March, 1997 - Vol. 1, No. 6

Constructive team conflict

Karen Jehn distinguishes between two kinds of conflict that often wrack management teams. "Emotional" conflict stems from personality clashes and misunderstandings. "Task-related" conflict, by contrast, derives from differences over team objectives and how to get there. In studies of both domestic and international management teams, she finds that emotional conflict depresses team performance but task-related conflict generally improves it. When groups are performing relatively routine tasks, however, she reports that task-related conflict diminishes performance.

Conflict is of special salience in joint ventures, where distinct management and cultural traditions exacerbate the tensions normally experienced in teams. In a study of U.S.-Chinese joint ventures, Jehn finds that U.S. executives are more direct in the expression of both emotional and task-related conflict: they more often press both kinds of conflict into the open, permit greater stress, and are less accommodating than their Chinese counterparts.

Implication: Leaders of teams involved in non-routine work and cross-national ventures should see the management of conflict as a challenge: mitigate emotional clashes but support disputes over how to achieve the work at hand.

Implication for global operations: Bring managers of diverse national backgrounds into management -- and then redouble efforts to ensure that theycan act and react swiftly as a team.

Source: Karen Jehn, "A Multimethod Examination of the Benefits and Detriments of Intragroup Conflict," Administrative Science Quarterly, June, 1995, Vol. 4, n. 2, June, 1995, pp. 256-282; "A Qualitative Analysis of Conflict Types and Dimensions in Organizational Groups," Administrative Science Quarterly, forthcoming; "Cultural Barriers to Conflict Resolution in Bicultural teams," in K. Jeong, K. Jung, and G. H. Eom (eds.), Economic Cooperation in Northeast Asia: A Comparative Perspective, Yonsei, Korea: Institute of East and West Press, forthcoming. jehn@wharton.upenn.edu, http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/jehnk.html.

Leader's Companion

J. Thomas Wren of the University of Richmond's Jepson School of Leadership Studies has assembled writings on leadership from Aristotle and Lao-tzu to James MacGregor Burns, from Tolstoy and W. E. B. Dubois to Judy Rosener, David Nadler, and Michael Tushman.

Max De Pree: "The leader of a jazz band has the beautiful opportunity to draw the best out of the other musicians. We have much to learn from jazz-band leaders, for jazz, like leadership, combines the unpredictability of the future with the gifts of the individual." [Author, Leadership Jazz, 1992]

Michele Darling: "Power doesn't accrue to those who hoard it. Real power is obtained only by those who give it away." [Executive vice president, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.]

Richard Beckhard and Wendy Pritchard: "An integral part of a fundamental change strategy must be a conscious decision to move to a learning mode, where both learning and doing are equally valued.... A further essential ingredient is a clear commitment by top leaders to making a significant personal investment in developing and building commitment to an inspirational vision. " [Authors of Changing the Essence: The Art of Creating and Leading Fundamental Change in Organizations, 1992]

Source: J. Thomas Wren, editor, The Leader's Companion: Insights on Leadership Through the Ages (New York: Free Press, 1995).

Corporate Governance

James McRitchie manages a web site with information and links on corporate governance at http://www.corpgov.net. It includes:

• forthcoming conferences and seminars (e.g., those of the National Association of Corporate Directors)
• university classes (e.g., Yale's "Corporate Governance and the Role of Management" by Paul MacAvoy and Ira Millstein)
• books and articles (e.g., Margaret Blair's Ownership and Control: Rethinking Corporate Governance for the Twenty-First Century, 1995)
• periodicals (e.g., Corporate Governance, Directors and Boards, Directorship)
• research and consulting services (e.g., Investor Responsibility Research Center)
• social investing (e.g., the Social Investment Forum)
• associations (e.g., Council of Institutional Investors, Britain's Institute of Directors, Hong Kong's Institute of Company Secretaries)

Negotiations

Wharton Executive Education is offering an open-enrollment program in "Wharton Executive Negotiation Workshop: Bargaining for Advantage" on April 6-11 and November 16-21, 1997

Information:execed@wharton.upenn.edu and http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/execed

"A leader is best
When people barely know he exists,
Not so good when people obey and acclaim him,
Worst when they despise him.
'Fail to honor people,
They fail to honor you.'
But of a good leader, who talks little
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
They will all say, 'We did this ourselves.'"

-- Lao-tzu in Tao Te Ching (How Things Work), 6th century, B.C.