In
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
, intragroup conflict (or infighting) refers to
conflict
Conflict may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton
* ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne
* ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...
between two or more members of the same
group or team. In recent years, intragroup conflict has received a large amount of attention in conflict and
group dynamics
Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group (''intra''group dynamics), or between social groups ( ''inter''group dynamics). The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision- ...
literature. This increase in interest in studying intragroup conflict may be a natural corollary of the ubiquitous use of work groups and work teams across all levels of organizations, including decision-making
task forces,
project groups, or
production team
A production team is the group of technical staff who produce a play, television show, recording, or film. Generally the term refers to all individuals responsible for the technical aspects of creating of a particular product, regardless of wher ...
s. Jehn
identified two main types of intragroup conflict: task conflict and
relationship (or
emotional) conflict (e.g., differences in
personal values).
Antecedents
There are a number of antecedents of intragroup conflict. While not an exhaustive list, researchers have identified a number of antecedents of intragroup conflict, including low task or goal uncertainty, increased group size, increased diversity (i.e., gender, age, race), lack of information sharing, and high task interdependence.
Measuring
Jehn
developed the Intragroup Conflict Scale (ICS) to measure the two types of intragroup conflicts (i.e., task and relationship conflict). The ICS consists of eight 7-point
Likert scale items which assess intragroup conflict. This scale has been applied in a number of contexts including decision making groups and groups in the moving industry. Furthermore, this scale has high construct and predictive validity.
Group outcomes
A recent meta-analysis of 116 empirical studies, examining 8,880 groups,
revealed a complex relationship between intragroup conflict and group outcomes. That is, effects of intragroup conflict on group performance or outcome is moderated by a number of factors including the context under which it is examined and the type of outcome. One of the prominent findings from the meta-analysis is that task conflict has a less negative relationship (and at times even positive) with group performance and outcomes than believed previously. The results also showed that intragroup conflict is not always negative or detrimental to group performance; for example, task conflict has been related positively to group performance and outcomes when such conflict occurs in management groups.
See also
*
Group conflict
*
Narcissism of small differences
In psychoanalysis, the narcissism of small differences (german: der Narzissmus der kleinen Differenzen) is the idea that the more a relationship or community shares commonalities, the more likely the people in it are to engage in interpersonal feud ...
*
Vote-splitting
Vote splitting is an electoral effect in which the distribution of votes among multiple similar candidates reduces the chance of winning for any of the similar candidates, and increases the chance of winning for a dissimilar candidate.
Vote spl ...
References
{{reflist
Group processes