A Study of the Developmental Mechanisms of Inter-Team Conflict Processes Within Multi-Team Systems - An Exploratory Analysis Based on a Collaborative R&D Context

Abstract

Purpose: The analysis of the pivotal determinants that impact the progression of inter-team conflict processes in multi-team systems, as well as their underlying mechanisms, serves to explicate the developmental framework of said conflict processes.

Methodology: This study adopts a vantage point centered on the evolution of inter-team conflict in multi-team systems, with a specific focus on the sequential progression including "conflict latency → conflict perception → conflict management → conflict outcome → conflict feedback.

Results: By transmuting qualitative data into quantitative data through the discernment of inter-conceptual relationships' directionality and quantity, this study distills the key chain of relationships between categories. Employing the explanatory structure model, the developmental mechanism of inter-team conflict processes in multi-team systems is unveiled. Notable sources of conflict include team goal identification, team role multiplicity, inter-team relationships, and team competence. Factors that exert a significant influence on conflict management comprise inter-team conflict types, inter-team relationships, team competence, inter-team heterogeneity, team affiliation, and system goals. Reviewing the genuine motivations underlying conflict management behavior, as well as adopting a lengthier temporal perspective, emerges as a crucial consideration when analyzing the implications of conflict management on both the system and the team for evaluative purposes. Inter-team communication emerges as a pivotal influence on the efficacy of conflict management, which, in turn, is influenced by boundary managers, inter-team heterogeneity, and the inter-team interactive memory system.

Conclusion: Through an in-depth analysis of the hierarchical interrelationships among factors that influence conflicts within teams, we have established a model for the conflict development process. This model is instrumental in comprehensively understanding the dynamics of conflict evolution within teams. It serves as a reference point for formulating more precise and effective conflict management strategies. Moreover, this model not only offers practical guidance for resolving conflicts within a multi-team framework but also enhances inter-team collaboration. Therefore, it contributes significantly to achieving the objectives of the multi-team system.

Keywords: conflict processes; developmental mechanisms; explanatory structural models; multi-team systems.