CONFLICT MANAGEMENT The Psychology of conflict and conflict ...

420 SMITH-CROWE, BRIEF, AND UMPHRESS
mational faultlines will experience high levels of intragroup task conflict
and low levels of intragroup relations and process conflicts. These propositions
provide an explanation for inconsistent findings evident in the literature
and alert organizational scholars not to construe diversity in terms
of categories like race and sex as being conceptually equivalent to those
based on characteristics like functional background or organizational tenure.
We are dealing with apples and oranges; bravo to Jehn et al. for recognizing
the difference. Too often, in our judgment, diversity researchers
have ignored these differences, theoretically equating, for example, being
Black and being an accountant.
When MiGht Diversity-Driven ConfliCt leaD to Positive outCoMes?
Schulz-Hardt, Mojzisch, and Vogelgesang (this volume) argued that conflict
sometimes promotes creativity and performance, providing empirical
evidence from several studies supporting their claim. If conflict can be functional,
then when might diversity-driven conflict lead to positive outcomes?
Schulz-Hardt et al. offered “activation” as one explanation for the positive
effects—when dissent is voiced, increased cognitive processing and group
discussion takes place. Indeed, Antonio et al. (2004) found increases in complex
thinking due to the presence of a racial minority in a group. We wonder,
however, about the boundary conditions that might curtail the positive
effects of diversity in groups. One of these conditions might be the extent
to which a dissenting opinion is diversity relevant. For example, a female
group member holding a dissenting opinion that the group should be less
task focused and more relationship focused might choose to keep this opinion
to herself for fear of confirming negative stereotypes about women in
the workplace. Alternatively, should she choose to share this dissenting
opinion rather than stimulating cognition and discussion, it may very well
be dismissed by the men and even other women in her group as being a
stereotypical female concern and not a legitimate business issue.
hoW MiGht Diversity-Driven ConfliCts Best Be resolveD?
Assuming that diversity-driven conflicts are likely to emerge in organizations
(cf. Sidanius & Pratto, 1999), our final question concerned their
resolution. In our search for answers, we turned to Terry and Amoit’s (this
volume) contribution in which they discussed the implications of status
for mergers. They provided the following bit of advice: Managers and
decision makers should
ensure that mechanisms are put in place so that employees from the lowstatus
premerger group do not feel threatened by the merger but rather,
feel that they bring specific, unique, and valued contributions to a greater