Perceptions of Inequity, Satisfaction, and Conflict in Task-Oriented Groups

The study reported here was descriptive in nature and looked at 375 subjects involved in a group task. The research focus was on individual satisfaction, type, and amount of conflict, its resolution, perceived inequity, and quality of outcome. The results indicated that greater inequity was associated with people conflicts, which in turn were managed primarily with avoidance tactics. Task conflicts were managed mainly with integrative styles. Greater satisfaction was associated with integrative tactics. Perceptions of inequity were more associated with conflicts centering around people than with task and less inequity resulted from conflicts managed integratively. Inequity was negatively related to satisfaction, positively related to conflict, and not found to be related to outcome quality.