CONFLICT MANAGEMENT The Psychology of conflict and conflict ...

9. CONFLICT, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING 281
In a study on job stressors and counterproductive behaviors, Chen and
Spector (1992) found that conflict at work was positively related to a variety
of CWBs. Specifically, it was associated with more interpersonal aggression
(r 5 .49), increased workplace hostility and complaining (r 5 .46),
more sabotage (r 5 .34), and theft (r 5 .16). Fox et al. (2001) distinguished
between counterproductive behaviors aimed at the organization versus
those aimed at other individuals in their test of an emotion-centered
model of CWB. Their results showed direct positive relationships between
conflict and both organizational and personal CWB, such that employees
who reported more conflict also reported engaging in more counterproductive
behaviors. Spector et al. (2003) supported these findings by using
multiple sources of data, which included self and peer reports. Lee (2003)
also collected data from incumbents and their peers, showing a relationship
between sources of conflict and CWB targeting both the organization
and other employees.
Therefore, it seems that conflict has practical implications for organizations
through absence, increased health care costs, negative work
attitudes, and counterproductive work behaviors. Ultimately, this social
stressor is not only damaging to employees, but can play a deleterious role
in the maintenance of a healthy work organization.
liMitations anD future researCh DireCtions
Given the previously mentioned evidence, it is clear that interpersonal
conflict is a leading social stressor in organizations and, consequently, of
great importance to researchers of job stress. Furthermore, its relationship
with numerous health and well-being outcomes makes it a variable
of critical importance. Nevertheless, a number of both conceptual and
methodological limitations to the literature will require future research
attention.
There are also a number of questions raised by the literature as well
as research gaps, such as the role that task conflict plays in employee
health and well-being. While moderate amounts of task conflict have been
regarded as being functional and even desirable (see Jehn, 1995), its impact
on health and personal well-being is unknown. However, there is reason
to believe that task conflict can result in detriments to employee health, as
does relationship conflict. For instance, to the extent that task conflict leads
to relationship conflict, we can expect it to have negative outcomes for personal
well-being. Simons and Peterson (2000) found that task conflict might
result in relationship conflict when a misattribution of behavior occurs.
This is particularly true for groups with low trust in which negative intentions
are attributed to the occurrence of task conflict. This poses two interesting
areas for research. First, it is clear that more research is necessary
to understand the direct impact that task conflict can incur on health and
well-being. Second, more research is needed to understand the spiraling