{
  "title": "“A bit of disagreement is healthy”: what research really says about team conflict",
  "url": "https://shr.swiss/blog/desaccord-equipe-conflit-tache-relation-recherche-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-10-21",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://shr.swiss",
    "address": "184 route de Saint-Julien, 1228 Plan-les-Ouates, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "The idea that conflict about ideas boosts performance is widespread. Meta-analyses qualify it sharply: everything depends on what comes with the disagreement.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Conflict Management",
  "place": {
    "name": "Fribourg",
    "region": "Fribourg",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "The original distinction",
      "point": "Karen Jehn (1995, Administrative Science Quarterly) distinguished task conflict, about the content of the work, from relationship conflict, about the people."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What the meta-analyses showed next",
      "point": "Carsten De Dreu and Laurie Weingart (2003, Journal of Applied Psychology) pooled the available studies: task conflict was, on average, negatively correlated with team performance, almost as much as relationship conflict."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Why the two kinds of conflict blur",
      "point": "Tony Simons and Randall Peterson (2000, Journal of Applied Psychology) observed that task and relationship conflict are strongly correlated: disagreement about a file is often read as personal criticism."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The conditions that change the outcome",
      "point": "In the de Wit et al."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Defensible conclusions, and their limits",
      "point": "The pooled studies measure conflict by questionnaire, at one point in time, in very different teams; performance is often rated by members or their managers."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Fribourg",
      "point": "In the next three meetings where disagreement is expected, separate two phases explicitly: first list objections to the proposal, attributed to the document rather than to people; only then discuss options."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Jehn",
      "year": "1995",
      "source": "Administrative Science Quarterly"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Weingart",
      "year": "2003",
      "source": "Journal of Applied Psychology"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Jehn",
      "year": "2012",
      "source": "Journal of Applied Psychology"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Peterson",
      "year": "2000",
      "source": "Journal of Applied Psychology"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 449,
  "image": "https://shr.swiss/img/blog-Training-Conflict-Management-Fribourg-desaccord-equipe-conflit-tache-relation-recherche-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://shr.swiss/blog/desaccord-equipe-conflit-tache-relation-recherche",
    "en": "https://shr.swiss/blog/desaccord-equipe-conflit-tache-relation-recherche-en",
    "de": "https://shr.swiss/blog/desaccord-equipe-conflit-tache-relation-recherche-de",
    "it": "https://shr.swiss/blog/desaccord-equipe-conflit-tache-relation-recherche-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://shr.swiss/formation-gestion-du-conflit-fribourg",
    "city": "https://shr.swiss/formations-ville/fribourg",
    "blog": "https://shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}