From Team Heterogeneity to Team Conflict: Mechanism of Action and Management Suggestions

Abstract

The heterogeneity of team members is undoubtedly a “double-edged swordâ€. It provides a variety of knowledge and skills which may stimulate the creative thinking and innovative behavior of the team members. It also leads to the conflicts between team members which may endanger the overall performance of the team output. From a perspective of the conflict dichotomy, our research summarizes the effect of team heterogeneity on task conflict and relationship conflict, and gives the management suggestions related to heterogeneous team.