. The possibilities of constructive conflict are
significant and documented, but the challenges to making conflict constructive are significant too. The practice of
defining conflict as a win-lose battle has obscured ways of managing conflict constructively. Fortunately,
researchers have developed concepts and findings that can help managers and employees manage conflict. A first
step is developing a useful, unconfounded definition of conflict. Deutsch proposed that conflict occurs when there
are incompatible activities. Team members are in conflict as they argue for different options for a decision.

Deutsch also theorized that how people believe their goals are related very much affects their interaction,
specifically their conflict management. They can conclude that their goals are cooperative (positively related),
competitive (negatively related), or independent. People with cooperative goals believe that as one of them moves
toward attaining goals, that helps others achieve their goals. In competition, people conclude that their goals are

relationship between protagonists has a profound impact on their mutual motivation to discuss conflicts
constructively. Cooperative and competitive methods of handling conflict have consistent, powerful effects on
constructive conflict. Team members with cooperative goals engage in open-minded discussions where they
develop and express their opposing positions, including the ideas, reasons, and knowledge they use to support

Teams that rely on cooperative, mutual benefit interaction ways of managing conflict and avoid competitive, win-
lose ways been found to use conflict to promote high quality decisions, to stimulate learning, and to strengthen
their work relationships. What has an impact on constructive conflict is not so much the occurrence, amount, or
type of conflict but how leaders and employees approach and handle their conflicts, specifically, the extent to
which their discussions are cooperative and open-minded.

Keywords: incompatible activities, mutual benefit conflict, , constructive conflict, open-minded

discussions

Subjects: Organizational Behavior

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Conflict is pervasive and greatly affects leadership and teamwork, the very drivers of
organizations (Blake & Mouton, 1964; Jehn, 1995; Johnson, 2015). Conflict is part of the everyday
life of organizations in making decisions, handling customer complaints, and managing
performance; conflict is also part of dealing with dramatic events such as acquisitions, strikes,
and bankruptcies. Conflicts have both constructive and destructive sides. Conflicts can sabotage
alliances and relationships, but effectively managed conflict vitalizes partnerships and
invigorates interpersonal bonds. Conflict challenges leaders and teammates and engages them in
the full range of experiences that organizations offer.

Research on how to manage conflict is critical to understanding relationships and organizations

as well as how to make them effective. Leaders and employees must learn to live with conflict;
they have to deal with and resolve the many conflicts that threaten to divide them and frustrate
joint progress.

We often blame conflict for our frustrations and give it power over us. We think that if we only
had less conflict, our lives would be happy and productive. The goal is to be conflict-free, or at
least to keep our conflicts minor and forgettable. However, how we approach and handle conflict

much conflict we have that matters, but what is critical is how we manage our conflict that affects
whether it is constructive or destructive.

Constructive conflict occurs when protagonists conclude that the benefits of their conflict
management outweigh the costs; they believe that their investments made in handling conflict
will pay off (Deutsch, 1973). The costs and wasteful investments of destructive conflict are
typically well recognized. Angry feelings leave relationships fragmented and joint work stalled;
both people and productivity suffer (Averill, 1983).

However, conflicts can have very constructive effects, so useful that we may hesitate to call them
conflicts. Through discussing opposing ideas in conflict, protagonists can deepen their
understanding of their own ideas as they defend their views (Tjosvold, Wong, & Chen, 2014a).
They can also listen to and understand the views of their protagonists; they put themselves in

commitments, making their joint life more personal and richer.

The possibilities of constructive conflict are significant and documented, but the challenges to
making conflict constructive are significant too. Managing conflict constructively may sound
straightforward, and it can be. But making conflict constructive often tests us intellectually,
emotionally, and interpersonally. Managing conflict constructively gives a lot, but it takes a lot.

This article has six sections. Conflict has been defined in confounded ways so that popular
stereotypes have interfered with practice and research. The first section defines conflict as
incompatible activities that may or may not have opposing goals. Arguing that what has an
impact on constructive conflict is not the occurrence or amount of conflict but how we approach
and handle conflict, the second section proposes that open-minded discussion and cooperative
goals are key conditions to making conflict constructive. The third section reviews research on

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task and relationship conflict that suggests that these types of conflict can be managed. The
fourth section reviews how constructive conflict can strengthen leadership and thereby very
much contribute to the relationship between employees and managers. Then research on how
conflict can be managed across cultural boundaries is discussed. The sixth and final part suggests
how training can strengthen constructive conflict, leadership, and organizations.

Understanding Conflict

Researchers typically have not considered defining conflict critical for understanding it; indeed,
they have tended to define conflict by including several notions (Barki & Hartwick, 2004; Rahim,
1992). However, popular definitions have tended to define conflict in terms of opposing goals and
interests. This definition of conflict has greatly frustrated research progress in identifying the
many ways conflict can constructively contribute to individual learning and organizational
performance. Defining conflict as incompatible actions, we propose, is a much more solid
foundation for research than defining conflict as opposing interests.

Conflict as Opposing Interests

Traditionally, conflict is defined in terms of opposing interests involving scarce resources and
goal divergence and frustration (e.g., Pondy, 1967). Defining conflict as opposing interests is

lose and reinforces the popular thinking that conflict is typically dealt with harshly and

lose.

However, defining conflict as opposing interests frustrates effective operations and measures.

& Bruk-Lee, 2008

conflict itself.

The popular assumption that conflict is competitive and a fight over opposing interests

them. For example, research scales that measure types of conflict, such as task and relationship

the common finding that both relationship and task conflicts contribute to team ineffectiveness
(De Dreu & Weingart, 2003; DeChurch, Mesmer-Magnus, & Doty, 2013; Tjosvold, Law, & Sun,
2006). Conceptual and operational definitions of conflict should help us appreciate both the
constructive as well as the destructive sides of conflict and should avoid confounding conflict
with popular confusions and stereotypes.

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Conflict as Opposing Activities

Deutsch (1973) proposes that conflict occurs when there are incompatible activities (Tjosvold et
al., 2014a). Team members are in conflict when they argue for different options for a team

various reasons for the joint action their team should take. Different parties arguing for their
different positions are incompatible actions that block each person from getting their option
accepted; they are in conflict.

They may express their views to reflect that they have cooperative goals as well as conflicting
activities. They argue for their favored option as they put forth their reasons for this option. They
may defend their preferred position vigorously and conduct additional research to support their
option. They want team members to consider their proposed option seriously. Their goal with
protagonists is a cooperative one, however: they want to make the best decision for the team as a
whole.

Alternatively, team members may have opposing goals when they argue for different options;
they are in competition as well as in conflict. They argue that their option must be accepted and

lose ways. Only one option can be accepted and it should be theirs.

outcomes of conflict (Tjosvold et al., 2014a).

Approaches to Conflict

This article argues that research on how team members manage and deal with their conflicts very
much contributes to understanding and developing constructive conflict. It is not so much the
frequency, amount, and type of conflict as it is how team members discuss and work out their
conflicts. Cooperative and competitive methods of handling conflict have been found to have
consistent, powerful effects on constructive conflict.

Researchers recognize the value of a contingency perspective that holds that managers and
employees should have alternative ways to deal with a conflict so that they can select the one
most useful and appropriate in their situation (Rahim, 1992; Thomas, 1976). Pretending that
there is no conflict and avoiding discussing conflict are useful in some situations, but generally
conflict avoidance is not useful, indeed is often destructive (De Dreu & Van Vianen, 2001;
Friedman, Chi, & Liu, 2006; Liu, Fu, & Liu, 2009; Lovelace, Shapiro, & Weingart, 2001; Ohbuchi &
Atsumi, 2010). Without direct discussion and action, conflicts seldom disappear by themselves;
they can fester and intensify, becoming more complex and destructive (Bacon & Blyton, 2007;
Eisenhardt, Kahwajy, & Bourgeois, 1997; Nemeth & Owens, 1996).

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This section argues that studies conducted using different theoretical frameworks together
indicate that open-minded discussion between protagonists results in constructive outcomes in
many situations (Johnson, 2015; Tjosvold et al., 2014a). In open-minded discussions,
protagonists develop and express their opposing positions, including the ideas, reasons, and

effective resolutions of conflict that they are both committed to implement.

This section further proposes that cooperative relationships, but not competitive ones, are an
effective foundation for open-minded discussion and constructive conflict. These relationships
orient protagonists to identify and express their own ideas and proposals. They trust that others
will try to understand their ideas and positions accurately (Hempel, Zhang, & Tjosvold, 2009).

concerns that others will use their ideas and positions against them are minimized. They

Open-Minded Discussion

and ideas and to weigh such evidence impartially and fully (Baker & Sinkula, 1999; Cegarra-
Navarro & Sánchez-Polo, 2011; Mitchell, Nicholas, & Boyle, 2009; Sinkula, Baker, & Noordewier,
1997

integrate their ideas into mutually acceptable solutions.

In open-minded discussion, protagonists express their own views directly to each other, listen

new agreements acceptable to all. They are open with their own views, open to those of others,
and open to new solutions to resolve the conflict. Evidence indicates that these aspects of
openness are reinforcing and together constitute open-minded discussion (Johnson, 2015;
Tjosvold, 1990a; Tjosvold, Dann, & Wong, 1992; Tjosvold & Halco, 1992).

Survey items to measure open-mindedness give a specific understanding of open-mindedness

(Chen, Liu, & Tjosvold, 2005; Wong, Tjosvold, & Yu, 2005). These items include: (a) express our

typically strongly correlated with each other and the scale has high reliability.

Open-mindedness in conflict is inherently interpersonal as people act and react to each other. It
takes two to have a conflict and it takes two to manage conflict. One protagonist can make bold,
persistent, and skilled actions that encourage an otherwise closed-minded protagonist to discuss
conflict open-mindedly. Generally, though, open-mindedness by all protagonists is needed to
make conflict constructive. Evidence also suggests that protagonists develop similar levels of

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1990a; Tjosvold et al., 1992; Tjosvold & Halco, 1992). Conflicts are more likely to be constructively
managed when protagonists discuss their views directly and integrate them into solutions.

Researchers have used various terms to characterize the nature of discussion that results in
constructive outcomes. These terms have their own historical roots, emphasize difference aspects
of interaction, and provide various ways to measure and operationalize the interaction. These
concepts and their operations help us understand the nature of open-minded discussion.

Open-Mindedness Research
Research conclusions are more fully understood and deserve more confidence when various
researchers using different operations and samples develop consistent findings. Conflict
researchers have used a variety of terms and operations to investigate open-mindedness. We
propose that, although these terms are not identical, their differences should not obscure the
considerable agreement among conflict researchers that open-minded discussion contributes to
resolving conflicts in many situations. The operations of these terms further suggest the
similarity of the concepts to open-minded discussion.

Integrative negotiation research provides indirect support that open-minded discussion is a

foundation for developing constructive conflict. This research has examined the conditions that
develop the creative process by which bargainers discover superior new options for both parties
than those currently under consideration (Follett, 1940). Walton and McKersie (1965) propose
that this integration is more likely when protagonists consider several issues simultaneously,
consider the issues as problems to be solved, freely exchange accurate and credible information

they are convinced otherwise.

Experimental integrative negotiation researchers have argued similarly that problem solving
interaction characterized by full information exchange results in mutually beneficial solutions
(Pruitt & Carnevale, 1993; Pruitt, Carnevale, Ben-Yoav, Nochajski, & Van Slyck, 1983; Pruitt &
Lewis, 1975). The operations to measure this problem solving interaction include asking for valid

underlying interests, endure the uncertainty of not finding a quick solution, and are only satisfied
with solutions that promote the interests of all.

De Dreu and colleagues have drawn upon integrative negotiation research to develop the
motivated information processing approach (De Dreu, 2007; De Dreu, Koole, & Steinel, 2000; De
Dreu, Nijstad, & van Knippenberg, 2008). This research also proposes and measures constructive
interaction in conflict in terms of problem solving and information exchange. The extent to which
protagonists engage in thorough, systematic processing of information was found to induce them

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to question perceptions that one protagonist can achieve their interests only to the extent that
others cannot achieve their own; challenging this trade-off in turn results in more accurate
assessments and more integrative agreements (De Dreu et al., 2000).

Conflict management styles researchers propose five alternative approaches to dealing with
conflict (Rahim, 1983, 1995; Thomas, 1976; Van de Vliert & Kabanoff, 1990). Although arguing
that all five can be useful in some circumstances, these researchers have concluded that the
collaborative conflict management style, at times supplemented with other styles, is constructive
under a wide range of conditions (Van de Vliert, Euwema, & Huismans, 1995; Van de Vliert, Nauta,
Giebels, & Janssen, 1999). Research on collaborative conflict management styles and experiments

and integrating them contribute to constructive conflict (Pruitt & Carnevale, 1993).

Diverse researchers have found that open-minded discussion contributes to resolving conflicts
within and between organizations (Johnson, Johnson, & Tjosvold, 2006; Tjosvold, 1985). Conflict
involves incompatible actions, specifically the intellectual aspects of proposing and reconciling
opposing ideas that temporarily disrupt reaching a resolution. Fortunately, research by various
scholars supports that open-minded discussion very much contributes to effective conflict
management.

Cooperative Relationships for Open-Minded Discussion

When do protagonists discuss their conflicts open-mindedly? Researchers have theorized that
the nature of the relationship between protagonists has a profound impact on their mutual
motivation to discuss conflicts open-mindedly. Open-minded discussions occur when both
participants are motivated to work together to manage their conflicts constructively.

Theory of Cooperation and Competition

Deutsch (1948, 1973) theorized that how people believe their goals are related very much affects
their interaction and thereby their outcomes. They can conclude that their goals are cooperative
(positively related), competitive (negatively related), or independent. People with cooperative
goals believe that as one of them moves toward attaining goals, that helps others achieve their
goals. In competition, people conclude that their goals are negatively related and only one can

Deutsch (1973) further proposed that cooperative goals are a useful way to understand when
protagonists are able to manage their conflicts constructively. Both survey and experimental
studies confirm that with cooperative goals, managers and employees discuss their differences
directly and open-mindedly (Alper, Tjosvold, & Law, 1998; Poon, Pike, & Tjosvold, 2001; Schei &
Rognes, 2003; Tjosvold, 1988). Teams are considered cooperative to the extent that members rate
that their goals go together (Alper et al., 1998); they are considered competitive to the extent that
members rate that they favored their own goals over the goals of others (Alper et al., 1998); teams

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unrelated to the success of their teammates (Alper et al., 1998). Competitive and independent
goals have been found to lead to conflict avoidance or to conflict escalation or both (Alper,
Tjosvold, & Law, 2000; Tjosvold et al., 2001). Protagonists with cooperative goals promote each

Schweitzer (2015) note that social relationships contain both competitive and cooperative
aspects. This co-opetition has been thought to leave protagonists more flexibility in how they
manage conflict (Landkammer & Sassenberg, 2016).

Antecedents to Open-Mindedness
A key dynamic of having positively related goals of cooperation is that by helping others reach

interest promotes the self-interest of the others. Researchers have used the dual concerns and
pro-social motivation to capture positively related self-interests.

In dual concerns, theorists have proposed that conflict participants can be committed to
1976, 1992). Rahim and Bonoma
(1979) and Rahim (1983, 1992 1964) managerial grid. Concern
for self describes the extent to which people attempt to satisfy their own interests. The second
dimension describes the extent to which people want to satisfy the concerns of others (Rahim &
Bonoma, 1979). High concern for self and high concern for others resemble cooperative goals.
Dual concerns occur when protagonists are motivated by their own interests and outcomes: they
are willing to assert themselves to get what they want and they are also motivated to promote

Dean Pruitt and other integrative negotiation researchers have also developed the dual concerns
model (Pruitt & Carnevale, 1993; Pruitt et al., 1983; Pruitt & Rubin, 1986). Here protagonists
committed to the interests of the other as well as themselves discuss conflict open-mindedly
where they are only satisfied with solutions that promote the interests of both.

Motivational and social value orientation theory (Kelley & Schenitzki, 1972; McClintock, 1977;
Messick & McClintock, 1968; Van Lange & Kuhlman, 1994) also found that preference for both self
and other promotes constructive conflict (De Dreu & Van Lange, 1995; De Dreu, Weingart, &
Kwon, 2000). Social motives refer to preferences for outcomes to the self and other: pro-social,
pro-self, and competitive negotiators differ in attaching a positive, zero, or negative weight to
1998; De Dreu & McCusker, 1997; Van Lange,
1999).

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Pro-social protagonists choose options that maximize joint outcomes; protagonists are pro-self
if they select options where their own outcomes are higher than the other, and they are classified
as competitive if they choose options that maximize the differences between the two, that is,

found to develop the open-minded exchange of information that results in constructive conflict
(De Dreu, Weingart, et al., 2000; Nauta, De Dreu, & Van der Vaart, 2002).

Researchers have developed the dual concerns model, pro-social and pro-self social motivation,
and cooperative goals as theoretical perspectives to understand relationships that promote
constructive conflict (De Dreu, Weingart, et al., 2000; Deutsch, 1973; Pruitt & Rubin, 1986; Rahim
& Bonoma, 1979). This section argues that these different terms obscure fundamental agreement

Managers and employees of course do not always discuss their differences open-mindedly and,
according to the contingency perspective, under certain conditions it would be inappropriate and
dysfunctional to do so. Commitments to competitive and independent goals are apt to lead to

for the ideas and aspirations of the other. Indeed, with competitive goals they are apt to actively

This article refers to cooperative relationships as underlying open-minded discussion. Previous

research has directly tested whether cooperative relationships promote open-mindedness,
providing both experimental and survey data (Deutsch, 1973). Research has demonstrated both
the causal relationship that cooperative goals promote open-mindedness and survey evidence
that supports that cooperative relationships support open-minded discussion in a wide variety of
organizational situations (Tjosvold et al., 2014a). In addition, many social psychologists and
other social scientists have developed our understanding of cooperation and competition
(Deutsch, 1973; Deutsch, Coleman, & Marcus, 2011).

Conflict Type Research

For more than two decades, organizational researchers have distinguished types of conflict and
argued that the type of conflict determines how constructive the conflict is (Jehn, 1997; Jehn,
Greer, Levine, & Szulanski, 2008). Whether the conflict is about getting tasks done or about the
quality of relationships between protagonists, conflict type is thought to determine whether
conflict is constructive or destructive. Theorizing on the role of conflict types has stimulated
considerable research by many investigators.

Research findings on conflict types supports the traditional view that high levels of conflict
disrupt teamwork, and refines this idea by indicating that this proposition is especially true when
these conflicts are relationship-based. Relationship conflicts, as measured by such items as how
much friction, tension, and personality conflict are in the team, have been found to make conflict

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destructive (Jehn, 1994; Jehn et al., 2008). Reviews of literature, including several meta-analyses,
have consistently found that relationship conflicts correlate with low levels of team productivity
(Choi & Sy, 2010; De Dreu & Weingart, 2003; DeChurch et al., 2013).

These results have straightforward practical implications for leaders and team members in
reducing relationship conflict. Given the heavy reliance on correlational findings, it can be more
cautiously concluded that relationship conflicts are signs of destructive conflict and are unlikely
to contribute to constructive conflict. Researchers have, however, sought to identify boundary
conditions that minimize the negative impact, and unlock the positive impact, of relationship
conflict (Thiel, Harvey, Courtright, & Bradley, 2017).

Whereas relationship conflicts disrupt, it has been proposed that conflicts over tasks contribute
to group performance (Jehn, 1997; Jehn et al., 2008). However, findings do not consistently
support this theorizing that task conflict strengthens group performance (Choi & Sy, 2010; De
Dreu & Weingart, 2003; DeChurch et al., 2013). The inconsistent effects of task conflict indicate
that expressing diverse views can be useful but not consistently. It appears that expressing
opposing views must be done skillfully to contribute to constructive conflict, but task conflict
theory does not directly suggest the conditions under which expressing opposing views
contributes to constructive conflict.

Managing Task and Relationship Conflict

Researchers have worked to document the conditions that determine whether task and
relationship conflict are constructive or destructive. For example, some evidence suggests that
task conflict is apt to be more productive when it is in moderate amounts, is not closely related to
relationship conflict, and when the outcomes are financial performance and decision quality
rather than overall performance (De Dreu, 2006; de Wit, Greer, & Jehn, 2012; Farh, Lee, & Farh,
2010; Mooney, Holahan, & Amason, 2007; Shaw et al., 2011).

Several studies show that relationship conflict can hinder teams from capitalizing on the
potential positive value of task conflict (de Jong, Song, & Song, 2013; de Wit, Jehn, & Scheepers,
2013; Shaw et al., 2011). Research has found that relationship conflicts encourage a competitive
approach to managing conflict by leading people to make forceful demands, overstate their

2006). In contrast, to the extent that protagonists had few relationship conflicts, they resolved

treated conflict as a mutual problem to solve (de Jong et al., 2013; de Wit et al., 2013; Shaw et al.,
2011).

Research suggests that how task and relationship conflicts are discussed, not just the amount of
them, affects their constructiveness (DeChurch et al., 2013; Maltarich, Kukenberger, Reilly, &
Mathieu, 2018; Rispens, Greer, Jehn, & Thatcher, 2011; Tekleab, Quigley, & Tesluk, 2009;
Todorova, Bear, & Weingart, 2014). Recent studies have found that task conflict can be
constructive when discussed open-mindedly and skillfully (Bradley, Klotz, Postlethwaite, &

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Brown, 2013; Chun & Choi, 2014; Humphrey, Aime, Cushenbery, Hill, & Fairchild, 2017; Jiang,
Zhang, & Tjosvold, 2012; Tekleab et al., 2009). Teams with members with high levels of openness
as a personality characteristic were found to have constructive task conflict (Bradley et al., 2013;
de Jong et al., 2013). Overall, evidence indicates that open-minded discussion contributes to
making both relationship and task conflict constructive (Gibson & Callister, 2010; Lau & Cobb,
2010; Tjosvold, 2002; Tjosvold & Su, 2007; Weingart, Behfar, Bendersky, Todorova, & Jehn, 2015).

Conflict Management for Leadership

Leadership has long been considered a key contributor to effective organizations. Much of the
power of organizations is that they motivate and coordinate the work of many people; for that to
happen, managers must lead employees. Without leadership, employees may fail to face up to
difficulties, allow problems to simmer, and just go through the motions. Research indicates that
to have effective leadership, managers and employees must make conflict constructive (Chen et
al., 2005; Chen & Tjosvold, 2007, 2013; Chen, Tjosvold, Huang, & Xu, 2011; Hui, Wong, & Tjosvold,
2007).

Conflict management research is updating our understanding of what it takes to be an effective

leader and how to develop it. Studies indicate that by developing constructive conflict, managers
can improve the quality of their leader relationships with employees. Managers can then orient
and train employees so that they discuss their various ideas and improve the quality of their
decision-making and their overall teamwork. Researchers have demonstrated that leaders can be
effective by adopting various leadership styles; recent studies show that constructive conflict is
very much needed to make these leadership styles effective.

Conflict for Quality Leadership Relationships

depend upon the situation; they monitor the situations and decide upon effective actions in the
situation (Stogdill, 1974). In addition, though, researchers have found that successful leaders are
consistent across many situations in that they develop quality relationships. Considerable
research has found that successful leaders have quality relationships (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995).

have high quality relationships with employees that help them influence employees and increase
their productivity. With these relationships, leaders are able to engage employees, strengthen
their teamwork, and in other ways convince them to contribute effectively to the organization.

Less recognized is that leaders and employees cannot allow frustrations to brew; they need to
manage their conflicts to develop quality relationships (Chen & Tjosvold, 2007; Chen, Tjosvold, &
Su, 2005; Tjosvold, Poon, & Yu, 2005). An important reason why quality relationships are useful is
because they promote constructive conflict that in turn results in employee involvement and
performance (Chen & Tjosvold, 2013; Tjosvold, Hui, & Law, 1998). Otherwise, relationship

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conflicts are apt to undermine team productivity as they allow frustrations to fester (Chen et al.,
2005; Chen & Tjosvold, 2007; Tjosvold et al., 2005). Leaders need to manage their conflicts to
reduce relationship conflicts and develop and maintain quality relationships.

Conflict for Making Decisions

Leaders have traditionally been thought to make tough decisions and then use their power to
implement them. But this is a misleading notion. Studies by diverse researchers have documented
the contribution of conflict to making decisions (Amason, 1996; Anderson, 1983; Cosier, 1978;
George, 1974; Gruenfeld, 1995; Mason & Mitroff, 1981; Mitchell et al., 2009; Peterson & Nemeth,
1996; Salas, Rosen, & DiazGranados, 2010; Schweiger, Sandberg, & Ragan, 1986; Somech,
Desivilya, & Lidgoster, 2009; Tetlock, Armor, & Peterson, 1994; Tjosvold, Wedley, & Field, 1986;
Wong, Ormiston, & Tetlock, 2011). Through conflict, conventional thinking is challenged, threats
and opportunities identified, and new solutions forged. Discussing opposing views has been
found to give teams the confidence to take calculated risks where they also are prepared to
recover from their mistakes; with this preparation, they innovate (Tjosvold & Yu, 2007). Even in a
crisis, leaders are typically more effective when they seek out diverse views (Tjosvold, 1984,
1990b). Rather than making tough decisions alone, effective leaders are oriented toward
promoting the conditions and relationships for open-minded discussion of opposing views
among colleagues and employees. They develop constructive conflict that helps employees make
and implement decisions as a team.

Conflict to Implement Leadership Styles

Researchers have argued that managers can be effective by adopting leadership styles such as
transformational, servant, and productivity and people values (Eisenbeiss, van Knippenberg, &
Boerner, 2008; Xu & Thomas, 2011). Less appreciated is that these styles are effective by
promoting constructive conflict. Recent studies have demonstrated that to be successful in
applying these styles, leaders develop constructive conflict.

Transformational leaders are expected to stimulate superior performance by appealing to

2006). For example, they were found highly motivated not
by unilaterally directing employees but by helping them manage their conflicts cooperatively and
constructively (Zhang, Cao, & Tjosvold, 2011). This constructive conflict in turn resulted in high
team performance in a sample of independent business groups. In a related study, government
officials who exercised transformational leadership promoted cooperative conflict management
2014).

Leaders who value people and productivity have long been thought to be effective leaders, but the
dynamics by which these values have beneficial effects have only recently been documented. In a
study of international joint ventures (Wong, Wei, Yang, & Tjosvold, 2017), results support the

are cooperatively related, which in turn reduces free riding and promotes performance; in

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contrast, competitive goals appear to promote free riding and obstruct joint performance. The
results have practical implications by showing that developing cooperative goals can strengthen
the benefits of productivity and participation values.

Working in diverse organizations in India, team leaders indicated their people and productivity
values and team members rated their open-minded discussion and their effectiveness and
performance (Bhatnagar & Tjosvold, 2012). Structural equation analysis suggested that
productivity values promoted open-minded discussion and thereby team effectiveness and
productivity. Productivity-oriented team leaders challenge their teams to make high quality
decisions and induce them to discuss issues open-mindedly, which in turn helps teams be
effective (Bhatnagar & Tjosvold, 2012).

Servant leaders, as they emphasize service to others, team consensus, and the personal
development of individuals, have been thought to lay the groundwork for cooperative conflict
management in customer service teams (Wong, Liu, & Tjosvold, 2015). This constructive conflict
helps team members resolve issues and in other ways effectively coordinate with each other; this
coordination in turn helps these teams serve their customers. Findings indicate that to the extent
that they have servant leaders, teams are able to discuss their disagreements, frustrations, and
difficulties directly and work out solutions for the benefit of the team and its customers. These
results provide support that improving the capacity to discuss opposing views open-mindedly
can be a useful means for servant leaders to enhance teamwork and customer service in China and
perhaps in other countries as well.

Ethical leaders want to act justly themselves but they also want employees to be committed to
ethical principles and to act morally (Eisenbeiss, 2012; Mayer, Aquino, Greenbaum, & Kuenzi,
2012). A recent study indicates that effective ethical leaders and their employees engage in open-
minded, cooperative conflict management where they express their ideas, work to understand
each other, integrate their ideas, and apply their resolutions. Through this constructive conflict
management, they work out arrangements that help them act effectively and morally in their
situation as they also develop trusting, high quality relationships with each other. Ethical leaders

own ideas and resolutions on others. Results also confirm that effective leaders develop high
quality relationships that help them influence employees as well as to be open and influenced by
them (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995).

Researchers have identified a number of styles that have been shown to help leaders be effective.
Although they are developed from diverse leadership theories, studies have found that
constructive conflict, in particular cooperative open-minded discussion, is an important
mediator of successful implementation of these leadership styles, whether they be
transformational leadership, valuing people and productivity, servant, or ethical leadership.
Managers can use different leadership styles to encourage constructive conflict that empowers
them to lead effectively.

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Managing Conflict for Effective Leadership and Organizations

Cultural Differences

Theories of conflict management that can be applied in diverse cultures are increasingly relevant.
In the global marketplace, many managers and employees must handle conflicts that cross
cultural boundaries. Team members increasingly have diverse cultural backgrounds, even when
all operations are in one country. Many managers have to work with suppliers and customers who
are from other cultures and live in other countries. Research has shown that open-mindedness
and cooperative relationships develop constructive conflict in organizations even when
protagonists are from both Western and Eastern cultures (Chen, Tjosvold, & Pan, 2010; Tjosvold,
Wu, & Chen, 2010; Tjosvold, Wong, & Chen, 2014a).

Research on conflict management has developed our understanding of the impact of cultural
values, in particular collectivism and individualism. Western cultures have traditionally been
thought to support open discussion of conflict consistent with their emphasis on individuals with
their rights and proclivity to express their views. Eastern cultures have been considered
collectivist where there is deference to their groups and leaders. Some studies support this
traditional thinking. People from the West have indicated more preference for open handling of
conflict, whereas those from the East prefer reticence (Kirkbride, Tang, & Westwood, 1991).

However, research suggests that this reasoning needs updating. Recent studies indicate that
collectivist values induce open-minded discussion whereas individualistic values promote
conflict avoidance. Collectivist values have been found in experiments to strengthen cooperative
relationships that in turn promote open-minded discussion between individuals from collectivist
and individualistic cultures (Chen et al., 2010; Tjosvold, Wu, et al., 2010; Tjosvold, Wong, & Chen,
2014a). Collectivist culture team members were found to believe their goals are cooperative and
that they are expected to work effectively with each other, and they sought to and actually
understood opposing arguments and combined ideas for integrated decisions.

Studies confirm that cooperative and competitive approaches to managing conflict, although
developed from theory in the West, apply to organizations in collectivist China as well (Chen et
al., 2011). Indeed, findings challenge stereotypes that Chinese culture and leadership are highly
conflict-negative. Chinese people are not rigidly committed to conflict avoidance but have been
found to manage conflict cooperatively and openly. Chinese collectivism, social face, and other
values can be applied in ways that aid direct, open, cooperative conflict management (Tjosvold,
Wong, & Chen, 2014b).

Cooperative conflict management can also guide the strengthening of cross-cultural interaction.
Bond (2003) and Smith (2003) argue that cross-cultural researchers, in addition to the tradition
of documenting cultural value differences, should study the relationship and interaction between
culturally diverse people to identify how they work together effectively. Recent studies show that
diverse people can work together when they manage their conflicts cooperatively (Chen et al.,
2010; Chen & Tjosvold, 2007, 2008; Chen, Tjosvold, & Wu, 2008).

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situations) often are not (Lewin, 1938). In particular, the actions that develop cooperative goals
and communicate an attempt to discuss conflicts open-mindedly may be quite different in China
than in North America, as may the general levels of cooperative goals and conflict. However,
diverse people can use research to develop a common understanding and platform for how they
can manage conflict cooperatively and productively (Tjosvold & Leung, 2003).

Training Teams

Employees, managers, and executives are more effective when they manage important conflicts
open-mindedly and cooperatively. Research suggests that, when they study cooperative, open-
minded conflict, plan how to approach their own conflicts, and reflect on their experiences,
managers and employees are more effective at managing conflict and more productive (Lu,
Tjosvold, & Shi, 2010; Tjosvold et al., 2014a).

A software company in Beijing used a cooperative team workshop and two months of follow-up
of team feedback and reflection to develop open-minded conflict management (Lu et al., 2010).
More than 150 employees from all the teams in the company participated in the workshop and the
follow-up activities.

They had already organized cooperative teams to work on projects and satisfy customers. At the
workshop, these groups studied the theory and reviewed the research in order to appreciate the
value for them and their organization of strengthening cooperative, open-minded approaches to
managing their conflicts. They decided that they wanted to improve their conflict management.
They met regularly to assess their current level of cooperative conflict and developed plans for
managing their conflicts more constructively. They practiced in their teams, met regularly to
assess their current level of cooperative conflict, and developed plans for managing their conflicts
more constructively. They reflected on their experience managing conflict within and between
teams with consultants, and developed concrete ways to improve their conflict management.

Findings confirmed that open-minded discussion and cooperative relationships are a valuable
basis upon which teams can strengthen their conflict management, collaboration among teams,
and contributions to their organization. The training was found to heighten cooperative goals,
develop open-minded discussion of conflicts, foster creativity within and between cultures, and
produce higher group confidence and productivity.

Human resource personnel can apply conflict management findings by initiating professional
development teams for managers and employees (Tjosvold & Tjosvold, 2015). They realize that
becoming more effective requires the encouragement, feedback, and support of others. In these
teams, managers and employees study cooperative, open-minded conflict management, reflect
on their current experiences, and develop concrete ways to strengthen and practice conflict
management skills. They remember not to expect perfection but to focus on reflecting on their
experiences to improve.

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Managing Conflict for Effective Leadership and Organizations

Managers and employees confront a great variety of conflicts. With persistent pressures for them

increasingly difficult conflicts that spread across organizational and national boundaries. Yet
they are expected to resolve them quickly. Theory and research such as that referred to in this
article helps to focus our efforts to manage even our complex conflicts constructively. We have
learned from research that we can profitably strengthen our cooperative relationships and
discuss our conflicts open-mindedly. Our conflicts will not disappear, but we can engage our
partners so that we manage our conflicts and work together to get things done.

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