Task Conflict, Integrative Potential, and Conflict Management Strategies in Joint Ventures

Existing studies of conflict management in joint ventures (JVs) assume that the characteristics of the tasks that generate conflict have no impact on either the conflict-performance relationship or on the effectiveness of conflict management techniques. In this paper, we challenge this assumption by examining JV conflict over R&D and marketing tasks. Because JVs decisions are made by two or more partners, often with very different goals and agendas, the potential for conflict is high. In some cases, this conflict can have a positive impact on performance. We hypothesize that this possibility is more likely in the context of R&D task conflict, because: 1) marketing task conflict is relatively more likely to involve distributive (win-lose) issues and 2) when win-win (integrative) potential exists, disputants are relatively less likely to perceive this potential in marketing task conflicts (i.e., the disputants in a marketing task conflict are more likely to approach their conflict from a fixed-pie perspective). Our analysis of data collected from 196 JVs clearly supports this hypothesis. We also find that the relative effectiveness of different conflict management strategies varies depending on whether they are applied to R&D or marketing task conflict. Our results demonstrate the importance of aligning conflict management strategies with the integrative potential of R&D and marketing tasks.