Task conflict and team creativity: The role of team mindfulness, experiencing tensions, and information elaboration

Abstract

In this study, we examine how task conflict affects team creativity from the information processing perspective. To address this question, we develop a moderated mediation model at the team level to uncover the underlying mechanisms (i.e., experiencing tensions, information elaboration) and a conditional variable (i.e., team mindfulness). Two field studies with four-wave, multi-source samples were conducted. Results indicate that task conflict facilitates team creativity through the sequential mediation of experiencing tension and information elaboration. In addition, team mindfulness enhances the positive relationship between task conflict and experiencing tension, and the positive relationship between experienced tension and information elaboration. When team mindfulness is high, the relationship between task conflict and team creativity through the mediation of experiencing tension and information elaboration gets stronger than when it is low. We discuss theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future directions.

Appendix Scales used in Study 1 and Study 2

Team creativity scale (Farh et al., 2010)

• 1. How original and practical is the team output? [Original and practical work refers to developing ideas, methods or products that are both totally unique and especially useful to the organization.]

• 2. How creative is the team output? [Creative refers to the extent to which the employee develops ideas, methods or products that are both original and useful to the organization.]

• 3. The team output demonstrates that the team is capable of using existing information or resources creatively in executing the project.

Task conflict (Jehn, 1995)

• 1. To what extent are there differences of opinion in your work team?

• 2. How often do people in your work team disagree about opinions regarding the work being done?

• 3. How frequently are there conflicts about ideas in your work team?

• 4. How much conflict about the work you do is there in your work team?

Team mindfulness scale (Yu & Zellmer-Bruhn, 2018)

• 1. It is difficult for the team to stay focused on what is happening at present.

• 2. The team rushes through activities without being really attentive to them.

• 3. In the team, we listen to each other with only half an ear while simultaneously doing something else.

• 4. The team is preoccupied with the future or the past.

• 5. The team does things without paying attention.

• 6. The team criticizes members for having irrational or inappropriate thoughts or emotions.

• 7. Some of the team’s thoughts or emotions are inappropriate.

• 8. The team is aware of thoughts and feelings without over-identifying with them.

• 9. This team is friendly to members when things go wrong.

• 10. The team experiences moments of peace and ease even when things get hectic and stressful.

Experiencing tensions scale (Miron-Spektor et al., 2018)

• 1. My team often have competing demands that need to be addressed at the same time.

• 2. My team sometimes hold two contradictory ideas in our mind that appear cohesive.

• 3. My team often have goals that contradict each other.

• 4. My team often have to meet contradictory requirements.

• 5. Usually, when my team examine a problem, the possible solutions seem contradictory.

• 6. My team often need to decide between opposing alternatives.

• 7. The work in my team is filled with tensions and contradictions.

Coding scheme information elaboration (Hoever et al., 2012)

• 1. Teams immediately started developing ideas with little or no systematic discussion of information and/or different perspectives.

• 2. Within the team, members expressed most information about the theater and different perspectives, but it was largely ignored by fellow team members.

• 3. Information about the theater and perspectives were expressed and acknowledged by some but not all team members.

• 4. All members acknowledged information and perspectives shared by team members, but no attempts were made to jointly discuss or elaborate on this information.

• 5. When all previous conditions for a score of four were met, teams additionally engaged in a constructive joint discussion in which different pieces of information and perspectives were used to elaborate on each other’s ideas and suggestions.

• 6. Members additionally developed suggestions to combine at least two different perspectives and information sources.

• 7. Teams fulfilled the criteria of scale level five but developed suggestions to integrate all three perspectives or three different information sources of the task.

Relationship conflict (Jehn, 1995).

• 1. How much friction is there among members in your work team?

• 2. How much are personality conflicts evident in your work team?

• 3. How much tension is there among members in your work team?

• 4. How much emotional conflict is there among members in your work team?

Diversity (Hoever et al., 2012).

We followed a method by Hoever et al. (2012) to measure diversity. Specifically, we asked respondents to write down “a) what they considered as the particularly important to achieve in the team task and b) which initial ideas they had for it” (p. 987). Then, we coded their responses for whether they included aspects reflecting the exquisite, practical, or financially feasible perspectives. Using this information, we calculated Blau’s coefficient of heterogeneity and used it as the diversity indicator. We then calculated a single index of diversity using the mean score of the indicator over the three perspectives.

Individual mindfulness (Brown & Ryan, 2003).

• 1. I could be experiencing some emotion and not be conscious of it until some time later.

• 2. I break or spill things because of carelessness, not paying attention, or thinking of something else.

• 3. I find it difficult to stay focused on what’s happening in the present.

• 4. I tend to walk quickly to get where I’m going without paying attention to what I experience along the way.

• 5. I tend not to notice feelings of physical tension or discomfort until they really grab my attention.

• 6. I forget a person’s name almost as soon as I’ve been told it for the first time.

• 7. It seems I am “running on automatic” without much awareness of what I’m doing.

• 8. I rush through activities without being really attentive to them.

• 9. I get so focused on the goal I want to achieve that I lose touch with what I am doing right now to get there.

• 10. I do jobs or tasks automatically, without being aware of what I’m doing.

• 11. I find myself listening to someone with one ear, doing something else at the same time.

• 12. I drive places on “automatic pilot” and then wonder why I went there.

• 13. I find myself preoccupied with the future or the past.

• 14. I find myself doing things without paying attention.

• 15. I snack without being aware that I’m eating.

Team psychological safety (Edmondson, 1999)

• 1. If you make a mistake on this team, it is often held against you.

• 2. Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues.

• 3. People on this team sometimes reject others for being different.

• 4. It is safe to take a risk on this team.

• 5. It is difficult to ask other members of this team for help.

• 6. No one on this team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts.

• 7. Working with members of this team, my unique skills and talents are valued and utilized.

Obsessive passion (Vallerand et al., 2003).

• 1. My team cannot live without it.

• 2. The urge is so strong. My team can’t help myself from doing this activity.

• 3. My team have difficulty imagining my life without this activity.

• 4. My team am emotionally dependent on this activity.

• 5. My team have a tough time controlling my need to do this activity.

• 6. My team have almost an obsessive feeling for this activity.

• 7. My team mood depends on me being able to do this activity.