A Leadership Report on Task Conflicts and Team Performance Analysis

This report delves into the multifaceted nature of task conflicts within teams and their consequential impact on overall performance. It initiates with an overview of task conflicts, highlighting the diverse perspectives and challenges they present. The report then critically analyzes three distinct articles, each focusing on a specific aspect of task conflicts: skewed perceptions, the role of psychological safety, and the influence of team personality. A comparative analysis of the articles reveals common themes and divergent viewpoints, followed by a comprehensive discussion of the findings. The report concludes by synthesizing the key insights, offering recommendations for future research, and emphasizing the significance of understanding and managing task conflicts to enhance team effectiveness and achieve organizational goals. The report underscores the need for proactive leadership in fostering a positive environment where conflicts are constructively addressed and leveraged for improved team performance.

Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................................2
Article 1:......................................................................................................................................................2
Article 2.......................................................................................................................................................3
Article 3.......................................................................................................................................................3
Comparison of the articles:.........................................................................................................................4
Discussion:...................................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................................5
Recommendations:..................................................................................................................................6
References:..................................................................................................................................................7
Appendix:....................................................................................................................................................8

Introduction:
A conflict among the team members is the topic that has been discussed since years. This is
because when two and more members work together, the conflicts develops because of many
reasons such as difference in thinking process, culture, beliefs etc. It has been analysed that
difference in the people and their thinking process results in difference perception regarding the
task conflicts. Thus, it becomes challenging for the management to manage such a situation.
Task conflicts can be perceived as a positive factor in the team but it depends on the perception
of the team members. It has been analysed that it depends on the team that how they perceive
and take the conflicts rises and their perception results in either positive or negative impact of
task conflicts on the team performance. It is the report that discusses about various aspects of
task conflicts and their positive or negative impact on team performance. It focuses on three
articles which have similar base topic that is task conflicts but have different discussions. The
report initiates with the discussion of the various aspects from various articles and follows with
the discussion of strengths and weaknesses of the same. The later part is all about the similarities
and the differences in the articles along with the conclusion that has been observed by analysing
all the articles.
Article 1: Skewed Task Conflicts in Teams: What Happens When a Few Members See More
Conflict Than the Rest?
In this article, the relationship between the skewed conflicts and the team performance has been
discussed. It discusses about the positive impact on the skewed conflicts on the team
performance but suggests that if there are other factors that affect the task conflicts such as
relationship, emotional etc. then it may turn anther way and create negative impact on the team
performance. The major strength of this research is that it provides the specific information about
the pattern of conflict perceptions. This study of Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S., Greer, L. L.,
Conlon, D. E., & Edwards, J. R. (2016) deals with two studies, the first study includes the
investigation of the impact of positive skewed task conflicts on the performance of the team. The
investigation has been conducted on the teams of the MBA students in the business schools of
India that are on top. The second study at the same time deals with organizational teams. In this,
the investigation has been conducted on the ratings of the supervisor and the impact of positive
skewed conflicts on the same. It has been argued in the research of Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S.,

Greer, L. L., Conlon, D. E., & Edwards, J. R. (2016) that only the task conflicts have positive
impact of the team performance but if they are interfered with some other conflicts such as
relationship conflicts or any other conflicts then it twisted to different direction and the positive
relationship between the task conflicts and the performance deviates. Reflective communications
is also another aspect that has been integrated with the task conflicts and studied deeply in this
study. The regression analysis approach has been used to determine the results of the study but
there is a weakness in the study that deals with the minority members who think that the task
conflicts exist. The personality of those members also needs to be analysed to get appropriate
results.
Article 2: Reaping the Benefits of Task Conflict in Teams: The Critical Role of Team
Psychological Safety Climate
This article is also based on the study of task conflicts and their positive impact on the
performance of the team but it focuses mainly on the conditions in which the task conflicts have
positive impact on the team performance. Various contextual factors and their impact on task
conflict and performance relationship has been studied by project teams. One of the factors that
have been found by Bradley, B. H., Postlethwaite, B. E., Klotz, A. C., Hamdani, M. R., &
Brown, K. G. (2012) that have a great impact on the task conflict and performance relation is the
psychological safety. Psychological safety had been suggested as the common beliefs of the team
members that their team is safe to take all the risk coming to them. The article argues that if the
team have high psychological safety in them then they can easily handle the conflicts that have
been generated in the team and thus creatively the decisions are being made that enhances the
performance of the team. The variables that have been rested in the research are team
performance, task conflicts and the psychological safety among the team members. The only
weakness that has been identified in the research is that the sample that has been used for the
research. The research studies the students who are undergraduates and which may restrict
generalization of the research as undergraduate students cannot represents the whole population
clearly.
Article 3: Ready to Rumble: How Team Personality Composition and Task Conflict Interact to
Improve Performance

This article focuses on the concept of personality in the relationship between the task conflicts
and the team performance. It has been investigated in the report that how the characteristics of
the team members affect the task conflict in the team and their impact on the performance. The
investigation has been conducted on 177 project teams. There are two goals of this study, the
first deal with the studying of theoretical aspects of the composition of personality characteristics
and the other one deals with the how the team composition can later and modify the relationship
of task conflicts with the team performance. Two major factors of personality that is openness to
experience and emotional stability of the team members have been considered in order to
identify the impact of the contextual factors on the task conflicts. The weakness of this report
that is conducted by Bradley, B. H., Klotz, A. C., Postlethwaite, B. E., & Brown, K. G. (2013) is
that the sample that has been taken is undergraduates. This is not the appropriate sample to be
taken. It has been analysed that another weakness of the research is that other big personality
traits are not being considered in the study such as extraversion, agreeableness and
conscientiousness. The elements that are considered to be measure in the report are task
conflicts, team performance, openness to experience and emotional stability.
Comparison of the articles:
All the articles that have been studied above have the same basic concepts. It has been analysed
that the study of Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S., Greer, L. L., Conlon, D. E., & Edwards, J. R.
(2016) discusses about the skewed task conflicts and the positive impact of the same on the
performance of the team. The major aspect that has been considered is related to the members
who look task conflicts as conflicts and the other members if the same team do not consider the
conflicts as conflicts. The perception of the members of the team is the major aspect that deviates
the positive impact of task conflicts o the performance of the team. As far as the article of
Bradley, B. H., Postlethwaite, B. E., Klotz, A. C., Hamdani, M. R., & Brown, K. G. (2012) is
considered, it has been analysed that again the relationship of the task conflicts and the team
performance has been assessed but now the aspect that is associated with the research is
different. The aspect is psychological safety of the team members. Likewise, the 3 article is
about the personality characteristics of the members of the team as the major aspect that has its
impact on the task conflicts and the performance of the team. Out of those big five traits of the
personality traits of them are using considered in the study. It has been identified that all the

three authors have argues about the same concept but there are some variation in terms of the
study and the factors that affects the task conflicts. As far as the differences in the studies are
considered, it has been analysed that businesses are considered as the sample for studying in the
article of Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S., Greer, L. L., Conlon, D. E., & Edwards, J. R. (2016)
while the other two authors have confided undergraduates for the study. Undergraduates cannot
be taken as the appropriate sample as they des not represents the whole population properly. It
has been concluded from the article of Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S., Greer, L. L., Conlon, D. E.,
& Edwards, J. R. (2016) that skewness in the task conflicts have positive impact on the team
outcomes. Any deviation in the task conflicts or the involvement of any other factors such as
relationship conflicts can affect the positivity of the impact. In the article of Bradley, B. H.,
Postlethwaite, B. E., Klotz, A. C., Hamdani, M. R., & Brown, K. G. (2012), it has been
concluded that the task conflicts and the team performance are affected by the condition and the
mentality of the team members. The major condition that has its impact on the task conflicts and
the team performance is psychological safety. The last one concludes that personality and the
characteristic of the team members is the reason of variations in the relationship between the task
conflicts and the performance of the team.
Discussion:
Conclusion:
It has been concluded from this study that task conflicts can be defined as the conflicts that are
generated in the team because of the disagreements in the ideas of the people working in a team
related to the task that needs to be performed. It has been analysed from the study that task
conflicts among the team members affect the performance of the team in positive manner.
However, it should be ensured that no other associated factors have interference in the same.
This is because of any of the conflicts such as relationship and cultural conflicts generates that it
may deviate the positivity and the team outcomes. There are relatively many factors that affect
the generation of the task conflicts and the relationship between the task conflicts and the team
performance. It has been analysed that the conditions at the workplace and the mind-set of the
team members is also important in order to have the positive relationship between the task
conflicts and the team performance. This is because of the team members are ready to the risks
positively then they will take decision creatively and with mutual concern which definitely

enhances the performance of the team at the end. Along with the conditions and the perception of
the people, it depends in the personality of the members as well that whether they will take the
conflict as the positive condition for the team performance or as the negative aspect. The big five
traits needs to be examined to identify the personality factors that affect the task conflicts.
Recommendations:
It has been recommended that some future research should be conducted in terms of analysing
more factors that affect the task conflicts and the team performance of the teams. It has been
analysed that team performance is very important for the organizations thus the research should
be conducted in the organizational teams so that the results can be effective and can be used by
the companies to take the decision over the team making. It has also been recommended that the
research should be conducted under the different circumstances and contingencies so that the
effect of various conditional factors and the workplace situations can also be studied as these
factors may affect the team working and the task conflicts that can be generated in the team at
the time of their processing.

References:
Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S., Greer, L. L., Conlon, D. E., & Edwards, J. R. (2016). Skewed task
conflicts in teams: What happens when a few members see more conflict than the rest?. Journal
of Applied Psychology, 101(7), 1045.
Bradley, B. H., Postlethwaite, B. E., Klotz, A. C., Hamdani, M. R., & Brown, K. G. (2012).
Reaping the benefits of task conflict in teams: the critical role of team psychological safety
climate. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(1), 151.
Bradley, B. H., Klotz, A. C., Postlethwaite, B. E., & Brown, K. G. (2013). Ready to rumble: how
team personality composition and task conflict interact to improve performance. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 98(2), 385.

Appendix:
Article 1:
Skewed Task Conflicts in Teams: What Happens When a Few Members See More Conflict Than
the Rest?

Article 2:
Reaping the Benefits of Task Conflict in Teams: The Critical Role of Team Psychological Safety
Climate

Article 3:
Ready to Rumble: How Team Personality Composition and Task Conflict Interact to Improve
Performance