Personality as a Moderator of the Cooperation-Conflict Relationship

Abstract

<p>How teams function in the workplace has long been a focus of research and study to understand what makes them effective. Given the apparent shift in the modern workplace towards using teams even more, this research becomes even more important. Despite this flow of research, there is still much to learn about how teams and how individual team members function within those teams. In this study, the author investigated Deutsch's cooperation-conflict relationship model and if that relationship is moderated by Big-5 personality traits. It was found that there are possible flaws with Deutsch's model. Evidence is provided to suggest that the relationship is not a single variable with two extremes but instead is two variables separate of one another. It was also found that Agreeableness moderates cooperation but the same result was not found for conflict. Possible implications and future research are discussed.</p><p>This presentation occurred at the Wright State University Campus-Wide Celebration of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities on April 8, 2011</p>