Team innovation can be supported by (the right kind of) conflict

Overview

Intrateam task conflict can drive innovation, if it occurs in the correct context and quantity. This paper discusses how task conflict impacts team innovation and will suggest ways that a team can work with conflict to improve their likelihood of innovating together. Some teams always seek harmony, however a team that has “too much overlap in their understanding about task and team aspects of their work” may miss opportunities for innovation (Santos et al., 2015, p. 645). Rather, the differences that arise when teams experience task-based dissent can increase team focus, engagement, and problem-solving, all of which contribute to team innovation (Fahr, 2010; Santos et al.,2015; De Dreu, 2006). Conflict’s positive impact has limits and will not always be a boon for innovation: the wrong conflict, mishandled interactions, or bad timing can negatively impact a team’s ability to innovate (Santos et al., 2015, p. 646; De Dreu & van Knippenberg, 2005, p. 348).?

Task conflicts focus a team on their work by creating pressure to re-examine their processes and underlying assumptions. This type of conflict occurs at the intersection of different approaches or during disagreements “about the distribution of resources, procedures and policies, and judgment and interpretation of facts.” (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003, p. 741; De Witt et al., 2013). Intragroup task conflict can also be rooted in “team members perceiv[ing] their interests and values to be incongruent” with other members of the team (Santos, et al., p. 646). These differences, once perceived, introduce ruptures into how a team works together or thinks about a problem that must be repaired.

Innovation requires change, it is defined as “the introduction of something new” (Merriam Webster). More formally, innovation encompasses the “introduction and application … of ideas, processes, products, or procedures” that are both new to their context & provide benefits (West & Farr, 1990, p. 9). Innovation emphasizes the implementation & delivery of novel ideas (Andersen et al., p 1299). This extends the definition of team creativity, which is characterized by teams creating novel ideas that result in a positive change (Farh et al., p. 1173) but may not involve implementation (De Dreu 2006, p. 84; Knippenburg, 2017, p. 212).

Importance to Practitioners

Staying on the cutting edge requires businesses to innovate and adapt in today’s evolving and competitive market. Additionally, teams are increasingly essential to the delivery of complex tasks. Understanding how conflict may help or hinder a team’s ability to innovate directly impacts a business’s capacity to adapt.?

By preparing to navigate task conflict and work through potential discomfort together, teams can increase their innovative capacity. Essentially, teams have the ability to channel their task conflict into innovation. The design of teams and interactions can tip the scales towards innovation by training teams to: navigate conflict well, know when conflict may become problematic, and create time for conflict early enough in a project.

Problem analysis

Conflict can spur reexamination of beliefs

Task conflict inspires debate, team learning, and problem solving which are drivers of innovation and creativity (Santos et al, p. 649). Disagreements cause team members to interrogate their beliefs and the status quo to evolve their approaches and processes in order to resolve the disagreement (Farh et al. p. 1174; De Dreu, 2006, p. 84).

Excess conflict reduces learning and innovation

Too much task conflict damages team communication and reduces learning capacity. Too much conflict can make participants become more rigid & less willing to consider other alternatives (De Witt et al., 2013, p. 178). This also appears in less sharing and information elaboration between team members in non-optimal conflict situations (Samba et al., p. 394). Limitations on communication and learning reduce innovation and creativity because the group can not use difference to drive new ideas (De Dreu, 2006, p. 85).

Innovation happens best before execution

Innovation is easier when teams are not focused exclusively on execution, which generally means earlier in the project when teams have time to implement (Farh et al., p. 1178). As teams work together on a project, they build a shared understanding about the work and how to achieve it that creates a highly effective team, but minimizes the opportunity for individuals to express divergent perspectives (Santos et al., p. 647). Since innovation requires the time and resources to create new ideas, generating these ideas earlier enables teams to implement these new ideas.

Solutions & Best Practices

This section will focus on applying the concepts discussed above to the act of enabling a team to leverage task conflict in service of innovative results. These approaches can take many forms and should be explored with an eye to the particular team and context as they address different challenges in the task-conflict-to-innovation pipeline.

• Train team members to challenge their default reaction to dissent. Conflict is often seen as uncomfortable or to-be-avoided. An individual can reframe this discomfort as an opportunity by intentionally taking or understanding opposing viewpoints to improve information exchange (Samba et al., p. 396). A team can embrace this by establishing this as a best practice for each member of the team to publicly explore. This process can deepen insights and enrich understanding of the issue causing the conflict.
• Create processes that encourage mental flexibility to minimize the risk of damaging conflict. By increasing self-evaluation & minimizing attachment to argument positions, we can bias teams towards adaptation (De Drue & van Knippenberg, p. 348). Using active interventions can help team members let go of their positions and engage with the learning that creates innovation. Specific options include:?- creating intentional space for task conflict,?- inviting a neutral outsider to participate in conflict-oriented discussions to assist both sides with seeing the other perspective, and?- agreeing on a process for how to make decisions that will unlock change before engaging with the content of the change.
• Exploring task conflict early in a project to improve the likelihood of delivering innovative impacts. Timing matters for team innovation (Farh et al. p. 1178). By building time into a team’s early stages, the group can explore options before commitments have been made. This minimizes the switching cost and increases the time available to deliver the change.
• Develop shared mental models (SMM) about both the work and how the team navigates conflict. These SMM can stimulate constructive conflict and protect against disruption (Santos et al., p.647). Creating space for all members to express ideas openly and early will reinforce a SMM conducive to innovation.

Conclusion

Task conflict can be a valuable tool for teams to create new ideas. By planning ahead to navigate conflicts in a way to minimize negative impacts, teams can use inevitable disagreements to spur new approaches and innovative outcomes.

References

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Samba, Van Knippenberg, D., & Miller, C. C. (2018). The impact of strategic dissent on organizational outcomes: A meta‐analytic integration. Strategic Management Journal, 39(2), 379–402. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2710?

Santos, C. M., Uitdewilligen, S., & Passos, A. M. (2015). Why is Your Team More Creative Than Mine? The Influence of Shared Mental Models on Intra-group Conflict, Team Creativity and Effectiveness. Creativity and Innovation Management, 24(4), 645–658. https://doi.org/10.1111/caim.12129?

van Knippenberg, D. (2017). Team Innovation. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4(1), 211–233. ttps://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032516-113240?

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