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Unleash the Power of Conflict
Twentieth century American philosopher John Dewey once said: "Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheep-like passivity." And when it comes to the workplace, the benefits of conflict are no different. It can actually lead workers to achieve better results. A study, by academicians at Brigham Young University, Stanford University and Northwestern University and published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, found that groups work better if they are infused with a "socially distinct newcomer" -- someone different enough to bump the rest of the team out of their comfort zone. Imagine a group of accountants working on a project with the help of one sales guy. A team of business leaders working on a project with an HR leader. Or a group of paper salesmen forced to work with Dwight Schrute -- the highly opinionated character on the NBC comedy The Office -- who owns a beet farm, worked as a sheriff's deputy and proudly displays a bobblehead doll of himself on his desk. In such instances, a little conflict is sure to happen but it should lead to better results. To perform the study, researchers asked a group to work on a problem-solving exercise. Every five minutes, they added a newcomer to the group. When that person was a social outsider, teams were more likely to solve the problem successfully. The newcomer was not a genius with all the answers or someone who blindly disagreed with everyone else. Instead, when an existing group member agreed with the newcomer, he or she felt the need to thoroughly explain the position to everyone else -- inciting discussion on the root of the issue. When that happened, it resulted in successful outcomes.
"We found the presence of that newcomer really drives those existing old-timers to change the way they do things, process information differently and tackle problems in a more thorough and aggressive way than they did before," says co-author Katie Liljenquist, assistant professor of organizational leadership at BYU's Marriott School of Management. Her co-authors are Katherine Phillips of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and Margaret Neale of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. Liljenquist says that workers in smooth-running groups can get complacent and results can suffer, even though team members think things are going great. "People often confuse what feels good with what works well," she says, "and our research would suggest that those two do not go hand-in-hand." Companies that are downsizing or acquiring new organizations due to the economic downturn would be wise to create groups that include a newcomer or two, she says, so they can capitalize on the increased productivity. But that's just one way HR managers can spice things up, says John W. Jones, a psychologist who serves as vice president of human capital sciences with Vangent, a consulting company in Arlington, Va. "You need some sparks going on in groups, so don't have a lot of friends on a team," he says. "Don't have all managers on a team. Don't have people who all think alike on a team. Have a leader who challenges, transforms and achieves." Of course, HR managers should be wary of an employee who adds so much conflict that they are a distraction, says Jones. "Make sure the shake-up is in the service of progress -- not disruptive," he says. "Teams can go south real quick."
April 16, 2009 Copyright 2009© LRP Publications |
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