Task Conflict, Information Processing, and Decision-Making : The Deteriorating Effect of Relationship Conflict

A popular theoretical assumption holds that task-related disagreements stimulate critical thinking and, thus, may facilitate superior group decision-making. Two recent meta-analyses showed, however, that the relationship between task conflict and decision-making quality is not uniformly positive (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003a; De Wit, Greer, & Jehn, 2011). In two studies we build upon the suggestion of both meta-analyses that it may be the presence of relationship conflict that determines whether a task conflict is positively or negatively related to decision-making. We hypothesized and found that misattribution of task conflict as relationship conflict (Study 1), as well as the actual presence (vs. absence) of relationship conflict during a task conflict (Study 2), increased group members‘ rigidity in holding on to suboptimal initial preferences during decision-making. Moreover, in both studies we found that the effect on decision-making was due to biased use of the information available