leaders transformational conflict and emotion management behaviors in culturally diverse workgroups

Leaders’ transformational,conflict, and emotion

management behaviorsin culturally diverse workgroups

Oluremi B. AyokoThe University of Queensland Business School, The University of Queensland,

Brisbane, Australia, and

Alison M. KonradRichard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario,

London, Canada

Abstract

Purpose – Previous research has shown that diversity is related to both task and relationshipconflict in groups. The purpose of this paper is to posit that leadership is an important factorfor maintaining high group performance and morale under conditions of conflict. Specifically, thepaper argues that leader conflict management, emotion management, and transformational behaviorsdetermine the impact of conflict on group outcomes.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 585 people in 89 workgroups fromeight public service organizations in Australia. The authors used hierarchical regression to test thehypotheses regarding group performance and morale. To test mediation and moderation, the authorsfollowed the procedure outlined by Baron and Kenny. Finally, they used the formulas provided byPreacher, Rucker and Hayes to test for moderated mediation.Findings – Results showed that diversity increased task conflict but was unrelated to relationshipconflict. Both task and relationship conflict were negatively associated with group performance andmorale, and effective leadership reduced these negative effects to zero. There was also a partialsupport for the authors’ theoretical model predicting that leadership moderates the indirect effect ofdiversity on group outcomes occurring through the mediator of conflict.Research limitations/implications – A greater amount of variation in the diversity of work groupsincluded in the sample would have been useful for overcoming problems of restriction of range, whichlikely reduced ability to observe an association between diversity and group outcomes. Based on theresults, in order to prevent negative emotions from task and relationship conflict from damaging groupperformance, leaders of diverse groups can act to manage those emotions among their group members.Results from this study implicate conflict management training. While training for conflict managementis beyond the scope of this research, further research should examine this issue.Originality/value – The study extends research in the area of diversity, leadership and group work.In particular, it demonstrates that transformational leadership is an important factor for maintaininghigh group performance and morale under conditions of conflict. It also offers practical assistance toindividuals entrusted with the responsibility of managing culturally diverse workgroups.

Keywords Diversity, Leadership, Conflict, Emotions, Performance management, Australia

Paper type Research paper

The issue of managing diversity is still a challenge for organizations in the twenty-firstcentury ( Jackson and Joshi, 2010). Van Knippenberg and Schippers (2007) define

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available atwww.emeraldinsight.com/2040-7149.htm

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: AnInternational JournalVol. 31 No. 8, 2012pp. 694-724r Emerald Group Publishing Limited2040-7149DOI 10.1108/02610151211277581

Alison M. Konrad expresses her gratitude for the support of the Corus Entertainment Chair inWomen in Management from the Richard Ivey School of Business.

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diversity as a characteristic of social grouping that reflects the degree to which objectiveor subjective differences exist between group members. Although research in workplacediversity has quadrupled in the last few decades, yet, most of the outcomes demonstratethat diversity has paradoxical effects on team processes and outcomes (Joshi et al., 2011;Jackson et al., 2003; Milliken and Martins, 1996; Williams and O’Reilly, 1998). Forexample, diversity in teams is linked with negative outcomes (e.g. poor communication;Mohammed and Angell, 2004) and with positive outcomes (e.g. creativity; Lovelaceet al., 2001) or even neutral effects (see Cunningham and Sagas, 2004). Recent work isidentifying the conditions such as employee involvement that must be in place fordiversity to generate organizational benefits (e.g. Yang and Konrad, 2011).

In particular, one of the negative outcomes of diversity is conflict (Jehn et al., 1999;Pelled, 1996; Olson et al., 2007). Workgroup diversity is associated with conflict inteams, both task conflict and relationship conflict (Ayoko et al., 2002; Chatman andFlynn, 2001; Jehn et al., 1997; Jehn et al., 1999; Pelled, 1996; Pelled et al., 2001). Theconflict resulting from workgroup diversity has the potential to benefit performance ifit generates the elaboration of more possibilities and perspectives in problem-solvingdiscussions (van Knippenberg et al., 2004). Workgroup conflicts often do not result inpositive outcomes, however, as demonstrated by meta-analytic research linking bothtask and relationship conflict to poorer performance (De Dreu and Weingart, 2003).Additionally, new evidence emerging from another meta-analytical study (de Wit et al.,2011) suggests that while relationship and process conflict are negatively linked withperformance, the effect of task conflict on outcomes is even more complex indicating thattask conflict is only associated with positive outcomes when the link between taskand relationship conflict is weak. The implication of these meta-analytic findings is thatfor conflict to result in positive outcomes, it must be managed effectively (Jehn, 1995;Jehn and Mannix, 2001). Hence, the link between conflict and performance in teams isnot simple and linear, but moderated by contextual factors. Overall suggest that theparadoxical relationship between diversity and processes (e.g. conflict) and outcomesmay be related to the inability to assess all important dimensions of context.

In the present research, we agree with Jackson and colleagues (2003, see alsoDiTomaso and Hooijberg, 1996; Martins et al., 2003) to argue that one of the under-researched contextual factors of potential importance for affecting the relationshipbetween conflict among diverse teams and outcomes is leadership. Specifically, todate, few empirical studies have been conducted to investigate the connectionbetween leadership behaviors and processes at the team level (see Ayoko and Callan,2010; Ayoko et al., 2008; Kotlyar and Karakowsky, 2007; Walumbwa et al., 2011).According to Zaccaro and Klimoski (2002), the success of organizational teamperformance depends partly on effective team and leadership processes. They furtherargue that an important research goal in organization science should be to understandhow leadership and team processes connect to enhance collective success inorganizations. In spite of the fact that literature is replete with theoretical and empiricalwork in the area of leadership (e.g. Avolio and Yammarino 2002) and team processes(e.g. see Jehn, 1995, 1997), Zaccaro and Klimoski (2002) contend that “we still knowrelatively little about how leaders create and direct team processes to achieve collectivesuccess” (p. 5, see also, Kozlowski et al., 1996). In particular, we know little about howto best lead teams that are socially and demographically diverse.

Team leaders tend to have greater authority than other team members (Edmonson,2003), while effective leaders are expected to have more knowledge, skills, and abilitiesin the area of people management (Bell and Kozlowski, 2002). For these reasons, team

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members are likely to look to the leader to guide the group successfully when theybecome muddled in potentially destructive conflicts. Nevertheless, very little is knownregarding the impact of leaders on the outcomes of conflicts in diverse teams (Zaccaroet al., 2001). Pelled et al. (2001) found that supervisor facilitation mitigated therelationship between tenure dissimilarity and conflict in a Mexican workplace,although in that sample, tenure similarity rather than dissimilarity was associatedwith greater conflict. Gibson and Vermeulen (2003) also found that leaderperformance management behaviors enhanced learning in diverse teams, whichsuggests that leadership is important for generating positive outcomes, such aslearning from task conflicts in teams. Ayoko et al. (2012) argued that leadershipbehaviors focussed on antecedents to the expression of emotion limit the likelihoodthat cognitive or task conflict escalates to become affective conflict in virtual teams.Similarly, Ayoko et al. (2008) demonstrated that an emotional intelligence climate(e.g. conflict management norms) moderated the link between task conflict anddestructive reactions to conflict while leaders with higher levels of inspiration andcommunication of vision were linked with minimum levels of bullying by teammembers (Ayoko and Callan, 2010).

Given these prior findings, the leader’s actions during team conflict events are likelyto be critical to effective performance because of the potential for conflict to generatenegative emotions and damage relationships among interdependent team members.Leaders must manage team members’ emotions during conflicts in order to avoid thedevelopment of a negative group emotional history, because heated exchanges andemotional outbursts have the potential to ignite a negative self-reinforcing cycle ofinterpersonal attacks and blaming (Kelly and Barsade, 2001). If events generatingnegative emotions are repeated over time, they have the potential to damage importantwork attitudes driving decisions to work productively, to behave cooperatively, and toremain with the organization (Ashkanasy et al., 2002).

Despite the publication of a special issue of Leadership Quarterly on diversityleadership in the mid-1990s (Chen et al., 1996), relatively little research to date hasexamined the impact of leaders on the effectiveness of diverse teams (Nishii and Mayer,2009; Ospina and Foldy, 2009). The few studies that have been done have validated theeffectiveness of transformational leadership (Ayoko and Callan, 2010; Ayoko et al.,2008; Kearney and Gebert, 2009) and a high level of leader-member exchange sharedacross the entire workgroup (Nishii and Mayer, 2009; Stewart and Johnson, 2009). Inparticular, few studies have investigated the potential for leadership to moderate theoutcomes of conflict in diverse teams, however. We propose that leaders who engage inconflict management, emotion management, and transformational leadershipbehaviors can effectively channel conflict in diverse teams toward constructiveprocesses that result in better team morale and performance. We test our ideas using amultiple-source dataset based on a sample of 89 work groups and 585 individuals.

Conceptual model and hypothesesThe conceptual model guiding our research is shown in Figure 1. Based on priorresearch and theorizing (Kochan et al., 2003; Mannix and Neale, 2005; Pelled, 1996), webegin with a diversity – group processes – outcomes model. The dimension of diversityserving as the focus of this study is racioethnicity (Cox, 1993), which is defined as a setof visibly distinguishable identity groups determined on the basis of such features ashair texture, skin color, and facial features and linked to stereotypes and prejudice.Beyond their visible distinctiveness, members of racioethnic groups, such as Chinese,

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African American, Australian Aboriginal, and white Canadian, also share distinctcultures, or sets of beliefs, norms, and values that guide desirable goals and behaviors.

Specifically, diversity literature distinguishes between underlying deep-levelcharacteristics like attitudes, opinions, information, and values, which take time toemerge in groups (Harrison et al., 1998, 2002; Jehn et al., 1999) and surface-level orobservable (e.g. ethnicity, age, and gender; Milliken and Martins, 1996) characteristicsthat are more immediately apparent (Riordan, 2001). Empirical studies also show thatboth surface and deep-level diversity make a difference for group outcomes andsignificantly affect the experiences of the individuals within a team (e.g. Harrison et al.,2002; Milliken and Martins, 1996) and impact group processes ( Jehn et al., 1997, 1999).

In practice, the visible and cultural components of racioethnicity are often impossibleto disentangle, and theorists must consider both the stereotyping and prejudice based onsurface-level differences and the variation in perspectives and values based on deeper-level cultural differences (Ospina and Foldy, 2009). Julian et al. (2009) report that the higherthe cultural diversity in the team, the more highly members evaluate each other in termsof their ability to get along and help each other. Prior research has also linked racioethnicdiversity to both task and relationship conflict in teams (Ayoko et al., 2012; Chatman andFlynn, 2001; Pelled et al., 1999), as well as to creativity in generating ideas and solvingproblems (Cady and Valentine, 1999; Leung et al., 2008).

The group processes we focus upon are task and relationship conflict. Jehn (1997)describes task conflict as encompassing conflict of ideas in the group and disagreementabout the content and issues of the task. Explicitly, it is the consciousness that there aredisagreements about the actual tasks being performed in the group even when group’sgoals may be shared (Brehmer, 1976). In contrast to task conflict, relationship conflictpertains to disagreements based on personal and social issues that are not related to work( Jehn and Chatman, 2000). The outcomes of interest are team morale and performance.Particularly, morale is a well-constructed variable in psychology and organizationalbehavior (e.g. Al-Adaileh and Al-Atawi, 2011; Chang and Lyons, 2012; Marmenout, 2011),with considerable importance for management practice (Pane Haden and Cooke, 2012;Stahl et al., 2012). For example, Rosenbaum and Rosenbaum (1971) examined morale andproductivity consequences of group leadership style, stress, and type of task. In theirstudy, they found that students in the absence of stress were more productive. Morerecently, Iverson and Zatzick (2011) investigated labor productivity and the value ofshowing consideration for employees’ morale and welfare. The study demonstrated thatorganizations with more extensive high performance work systems reduce productivitylosses from downsizing by heightening their consideration for employees’ morale and

DiversityRacioethnic

diversity

Group/teamprocesses

Task conflictRelationship

conflict

OutcomesPerformance

morale

Leader behaviorsConflict managementEmotion management

Transformational leadership

Figure 1.Leadership as a moderator

of the diversity-conflict-performance relationship

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welfare. Altogether, morale has been consistently shown to have desirable outcomes forthe group (e.g. Motowidlo and Borman, 1978).

In the present study, we add to prior diversity-process-outcome theorizing by positingleader conflict management, emotion management, and transformational leadershipbehaviors as moderators of the process-outcome relationship. As such, we conceptualizeone of the primary roles of the leader in the diversity-conflict-outcome model to be that ofan effective manager of conflict. Hence, effective leaders do not necessarily dampen theworkgroup conflicts arising from diversity. Especially, task conflicts should not beprevented because the elaboration of differing viewpoints regarding tasks is a potentialsource of high performance (Alper et al., 1998; Jehn, 1995; Jehn and Chatman, 2000; Pelledet al., 1999; Phillips and Lloyd, 2006; Van de Vliert and De Dreu, 1994; Van de Vliert et al.,1999; van Knippenberg et al., 2004). Explicitly, van Knippenberg et al. (2004) suggest thatdiversity research has been associated with inconsistent findings because research indiversity has paid little attention to important moderators. They proposed that teamdiversity will be linked with elaboration of task-relevant information and perspectiveswithin the group (e.g. group members’ exchange, discussion, and integration of ideas,knowledge, and insights) relevant to the group’s task. Given the on-going discussion,we propose that the group process of conflict is an important feature of the taskelaboration process in diverse work teams and that leadership is an important moderatorof this process. Therefore, rather than reducing the amount of conflict, we suggest thatleaders should help their groups to effectively manage the conflicts that do arise inorder to enhance morale and performance. In the next sections, we discuss whyconflict management, emotion management, and transformational leadership behaviorsin particular are valuable for effective conflict management by leaders of diverseworkgroups.

Leader conflict management behaviorsMany conflict researchers espouse the positive effects of task conflict (De Dreu, 2006;Jehn, 1995, 1997; Simons and Peterson, 2000); however, task conflict can result innegative outcomes for teams if it degenerates into relationship conflict. For example, atask disagreement between a supervisor and a subordinate over time can degenerate toa relationship conflict especially if the subordinate perceives the task conflict as anattempt by the supervisor to put him/her (i.e. employee) down in front of the other teammembers. Additionally, the results of the meta-analysis conducted by De Dreu andWeingart (2003) found that task conflict was negatively correlated with teamperformance, the correlation was significantly weaker if task conflict was less stronglycorrelated with relationship conflict (see also de Wit et al., 2011), denoting the fact thattask conflict may be closely connected with relationship conflict.

Although a number of studies have examined the moderating role of conflictmanagement in the relationship between intragroup conflict and outcomes (DeChurchand Marks, 2001; Somech et al., 2009; Tekleab et al., 2009), these studies focus on thebehaviors of team members and little research has examined the role of the leader inmanaging conflict in teams (Zaccaro et al., 2001, see Ayoko et al., 2010 for an exception).We argue that leader conflict management behaviors are critical for eliciting positiveoutcomes from task conflict and also ensuring that task conflict does not degenerateinto relationship conflict.

Leader conflict management behaviors comprise an understanding of the conflicttriggers, the conflict cycle and conflict management behaviors as well as implementationskills. Overall, conflict management behaviors involve understanding one’s own and

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others’ conflict management styles. Research shows that employees have an expectationthat group leaders will resolve conflicts between group members (Ayoko and Hartel,2002), and third-party involvement is a significant strategy of managing the negativeoutcomes of interpersonal conflict in organizations (Giebels and Janssen, 2005). In thiscase, we reason that leaders who actively manage team conflicts are likely to increasegroup morale because their behavior meets expectations. In the present research, wedescribe active conflict management strategies as those that involve some assertivenessin dealing with the conflict. These strategies require conflict partners or third parties touse collaborating, compromising, or competing styles for resolutions or to tenaciouslypersuade one of the conflicting parties (Ohbuchi and Takahashi, 1994). In contrast,passive conflict management strategies are those strategies that are void of self-assertiveness in dealing with conflict such as avoidance and accommodation conflictmanagement styles (see Tang and Kirkbride, 1986; Ohbuchi and Takahashi, 1994). Whilethe outcome of leadership styles is expected to vary across cultures (Brodbeck et al., 2000),Xie et al. (1998) show that passive conflict management (e.g. conflict avoidance) is linkedwith negative outcomes in four different national cultures. We unpack the differentconflict management behaviors below.

Five distinct conflict behaviors, i.e., competing, accommodation, collaboration,compromise, and avoidance, are commonly identified in conflict management research(De Dreu et al., 2001; Van de Vliert and Kabanoff, 1990). Competing refers to a situationwhere each party pursues its own interests (Montoya-Weiss et al., 2001).Accommodation refers to “giving in to the opponent” (Euwema et al., 2003, p. 121).Collaboration refers to an attempt to reach an outcome that integrates the interests ofall involved parties (Montoya-Weiss et al., 2001). Avoidance refers to “moving awayfrom the conflict issue” (Euwema et al., 2003, p. 121). This behavior is characterized byavoiding confronting other people (Montoya-Weiss et al., 2001). Compromise refers to“settling through mutual concessions” (Euwema et al., 2003, p. 121).

According to Kormanski (1982), each of the conflict management behaviors haveboth advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, a comprehensive approach to conflictmanagement includes the application of the most appropriate tactic to eachconflict event. Leaders who can thoughtfully apply many different conflictmanagement strategies are likely to be the most effective. Prior studies show thatcomprehensive conflict management can strengthen interpersonal relationships,increase mutual trust and understanding, and enhance willingness to cooperate(Euwema et al., 2003). Furthermore, the ability to use a variety of conflict managementstrategies is likely to be particularly important for leaders of diverse teams (wheremembers come from differing countries or teams with in-country ethnic differences),because modal practices relating to conflict management vary across cultures (Kamil,1997; Triandis, 1994). Additionally, the work of Graham et al. (1988) and Kirkbride et al.(1991) shows that collectivist (e.g. Asians) tend to use passive strategies such asavoidance to deal with conflict, whereas westerners (e.g. Americans) tend toconfront conflict directly (see also Graham et al., 1988; Kirkbride et al., 1991; Tangand Kirkbride, 1986; Tse et al., 1994). Due to cultural differences in preferred conflictmanagement strategies (Kamil, 1997), leaders who can engage in a comprehensiveset of conflict management styles will most likely be effective at managing conflict tocreate good outcomes in racioethnically diverse groups.

Within diverse work groups, comprehensive conflict management behaviors on thepart of the leader should interact with task conflict to create favorable outcomes. Forinstance, the use of collaboration ensures that different perspectives are valued.

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Compromise can ensure divergent interests are considered. Confrontation canincrease people’s awareness of differences. Comprehensive conflict management bythe leader should also interact with relationship conflict to minimize the negativeoutcomes of personal animosities and incompatibility. For example, given thata cooperative conflict management style is linked with conflict efficacy and teamperformance (Alper et al., 2000), we anticipate that a leader who engages incooperative conflict management behaviors may be modeling cooperative behaviorsfor group members to imitate. In the same way, a leader who confronts interpersonalantagonism sends a clear signal to group members about expectations ofprofessionalism and respect in the workplace.

In summary, employees are likely to expect their leaders to provide third-partyassistance when conflicts arise in their groups, and effective conflict management indiverse workgroups is likely to require leader flexibility in using a variety of conflictmanagement styles. Active conflict management should improve the experience,confidence, and understanding leaders have about different methods of managingconflict, leading them to take a more comprehensive conflict management approach.Through an iterative process, active conflict management on the part of leaders islikely to create a positive group process in culturally diverse workgroups, and it maybe crucial for increased performance and morale in the team. Active conflictmanagement behavior on the part of the leaders is particularly important because teamleaders are likely to have the skills to apply active strategies appropriately in culturallydiverse teams. By comparison, passive approaches to conflict, specifically, doingnothing or accommodating the other party, do not require as much skill and may beaccomplished by team members without leader input:

H1a. Active conflict management on the part of the leader will result in a lessnegative (or more positive) association between task conflict and theworkgroup’s performance and morale.

H1b. Active conflict management on the part of the leader will result in a lessnegative association between relationship conflict and the workgroup’sperformance and morale.

Leader emotion management behaviorsScholars are increasingly integrating emotion into the study of workplace conflict (Belland Song, 2005; Bodtker and Jameson, 2001; Von Glinow et al., 2004; Yang andMossholder, 2004). Empirical findings suggest that conflict can invoke potentiallydamaging negative emotions. For example, verbal communication during conflict hasbeen shown to include personal elements that suggest the escalation of negativeemotions (Lovelace et al., 2001). Also, disagreeable approaches to managing conflictsuch as threats, being condescending, and pressuring others, can involve emotionsof anger, frustration, and irritation (Alper et al., 2000; Van de Vliert et al., 1999).The expression of emotions may be exaggerated in the team through the process ofemotional contagion (Hatfield et al., 1994). Moreover, disagreements among groupmembers may be interpreted as personal attacks (Simons and Peterson, 2000),regardless of whether the issues involve tasks or relationships among group members,which may explain why meta-analysis finds that both task and relationship conflict areassociated with detrimental group outcomes (De Dreu and Weingart, 2003). Given thatdiversity is associated with conflict in groups, these findings suggest that for teams to

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benefit from diversity, group leaders must be able to manage the negative emotionstriggered by both task and relationship conflict.

Specifically, Pescosolido (2002) proposes a new role for group leaders – themanager of group emotions. He argues that a leader who manages group emotionswill be able to reduce uncertainty and create shared emotion within the group bymodeling particular emotional responses. Nevertheless, empirical research on themanagement of emotions in groups by leaders is limited, especially those emotionsrelated to conflict in culturally diverse groups. The lack of studies in this area is notsurprising as the organizational behavior literature has predominantly revolvedaround cognition rather than feelings (George, 2000). However, scholars haveproposed that emotion management behaviors increase information-processingcapability in ways that enhance employees’ ability to motivate, plan, and achieve(Salovey and Mayer, 1990). The successful regulation of emotions allows individualsto refocus their own and others’ attention on important organizational problems(Salovey and Mayer, 1990). Conversely, if negative emotions are not processed andresolved in a constructive way, group efficiency and effectiveness suffer ( Jehn, 1997).

Furthermore, leaders who manage workgroup emotions may help employeesexpress their emotional reactions to conflict appropriately. Suppression of conflict-related emotions can lead to anxiety and self-righteousness (Tjosvold, 1998), but whenthese emotions are appropriately expressed, they can affirm interdependency and focusenergy on solving underlying problems (Tjosvold, 1998; Tjosvold and Su, 2007).According to Plutchick (1987), empathy is a core social awareness skill that involvesthe sharing of both positive and negative emotions that should promote a bondbetween team members. This bond, created through emphatic team interactions andbehaviors, should combine to produce an emotional atmosphere conducive to increasedcohesion and performance (Rapisarda, 2002) and less conflict. In this regard, Ayokoet al. (2008) found that teams with less-well-defined emotional intelligence climates (e.g.empathic concerns) were associated with increased task and relationship conflict andincreased conflict intensity. Thus, consistent with research on emotional intelligence(Van Rooy and Viswesvaran, 2003), we propose that leaders of culturally diverseworkgrous need to be aware of their own personal emotions, aware of others’ emotions,and use emotions (e.g. empathy) appropriately in decision making and problemsolving, especially in situations of conflict. Leaders with high levels of emotionmanagement behaviors should therefore be better able to manage team conflict and itsrelated emotions effectively. Thus, we hypothesize that:

H2a. Emotion management on the part of the leader will result in a less negative (ormore positive) association between task conflict and the workgroup’sperformance and morale.

H2b. Emotion management on the part of the leader will result in a less negativeassociation between relationship conflict and the workgroup’s performanceand morale.

Transformational leadership behaviorsTransformational leadership has been linked to emotion, which suggests thattransformational leadership behaviors might be valuable for effectively managingemotion-laden conflicts in teams. Cherulnik et al. (2001) argue that transformationalbehaviors flow from the leaders’ level of confidence, enthusiasm, and awareness of the

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emotional needs of members, and that transformational leadership impacts theaffective state of the group by eliciting emotional arousal in group members.George (2000) argues that transformational leadership is primarily based on emotionalprocesses, including the ability to appraise others’ emotions as well as effectivelyportray emotions (see also, Prati et al., 2003). Given that transformational leadershipinvolves the management of one’s own and others’ emotions, leaders who engage intransformational behaviors are likely to be able to manage team conflicts in ways thatminimize the negative repercussions of emotional displays and heated exchanges.

Transformational leaders also engage in higher levels of individualizedconsideration, inspiration, motivation, and intellectual stimulation in their relationswith their followers (Avolio and Yammarino, 2002; Bass and Steidlmeier, 1999). Inparticular, transformational leaders inspire their members to achieve a vision, andmembers feel highly motivated and strongly connected to their leader (Bass et al.,2003). We focus on communication of vision and related leader behaviors. Althoughtransformational leadership theory does not explicitly consider the management ofteam conflicts, the nature of transformational leadership provides team members witha shared goal, vision, values, and relationship to the leader that can serve as thefoundation of constructive resolution of team conflicts. In this regard, Ayoko andCallan (2010) show that leader behaviors that involved higher levels of inspirationand communication of vision by leaders were directly associated with lower levels ofbullying by team members. Specifically, a shared goal or vision for the team’smission provides a common purpose against which to assess the different viewsexpressed during task conflicts. A shared vision also provides the parties with acommonality of interests, which can motivate them to settle their differences. Asa result of these motivational processes, transformational leadership behaviorsresult in enhanced outcomes on measures of employee morale and performance.Meta-analysis has documented positive links between transformational leadershipand follower job satisfaction (r¼ 0.58), follower satisfaction with the leader(r¼ 0.71), follower motivation (r¼ 0.53), leader job performance (r¼ 0.27), leadereffectiveness (r¼ 0.64), and group or organizational performance (r¼ 0.26).Furthermore, the separate dimensions of transformational leadership all showsimilarly substantial positive meta-analytic associations with performance (rs from0.60 to 0.71) (Lowe et al., 1996).

Additionally, transformational leaders are known for their capacity to induce highdegree of excitement and enthusiasm in their followers (Berlew, 1974). This means thattransformational leadership has the potential to improve the followers’ morale (Shamiret al., 1998). In particular, morale tends to be futuristic and Motowidlo and Borman(1978) describe morale as linked with satisfaction, motivation, high energy, andenthusiasm. It is also connected with zest (Peterson et al., 2009) and a sense of collectivepurpose and goals (Locke, 1976). According to Shamir et al. (1998), units with highlevels of morale have been linked with high performance (see also Motowidlo andBorman, 1978). Given the above and the fact that transformational leadership isinterested in meeting the individual team members at his/her point of needs, weanticipate that in the context of conflict, transformational leaders will be able toimprove the team member’s morale and performance:

H3a. Transformational behaviors on the part of the leader will result in a lessnegative (or more positive) association between task conflict and theworkgroup’s performance and morale.

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H3b. Transformational behaviors on the part of the leader will result in a lessnegative association between relationship conflict and the workgroup’sperformance and morale.

MethodologyDataData for this study were collected between 2000 and 2001 from workgroups in eightpublic service organizations in Australia. Using mailing labels, questionnaires weremailed to participants. Additionally, the first author and the gatekeeper administeredmajority of the questionnaire. Altogether, questionnaires were sent to a total of 1,200employees resulting in a 55 percent response rate (n¼ 660 in 122 workgroups). Theabove average response rate may be attributed to the fact that, in most cases and afterseveral reminders, the first author personally went back to collect the completedsurveys in sealed envelopes. The sample consists of groups that were comprised of aleader and at least four other individuals who identified themselves as a group andworked on tasks that were interdependent (Brett and Rognes, 1986). We screened datafor outliers, input errors, and missing values (Burns and Burns, 2008). Analysis did notshow a particular fixed pattern of missing value, and since the sample size exceeded200 participants, all cases with missing data were excluded from further analysis(Tabachnick and Fiddel, 1996). We also tested data for normality and analysis showedthat the data were normally distributed. Additionally, we excluded teams that identifiedmore than one leader as this situation does not allow for an accurate assessment of leaderbehaviors (i.e. group members may differ in their ratings of leader behaviors because theyare thinking of different focal persons as the leader). We also deleted teams where a leaderwas not identified. Overall, 585 group members in 89 groups were fit for analysis.Altogether, 58.5 percent of the participants were male while 41.5 percent were female.The majority (31.7 percent) of the participants were 41-50 years old.

MeasuresRacioethnic diversity. The sampled employees represented a wide variety of racioethnicgroups, but by far, the largest cultural group was white/Anglo, and 57 of the 89 groupsin the sample were 100 percent white. However, in an average group size of seven to tenpeople, there was an average of two to three non-Caucasians in the remaining 32groups. The sample appears to be representative of the country’s population at thepoint of data collection. To examine the impact of the presence of racioethnic diversityin these workgroups, we created dummy variable indicating groups as 100 percentwhite/homogeneous (1) or diverse (0).

Group processes (conflict). Group members reported on the amount of task andrelationship conflict in their workgroups. Task conflict was measured with a three-itemscale adapted from Jehn (1995). We measured task conflict with adapted items fromJehn (1995) such as “the disagreement in my workgroup is about opinions regardingthe work being done,” “the disagreement in my workgroup is about ideas.” All itemsused a five-point scale ranging from “1¼ strongly disagree” to “5¼ strongly agree.”Relationship conflict was measured by two items also adapted from Jehn (1995) such as“ Disagreements often result in emotional outbursts among group members”. Bothitems used a five-point scale ranging from “1¼ strongly disagree” to “5¼ stronglyagree.” Both task and relationship conflict measures were reliable (for task conflict,a¼ 0.86; for relationship conflict, a¼ 0.87). Task and relationship conflict weremeasured by aggregating individual scores to the group level.

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Leader behaviors. All leader behaviors were assessed by aggregating teammembers’ ratings of their leader. Leader’s conflict management behaviors weremeasured by using an adaptation of the six-item Likert type Rahim’s (1983) conflictmanagement scale. The items on the scale measured leader conflict managementbehaviors such as use of power (force), cooperation, use of a third party, providingprivacy and allocation to differing projects for parties in disagreement (a¼ 0.60).Nunnally and Bernstein (1994) suggest that a co-efficient above 0.60 indicatesreliability between the items in a scale. We measured leader’s emotion managementbehaviors by using a five-item Likert subscale of the WEIP Version 5 (Jordan et al.,2002). The WEIP subscale assessing ability to manage others’ emotions includes itemssuch as “When I am angry with a member of my team, I can overcome that emotionquickly.” “I am aware of how others in the team are feeling,” “When I talk to a teammember, I can gauge their reactions from their facial expression,” “When I am angrywith a member of my team, I can overcome that emotion quickly” (a¼ 0.75).

Finally, we measured leader transformational behaviors using the ProjectLeadership Questionnaire (Bain and Mann, 1997; see also, Pirola-Merlo et al., 2002).The five-item Likert scale based on Bass et al. (2003) concept of transformationalleadership, assesses how well leaders: facilitate positive working relationships amonggroup members (e.g. “engaging in activities to build relationships within the team”),and create a sense of vision and pride for the group (e.g. “communicating a vision of theproject’s possibilities”) (a¼ 0.89).

Group outcomes. Group performance was assessed by the group leader, whoresponded to the following three questions, “How well do those people who reportdirectly to you perform generally as a group?” “How well do those people thatreport directly to you perform generally as individuals?”, and “How effective is yourworkgroup?” Leaders used five response options ranging from 1¼ not at all effective to5¼ very effective (a¼ 0.78).

Group morale was measured with five items developed by Hart et al. (1996). Thereliability of this index was a¼ 0.92 (see also, Griffin et al., 2000; Miller et al., 1999; Nealet al., 2000). Sample items include, “I feel enthusiastic at work,” “I feel cheerful atwork,” and “I feel delighted at work.” All items used a five-point Likert scale rangingfrom “1¼ strongly disagree” to “5¼ strongly agree.” Individual responses wereaggregated to the group level to measure morale. Most of the measurementinstruments used in this study was adapted from pre-existing scales.

AnalysisFactor analysis. Three major steps have been identified for factor analysis: acorrelation matrix is created to determine the appropriateness of the data for factoranalysis, factor extraction is conducted to assess the number of factors present, androtation of the factor structure is undertaken to make the results more interpretable(Coakes and Steed, 2001). In the present study, an initial exploratory factor analysiswas conducted to determine the underlying structure of the data. Principal componentanalysis with varimax rotation was used to maximize the variance in the data(Tabachnick and Fidell, 1996). All data were analyzed using SPSS. Also, factorloadings were examined across the analyses and final factors were based on the mostconsistent factor structure. All items that cross-loaded in the process of decouplingscales were dropped.

Aggregation of group-level data. Aggregation of group member responses tocreate measures of group-level constructs must be justified by examining measures of

704

EDI31,8

within-group agreement, such as ANOVA, rWG(J) (Cohen et al., 2001), ICC(1) and ICC(2)(McGraw and Wong, 1996). A series of one-way ANOVAs showed a greater thanchance similarity among group members on all group-level constructs ( pso0.01). Thesignificant ANOVA findings allowed us to proceed with the computation of rWG(J),ICC(1), and ICC(2) for the constructs (Bliese, 2000). Findings were as follows:task conflict (rWG(J)¼ 0.60, ICC(1)¼ 0.24, ICC(2)¼ 0.49), relationship conflict (rWG( J)¼0.57, ICC(1)¼ 0.39, ICC(2)¼ 0.66), leader conflict management behaviors (rWG( J)¼ 0.94,ICC(1)¼ 0.27, ICC(2)¼ 0.99), leader communication of vision (rWG( J)¼ 0.69,ICC(1)¼ 0.55, ICC(2)¼ 0.79), leader emotion management (rWG( J)¼ 0.88, ICC(1)¼ 0.50,ICC(2)¼ 0.55), and group morale (rWG(J)¼ 0.95, ICC(1)¼ 0.054, ICC(2)¼ 0.78). Althoughno absolute standard value for aggregation based on rWG( J) and ICC have beenestablished, an rWG( J) Z0.70 and ICC(1) values exceeding 0.05 are considered sufficientto warrant aggregation (Bliese, 2000). Glick (1985) suggests an ICC(2) value of 0.60 orabove as a cut-off point to justify aggregation. We note that the rWG( J) or ICC scores forconflict scales were approaching the cut-off point. This is not uncommon (see Greeret al., 2008; Tjosvold et al., 2005). Consequently, we follow Greer et al. (2008); Tjosvoldand colleagues (2005) to conclude that the within-team ratings were homogenousenough to warrant aggregation to the team level. Based on the above results, ourgroup-level constructs approached, met, or exceeded these standards, justifying theaggregated measures used in this study.

Control variables. In all analyses, we controlled for group size, gender as well as a setof dummy variables indicating the group’s organization. We also controlled for genderand it has no significant impact on the variables of interest in this study.

Analytic strategy. We used hierarchical regression analysis to test the hypothesesregarding group performance and morale. In Step 1, we entered the control variables(i.e. organization dummies, and group size). In Step 2, we entered the independentvariable of racioethnic diversity, assessed by a dummy variable where1¼ homogeneous team (100 percent white) and 0¼ diverse team (o100 percentwhite). In Step 3, we entered either the task conflict or the relationship conflict measure,as these two measures were correlated to enter into the same prediction equation(r¼ 0.68). Finally, in Step 4, we entered the multiplicative interactions between the twotypes of conflict and the three leader behaviors to predict the group outcomes. H1a,H2a, and H3a predicted that leadership would moderate the impact of task conflict ongroup performance and morale, and H1b, H2b, and H3b predicted that leadershipwould moderate the impact of relationship conflict on group outcomes.

To test mediation and moderation, we followed the procedure outlined by Baron andKenny (1986). According to Baron and Kenny, four conditions are critical to the testingof mediation. First, the independent variable (i.e. racioethnic diversity) must besignificantly related to a mediator (i.e. task and relationship conflict). Second, diversitymust be significantly related to the outcome variables of performance and morale.Third, task and relationship conflict must be significantly related to performance andmorale, respectively. Finally, the relationship between diversity and the outcomes ofperformance and morale must be significantly reduced when task or relationshipconflict is introduced to the regression equations, as assessed by the Sobel test(MacKinnon and Dwyer, 1993; MacKinnon et al., 1995).

The above procedure is sufficient for testing the diversity-process-outcomes model;however, our figure depicts a moderated mediation model and requires a moresophisticated calculation of effects. Moderation is assessed by examining thesignificance of the increase in R2 when the multiplicative interaction between the IV

705


behaviors

and the moderator is entered into the regression equation. Given a significant increasein R2, the form of the interaction must be investigated by calculating and plottingsimple slopes and regions of significance. Moderated mediation takes this process onestep further to calculate the extent to which the moderator influences the strength of amediated effect. We used the formulas provided by Preacher et al. (2007) to test formoderated mediation.

ResultsTable I presents means, SD, and correlations among the study variables. Therelationships between racioethnic diversity, conflict (task and relationship), and groupmorale and group performance were first examined by correlation (see Table I).Diversity was not significantly correlated with either type of conflict or with eitheroutcome variable. Task conflict was significantly negatively correlated with bothgroup performance and group morale, consistent with the findings of De Dreu andWeingart’s (2003) meta-analysis. Relationship conflict was significantly negativelycorrelated with team morale, and non-significantly correlated with team performance.

Regression analyses (Table II) showed that when group size and organization werecontrolled, group diversity was a positive predictor of task conflict ( po0.05, using one-tailed test for directional prediction) but was unrelated to relationship conflict( p40.20). Hence, the diversity-process-outcomes model is potentially supported fortask conflict, but not for relationship conflict in our data.

Table III shows the regression analyses predicting group performance as assessedby leaders, and Table IV shows the regression analyses predicting group morale asreported by group members and aggregated to the group level. Step 1 of theregressions showed that diversity was not a significant predictor of either groupperformance or morale when group size and organization were controlled. Step 2showed that both task conflict and relationship conflict ( pso0.05, using one-tailedtests for directional predictions) were significantly negatively associated with bothgroup performance and morale, supporting the meta-analytic conclusions of De Dreuand Weingart (2003).

Hypothesis testsH1a and H1b predicted that active conflict management on the part of the leader wouldweaken the negative association of task and relationship conflict, respectively, with

Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1.Diversity 0.64 0.48 1.002.Team leader conflict management 2.56 0.49 �0.14 1.003.Transformational leadership 3.69 0.46 0.13 �0.16 1.004.Team leader emotional management 3.82 0.35 0.04 �0.28 0.49 1.005.Relationship conflict 1.96 0.60 �0.09 0.10 �0.19 �0.13 1.006.Task conflict 2.53 0.56 �0.16 0.23 �0.40 �0.20 0.68 1.007.Team performance 3.84 0.68 0.23 �0.28 0.48 0.39 �0.22 �0.36 1.008.Team morale 3.41 0.49 �0.12 �0.13 0.27 0.28 �0.29 �0.29 0.28 1.00n 89

Notes: Correlations 40.276 were significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed);correlations 40.277 weresignificant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed)

Table I.Means, SDs, andcorrelations

706

EDI31,8

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709


behaviors

group performance and morale. Step 4 of the regression equations depicted inTables III and IV indicated that the multiplicative interaction between leader conflictmanagement and relationship conflict predicted a significant additional amount ofvariance in the outcome of group morale. The form of the interaction is shown inFigure 2, which depicts plots of simple slopes at the sample mean (2.56), one SD belowthe mean (2.07) and one SD above the mean (3.05). Calculation of the region ofsignificance indicated that the simple slope of the association between relationshipconflict (x-axis) and morale (y-axis) was negative and significant when the rating ofleader conflict management was o2.67. The simple slope was non-significant whenleader conflict management was rated at 2.67 or higher. Hence, leaders had to scoresomewhat above the sample mean of 2.56 in conflict management to preventrelationship conflict from damaging group morale.

The other three interactions between leader conflict management and task/relationship conflict did not add significantly to the variance accounted for inperformance or morale. Hence, H1a was not supported, and H1b was partiallysupported.

H2a and H2b predicted that leader emotion management would weaken thenegative association of task and relationship conflict, respectively, with groupperformance and morale. Step 4 of the regression equations in Tables III and IVshowed that leader emotion management interacted significantly with both task andrelationship conflict to predict group performance, but not morale. The form of theinteraction between leader emotion management and task conflict is shown in Figure 3,which depicts plots of simple slopes at the sample mean (3.82), one SD below the mean(3.47) and one SD above the mean (4.17). Calculation of the region of significanceindicated that the simple slope of the association between task conflict (x-axis) andperformance (y-axis) was negative and significant when the rating of leader emotion

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Figure 2.Moderating effect of leaderconflict management onassociation betweenrelationship conflict andperformance

710

EDI31,8

management was o4.00. The simple slope was non-significant when leader emotionmanagement was rated at 4.00 or higher. Hence, leaders had to score somewhat abovethe sample mean of 3.82 in emotion management to prevent task conflict fromdamaging group performance.

The interaction effect of leader emotion management and relationship conflict ongroup performance was similar in form to that depicted in Figure 3. Calculation of theregion of significance indicated that the simple slope of the association betweenrelationship conflict and performance was negative and significant when the rating ofleader emotion management was o3.89. The simple slope was non-significant whenleader emotion management was rated at 3.89 or higher. Hence, leaders had to scoresomewhat above the sample mean of 3.82 in emotion management to preventrelationship conflict from damaging group performance. In sum, the results for groupperformance supported H2a and H2b, while the results for group morale were non-significant.

H3a and H3b predicted that leader transformational behaviors would weaken thenegative association of task and relationship conflict, respectively, with groupperformance and morale. Step 4 in the regression equations depicted in Tables III andIV indicated that the multiplicative interaction between leader transformationalbehavior and both task and relationship conflict was a significant predictor of groupperformance, but not morale. Both of these interactions were similar in form toFigure 3. Calculation of the region of significance indicated that the simple slope of theassociation between task conflict (x-axis) and performance (y-axis) was negative andsignificant when the rating of leader transformational behavior was o3.59. The simpleslope was non-significant when leader transformational behavior was rated at3.59 or higher. Hence, leaders scoring somewhat below the sample mean of 3.69 intransformational behavior were able to prevent task conflict from damaging groupperformance.

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CVz1 (1)CVz1 (2)CVz1 (3)

2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0Figure 3.

Form of moderating effectof leader on associations

between conflict andperformance

711


behaviors

The region of significance showed that the simple slope of the association betweenrelationship conflict (x-axis) and performance ( y-axis) was negative and significantwhen the rating of leader transformational behavior was o3.22. The simple slope wasnon-significant when leader transformational behavior was rated at 3.22 or higher.Hence, leaders scoring somewhat below the sample mean of 3.69 in technical skill wereable to prevent relationship conflict from damaging group performance. In sum, theresults for group performance supported H3a and H3b, while the results for groupmorale were non-significant.

Test for moderated mediationWe calculated tests for moderated mediation to determine whether the indirect effect ofdiversity on performance via task conflict was moderated by leader behavior. Findingsfor leader emotion management provided some support for our conceptual model,depicted in Figure 1. At a low level of emotion management (one SD below the samplemean), the indirect effect of diversity on group performance showed a non-significantnegative tendency (z¼ 1.67, po0.10). The indirect effect of diversity on groupperformance was non-significant at the mean level of leader emotion management(z¼ 1.63, ns) and at a high level of emotion management (one SD above the mean)(z¼ 0.95, ns). None of the other findings supported our prediction of moderatedmediation, probably because diversity was not a significant direct predictor of theoutcome variables.

DiscussionThe findings of this study indicate that leadership may be an important contextualfactor affecting the outcomes of conflicts in work teams. Significant moderatoreffects indicated that leader emotion management mitigated the negative effectof relationship conflict on team performance, and leader transformationalbehaviors mitigated the negative effects of both task and relationship conflict onteam performance. Leader conflict management eliminated the negative effect ofrelationship conflict on team morale. Hence, the findings of this study demonstratethe value of effective leadership for managing team conflicts, which is a contributionto prior work showing the value of effective conflict management tactics by teammembers (Ayoko et al., 2012; DeChurch and Marks, 2001; Somech et al., 2009;Tekleab et al., 2009).

A moderated mediation effect was found indicating that leader emotionmanagement is valuable for reducing the negative impact of task conflict onperformance in diverse teams. Task conflict arising from racioethnic diversity can leadto negative emotions, due to the difficulties associated with social categorizationprocesses (van Knippenberg et al., 2004). In particular, research has shown thatethnicity and race are fundamental to observable heterogeneity, which more often thannot arouse responses in others based on categorization (such as biases, prejudices,or stereotypes) (Milliken and Martins, 1996) through social identification andself-categorization. In fact, the study by Meeus et al. (2010) shows that the more peopleidentify with their in-group members, the more likely they are to view their in-group inmore ethnic terms. This, in turn, can lead them to exhibit more ethnic prejudices. In thesame study, group identification is shown to be positively related to ethnic prejudices,such that people who identify strongly with their in-group increasingly adopt a moreethnic identity representation that eventually is positively associated with increases inethnic prejudices. Altogether, identification and categorization of individuals into

712

EDI31,8

different groups can provoke hostility or animosity within the workgroup that maytrigger negative emotions.

Additionally, the finding that leader emotion management moderates the negativeimpact of task conflicts arising from diversity indicates the critical value of leaderswho are aware of the potential negative emotional outcomes of task conflict in diverseteams. This finding supports prior theory arguing that leaders must manage teammembers’ emotions during conflicts in order to avoid the development of a negativegroup emotional history (Kelly and Barsade, 2001) and resulting damage to importantwork attitudes driving decisions to work productively, to behave cooperatively, and toremain with the organization (Ashkanasy et al., 2002).

Recently, other researchers have documented that leadership is important forgenerating positive outcomes in diverse teams, such as enhancing performance(Kearney and Gebert, 2009; Stewart and Johnson, 2009) and reducing turnover(Nishii and Mayer, 2009). In particular, Kearney and Gebert (2009) find thattransformational leadership moderates the impact of diversity on the elaborationand effective processing of task-relevant information in teams. Hence, these authorsconsidered leadership as a moderator of the diversity-process relationship in thediversity-process-outcomes model, while we considered leadership as a moderator ofthe process-outcomes relationship in that model. Our two sets of findings need notbe viewed as contradictory, however, because they were examining the process ofelaboration, while we were examining the processes of task and relationship conflict.Their elaboration measure assessed whether workers believed that their fellowteam members openly share their knowledge, carefully consider all informationand perspectives, and generate high-quality ideas and solutions. Their findingsshowed that when transformational leadership was high, diversity was positivelyassociated with elaboration of information, and when transformational leadershipwas low, diversity was negatively associated with elaboration. Furthermore,elaboration was positively associated with performance. Hence, leaders who canenhance the elaboration process in diverse teams can generate higher performanceby doing so.

Our conflict measures, on the other hand, asked workers to report on the extent towhich team members disagreed with each other on task and relationship issues. Teamdiversity was a positive predictor of task conflict in our regressions, and task conflictwas a negative predictor of both performance and morale reiterating the findings of DeDreu and Weingart (2003). Prior theorists have argued, however, that task conflict isvaluable because it provides the team with greater variety in perspectives andinformation that can inform more effective and creative decisions (Jehn, 1995; Jehn andMannix, 2001; Van de Vliert and De Dreu, 1994). Our findings provided clear supportfor the value of leadership behaviors for reducing the negative effects of conflicts onperformance and morale in workgroups. We found less support for the moderatedmediation of leadership in the diversity-conflict-outcomes model, although we dodocument that the indirect effect of diversity on performance via task conflict wasmoderated by leader emotion management. Hence, leader emotion management inparticular was effective for ensuring that task conflicts did not result in poorer teamperformance in diverse teams. In summary, together, our findings show that leadershipcan serve to maximize the effectiveness of diverse work teams by both ensuringthat diversity leads to positive elaboration processes (Kearney and Gebert, 2009)and ensuring that conflicts do not lead to negative performance outcomes (findings ofthis study).

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Diversity showed the predicted positive association with task conflict in workgroups, but both task and relationship conflicts were negatively associated with theoutcome variables of group performance and morale. It is possible that the groupssampled in this study were not diverse enough to generate a diversity advantage,because in many cases, we were comparing all-white groups to groups with only abouttwo-three members of other ethno-cultural groups. To have a positive impact on groupperformance, the perspective of those in the numerical minority must be processed bythe group, and this is only likely to happen if the minority opinion is expressed firmlyand consistently (Nemeth, 1986, 1992). People in the numerical minority in groups areless likely to speak out with confidence if they are solos or constitute o15 percent ofthe group (Kanter, 1977; Sekaquaptewa and Thompson, 2002; Thompson andSekaquaptewa, 2002). Studies with a greater range of diversity in groups may be morelikely to demonstrate value from diversity. Additionally, given that the deep-leveldiversity indices take more time to emerge in groups (Harrison et al., 1998, 2002; Jehnet al., 1999) while the surface-level characteristics (e.g. ethnicity, age gender) are moreimmediately apparent (Riordan, 2001), there is a possibility that the teams sampled inthis study have not been together enough to get pass the interaction hurdles (posed byvisible dissimilarity) to positive outcomes of diversity.

Although we did not have a strong-moderated mediation effect, leadership didmoderate the negative relationships between the two types of conflict and groupoutcomes. In particular, leader emotion management was effective for reducing thenegative impact of both task and relationship conflict on group performance. Thisfinding extends the growing literature on emotions in organizations (Brockner andHiggins, 2001) by linking it to the critical process of conflict management. Specifically,leaders rated as somewhat above the mean on emotion management were able tomitigate the negative effects of task and relationship conflict so that they did notdamage group performance. Leaders rated lower on emotion management had lowergroup performance under conditions of conflict. Hence, our findings show thatleadership can be a powerful tool for dealing with one of the most distressing forms oforganizational behavior – that is, relationship conflicts between organization memberswho have to work together.

Leader transformational behaviors were also useful for reducing the negativeimpact of conflict on group performance. Leaders rated as near average or higher ontransformational behaviors were able to minimize the negative impact of task andrelationship conflict on group performance. Less skilled leadership resulted in poorerperformance under conditions of conflict. Therefore, we conclude that leadershipdevelopment is critically important to organizational performance, and that many ofthe group leaders in our sample were insufficiently skilled to handle group conflicteffectively.

Active conflict management strategies undertaken by the leader reduced themagnitude of the negative association between relationship conflict and employeemorale, as predicted. Leader active conflict management did not moderate the linkbetween task conflict and employee morale, the link between task conflict and teamperformance, or the link between relationship conflict and team performance, however.These surprising findings may be due to the nature of the active conflict managementstrategies included in our measure. We included power (force), cooperation, use ofa third party, providing privacy and allocation to differing projects for parties indisagreement as components of active conflict management. Some of these strategies,likely require considerable skill for effective implementation in diverse teams

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experiencing conflicts. In the absence of such skill, some of these tactics could havenegative repercussions, particularly the use of power or force (Weider-Hatfield andHatfield, 1996). By comparison, less skilled application of emotion management ortransformational leadership is unlikely to create negative outcomes; rather, lack of skillin these instances likely has neutral or no impact. As such, the results of active conflictmanagement strategies may be less consistently positive than the results of emotionmanagement or transformational leadership.

Practical implicationsBased on our results, in order to prevent negative emotions from task and relationshipconflict from damaging group performance, leaders of diverse groups can act tomanage those emotions among their group members. Also, because meta-analyticresults show that both task and relationship conflicts can result in poorer performance(De Dreu and Weingart, 2003) and the complex relationship between task conflict andperformance (de Wit et al., 2011), leaders may wish to reduce conflict in diverse teams.Based on this thinking, we argue that leaders should not try to diminish the conflictsarising from team diversity, but rather, employ conflict management strategies tomanage intra-group conflicts effectively to produce positive outcomes. A leader who isable to manage the conflict effectively may be able to reduce negative emotions andincrease group morale and performance. Finally, our results show that leaders’transformational behaviors (e.g. communication of vision) to the group membersreduced the effect of conflict on group performance. Altogether, these results haveimplications for organizational leadership and managers. For example, leadershiptraining is implicated. Leadership development programs should include conflict andemotions management skills as well as ability to provide a vision and direction forteam members. Also, given the success of leadership intervention in the presentresearch, organizational and team leadership should continue to model leadershipbehaviors (e.g. emotions/conflict management) that can assist in shaping team normsand climate that will be effective in reducing conflict.

Limitations and future research directionsLike all empirical studies, this study has its limitations. A greater amount of variationin the diversity of work groups included in the sample would have been useful forovercoming problems of restriction of range, which likely reduced our ability toobserve an association between diversity and group outcomes. The sample is veryrich, however, and utilizes previously published measures of leadership, conflict, andgroup outcomes. Every effort was made during data collection to include diverseworkgroups in the eight participating organizations. In the end, only 36 percent of thesampled groups had non-white member. This limitation is shared by many studies ofracioethnic diversity (Proudford and Nkomo, 2006).

The associations observed between group members’ aggregated ratings of conflictand morale are threatened by the possibility of common methods bias. Although theconflict and morale measures are only moderately correlated (rs¼ 0.29, po0.01), thepossibility exists that those associations are partly due to the fact that the same peoplerated both concepts at the same time on the same survey. The findings observed forgroup performance are not subject to common methods bias concerns, however.The predictor, conflict, was provided by group members, while the performanceoutcome was provided by group leaders. Most of the findings supporting themoderating effect of leadership on the association between conflict and group

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outcomes were observed for group performance, and as such, common methods bias isnot a concern for most of the important findings of this study.

Additionally, the reliability score of the conflict management scale in the present studywas on the low side and the statistics justifying aggregation approached the commonlyaccepted point. Although, Nunnally and Bernstein (1994) advised that a co-efficient of 0.60should not be a concern, caution should be taken in generalizing the results related to thisvariable. Also, we acknowledge that other factors may be contributory in heightening theinfluence of task conflict in the study. Overall, the above shows that most managersand group leaders lack the skills or motivation to address conflict in workgroups.Conflict management training is therefore indicated. Training enhances both individual(Wege and Moeller, 1995) and group performance (Firestein and McCowan, 1988; Stoutet al., 1997). While training for conflict management is beyond the scope of this research,further research should examine the issue.

ConclusionLeadership is a valuable resource to organizations dealing with conflict in groups.Although both task and relationship conflict show a negative direct effect on groupperformance and morale, effective conflict management, emotion management, andtransformational behaviors on the part of leaders neutralized those negative effects.Diversity is associated with greater task conflict, which in turn, is linked to poorerperformance and morale outcomes. The positive moderating effect of leadership on theconflict-outcomes relationship shows the importance of leadership in diverse workplaces.

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Further reading

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Song, M., Dyer, B. and Thieme, R.J. (2006), “Conflict management and innovation performance:an integrated contingency perspective”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 341-56.

About the authors

Oluremi B. Ayoko is a Senior Lecturer in Management at the University of Queensland BusinessSchool. She teaches conflict management, leading and managing people, human resourcemanagement and business research methods. Her research interests include conflict,emotions, leadership, employee territorial behaviors and workplace diversity. She haspublished in journals such as Applied Psychology: An International Review, International

Journal of Conflict Management, International Journal of Organizational Analysis and Small

Group Research. Oluremi B. Ayoko is the corresponding author and can be contacted at:[email protected]

Alison M. Konrad is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Richard Ivey School ofBusiness and holder of the Corus Entertainment Chair in Women in Management. She earned herPhD in Applied Social Psychology at the Claremont Graduate University. She is a Fellow of theEastern Academy of Management and a member of the Women’s Executive Network (WXN)Advisory Board for Canada’s Most Powerful Women Top 100. Her research interests center ongender and diversity in organizations.

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email protected] visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints

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