Using Conflict in Organizations

Using Conflict in Organizations challenges the common assumption that conflict in groups and organizations is detrimental to performance. It offers an alternative perspective by presenting the scarce but accumulating knowledge on how conflict can enhance individual achievement, the quality of group decision making, and the productivity in organizations. Part one of the book provides a general framework that explicitly links conflict to performance and from which this relationship can be understood. The second and third parts build on and illustrate this framework in a series of thematic chapters. Part two focuses on performance and intragroup conflict, covering topical areas such as dissent, groupthink, and strategic decision making. Part three deals with the performance-enhancing effects of intergroup conflict and addresses issues such as collective negotiation and diversity management. The final section of the book focuses on applications and intervention strategies that can stimulate conflict in ways that will enhance performance in groups and organizations. Offering a new perspective on conflict in groups and organizations, based on fundamental and field research, Using Conflict in Organizations will be required reading for academics, advanced students, and practitioners in management, organizational behavior, and organizational psychology.

Carsten K W de Dreu is Associate Professor of Organizational Psychology at the University of Amsterdam. He has published various articles in international journals on the subject of minority influence, negotiation, and conflict escalaton.

Evert van de Vliert is Professor of Organizational and Applied Social Psychology at the University of Groningen, Research Director of the Kurt Lewin Institute in Amsterdam and President of the International Association for Conflict Management. He has published numerous articles and several books on the subject of conflict, including Role Transitions: Exploration and Explanations (1984) and has a title forthcoming Theoretical Frontiers of Complex Interpersonal Conflict Behaviour.

CONTRIBUTORS OUTSIDE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

Gary A. Bornstein, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Nanne K. de Vries University of Amsterdam

Ido Erev Technion -Haifa

Martin C Euwema, University of Utrecht

Onne Janssen University of Groningen

Aukje Nauta University of Groningen

Dean Tjosvold Lingham College Hong Kong