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"
