Effectiveness of Chinese Teams: The Role of Conflict Types and Conflict Management Approaches

Findings based on 186 teams involving 689 employees, working in twelve Chinese state-owned factories in three cities, indicated that a cooperative in contrast to a competitive approach was related to perceived team effectiveness, as measured by both team managers and team members. The role of conflict types for team effectiveness, on the other hand, is ambiguous. Furthermore, conflict management approaches affect team perceptions of relational and task conflict. Results suggest that a cooperative conflict management approach may be equally useful for Chinese work teams, as it is for teams in the Western context.