Intrateam conflict and individual commitment : the roles of TMX and voice climate

Abstract

"Modern organisations increasingly use cross-functional, agile teams to complete complex tasks; however, without the moderating effects of traditional hierarchy, these teams are more prone to conflict and low commitment. Surprisingly, under the right moderating conditions, conflict is not always detrimental to team outcomes. This study proposes that by studying the relationship between conflict and commitment within teams, we can gain valuable insights into the conditions that determine how detrimental the conflict is and find ways to increase team members' commitment towards their groups. The study quantitatively examined the relationship between the three types of conflict within these teams – task, process, and relationship conflict – and the affective commitment felt by team members. This relationship was assessed through two moderating conditions – team-member exchange (TMX) and perceived voice climate. Syndicate teams are widely used in postgraduate business school programmes to simulate the business environment and provide experiential learning. They have little formal hierarchy or power dynamics and frequently struggle with low commitment, social loafing, and conflicts during their tenure. Therefore, a survey of the experiences of 202 students who participated in syndicate teams at South African business schools was analysed using hierarchical linear regression to determine the relationships. The findings indicate that all three types of conflict have a negative relationship with affective commitment, and of the three, task conflict has the least destructive relationship. The quality of the social exchanges between team members, TMX, was shown to play an important moderating role, reducing this negative relationship. However, while there is a direct positive relationship between the voice climate within the team and affective commitment, it was not found to play a moderating role. The study builds on our understanding of commitment and conflict within flat-structured teams and further highlights the importance of team member exchange as a construct"