Taking a conflict perspective to explain an employee’s creativity

What is it about?

Previous research on task conflict has often recommended to managers and leaders to establish task conflict in teams to increase creativity and innovation. However, empirical research does not always support this practical recommendation. Task conflict research is characterized by a jungle of inconsistent findings. Instead of recommending managers and organizations to establish task conflict, it is important to explain that task conflict is more likely to exercise its beneficial effects on cooperation and creativity, when employees and leaders avoid managing task conflicts in a competitive way. Instead of creating a competitive work environment, our study shows that organizations should rather create an environment characterized by cooperation and teamwork if they want to increase their employees’ creativity. Task conflict is particularly beneficial for cooperation and creativity if closed-minded discussions and competitive interactions are reduced.

Featured Image