Leading Conflict? Linkages Between Leader Behaviors and Group Conflict

This article is intended to contribute to the creation of a theoretical framework for more fully assessing the nature of the relationship between leadership styles and group conflict. The authors report the results of a laboratory study conducted to assess the connection between leadership behaviors and the levels of cognitive and affective conflict generated in decision-making groups. The findings support the assertion that differences in leadership behaviors can trigger different levels of cognitive and affective conflict among group members. Behaviors reflective of the transformational style of leadership demonstrated the greatest capacity to motivate group members to constructively debate ideas. However, in contrast to transactional and external leader behaviors, transformational leadership behaviors also showed a greater capacity for igniting affective conflict among group members.

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