This study empirically examines the dynamics and conditions of relationship conflict between supervisors and employees in Chinese State-Owned Enterprises. It proposes that relationship conflict has significant effects on leadership in Chinese SOEs, specifically, it threatens leader-member relationships, lowers the possibility of open-minded discussion, influences leadership effectiveness and prevents future collaboration. This study uses Deutsch’s (1973) theory of goal interdependence to understand relationship conflict between supervisors and employees. Specifically, it proposes that three types of goal interdependence affect the experience of relationship conflict and its outcomes. Cooperative goals compare to competitive and independent goals can help reduce relationship conflict between supervisors and employees and in turn lead to quality relationships, open-minded discussions, leader effectiveness, and confidence in future collaboration. A total of 103 face-to-face interviews were conducted in Nanjing and Guangzhou in mainland China, with all the participants from Chinese State-Owned Enterprises. Participants were asked to describe a specific incident in which they engaged in relationship conflict with their supervisors. Details of the incidents including the setting, what occurred, the reasons, and the consequences were also recorded during the interview. Participants also rated specific questions on 7-point Likert-type scale based on the recalled incidents. Results of structural equation modeling and other analyses support the hypotheses and provide statistical evidence to the proposed theoretical model that goal interdependence affects relationship conflict that influence several leadership constructs, named leader-member relationship, open-minded discussion, leadership effectiveness, and future collaboration. The model and the findings also help to broaden understanding of dynamics of relationship conflict and suggest ways it can be alleviated in order to strengthen organizational leadership.

This study empirically examines the dynamics and conditions of conflict managing approaches on government and business collaboration. It posits that conflict for mutual benefit critically effects government and business collaboration outcomes. This study adopts Deutsch’s (1973) theory of goal interdependence to understand when and how government officials and business managers adopt the mutually beneficial conflict approach. It proposes that cooperative goals between government officials and business managers promote the mutually beneficial conflict approach and reduce win-lose competitive conflict and avoiding conflict. A total of 101 interviews were conducted in China in 2009. Results of structural equation modeling and other analyses support several of hypotheses as well the proposed theoretical model that goal interdependence affects different conflict approaches (conflict for mutual benefit, win-lose competitive conflict and avoiding conflict) that in turn influence government and business collaboration outcomes, specifically task accomplishment, future collaboration and public interest. It identifies that conflict for mutual benefit approach taken by government officials and business managers can promote task accomplishment, future collaboration and public interest. Path estimates show that avoiding conflict can undermine task accomplishment and public interest. But results indicate that win-lose competitive conflict approach does not necessarily undermine task accomplishment, future collaboration, and the public interest as expected. Findings suggest important practical implications that government officials and business managers can improve their collaboration in China by strengthening their cooperative goals and discussing conflicts for mutual benefit. The study contributes to the conflict management literature as well as the generalization of goal interdependence theory.

The possibility of opportunistic behavior is an important barrier to the collaboration between partners in the supply chain as partners pursue their self-interests with guile. Opportunistic behavior threatens the partners’ relationships, influences their work accomplishment and prevents future collaboration. This study hypothesizes that opportunism is not just the result of people’s self-interests pursuit but depends on how they think their self-interests are related. Opportunism in organizational partnerships could be understood in terms of how partners perceive their goals are related to each other. When partners believe that their goals are competitively or dependently rather than cooperatively related, they are more likely to pursue their self-interests opportunistically. Altogether 86 face-to-face interviews were carried out in Beijing, Nanchang and Guangzhou, China to explore the links and relations among goal interdependencies, opportunism and the outcomes. Participants who work in a supply chain partnership were asked to describe an incident regarding their collaboration with their partners. It included the people involved, the reasons, what occurred, and the consequences. Structural equation modeling explored the proposed model that goal interdependencies could affect the levels of opportunism and thus influence the partnerships. Results suggest that cooperative goals are important foundations for effective organizational partnerships.

The purpose of this study was to review the existing teams research which suggests that teams vary along 4 dimensions of interdependence. Task interdependence is the extent to which the task drives interactions among individuals. Resource interdependence is the extent to which individuals rely on others to provide inputs necessary to complete their portion of work. Reward interdependence is the extent to which individuals' rewards are tied into the performance of others. Finally, goal interdependence is the extent to which individuals set goals and receive feedback at the group versus individual level. A comprehensive team interdependence scale tapping into these 4 distinct dimensions was developed and tested in a cross organizational sample. Factor analytic results suggested that a 4-factor model did indeed provide the best fit for the data. A discussion of the findings, implications, limitations, and future directions is presented.

It is a commonly held belief that people from collectivistic, large power distance or high-context cultures, such as China, tend to be less confrontational, which could be counter-productive in organizations. Contrary to this traditional view, this study posits that conflict avoidance can be constructive depending on the specific actions protagonists take. It adopts Deutsch’s (1973) theory of cooperation and competition to understand conflict avoiding behavior between employees and their supervisors, indicating that people’s perceptions of goal interdependence significantly influence their behavioral intentions that in turn predict their overt actions to avoid conflict. Specifically, it proposes that goal interdependence greatly affects employee behavioral intentions that lead to different avoiding behaviors that affect the important outcomes of productivity, relationship, and social respect within organizations. A total of 110 participants from Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Shenzhen were interviewed from June 2011 to September 2011 by critical incident technique. Interviewees were first required to recall a concrete incident in which they avoided direct discussions with their supervisors when they had a disagreement. They then rated specific questions on the recalled incident using 7-point Likert-type scales. Results of the structural equation modeling and other analyses support the hypotheses and proposed theoretical model that goal interdependence affects the behavioral intentions of employees, which significantly influence employees‟ specific actions to avoid conflict, and finally determine outcomes. Research findings contribute to the literature of conflict management and also provide crucial implications for dealing with conflict avoidance in Chinese enterprises and perhaps in organizations in other countries.

Synthesizing theories of social identity, goal interdependence, and conflict management, this study built and tested a theoretical model in which interdepartmental goal interdependence affects conflict outcomes between different departments through constructive controversy (i.e. the open-minded discussion for mutual benefit) dynamics adopted by employees from different departments in the organization. This study also proposes that organizational identification moderates the link between interdepartmental goal interdependence and constructive controversy. An interview sample of 129 employees from various business organizations and diverse industries in mainland China described and rated a critical incident when they had a conflict with their coworker from another department in the same organization. Results of the structural equations modeling and other analyses support the hypotheses and the hypothesized model that interdepartmental goal interdependence, specially, cooperative, competitive, and independent goals, are antecedents to employees between different departments engaging in constructive controversy and that constructive controversy in turn influences conflict outcomes, specifically, task accomplishment, employee intention to quit, and their intentions for future cooperation. Results further indicate that employee identification with the organization moderates the association of competitive interdepartmental goal interdependence with constructive controversy such that employees who identify strongly with the organization will be more likely to engage in open-minded discussion of controversy dynamics than employees who identify weakly with the organization. These results underline the positive role of employee organizational identification in conflict management, especially under competitive interdepartmental goals. Findings suggest important practical implications that employees from different departments can improve their collaboration in Chinese organizations by strengthening their common organizational identification, setting cooperative interdepartmental goal interdependence, and handling conflict through constructive controversy. The study contributes to the conflict management literature as well as the social identity theory in organizational behavior literature.

Combining theories of social motives, goal interdependence, and conflict management, this study theorized a model in which interdepartmental goal interdependence affects conflict outcomes between different departments through open-minded discussion dynamics adopted by employees from different departments in the organization. This study also proposes that social motives moderate the link between inter-departmental goal interdependence and open-minded discussion. A sample of 133 employees from different business organizations in China were interviewed to recall a critical incident when they had a conflict with their coworker from different departments. SEM results and other analysis results support the hypotheses that cooperative interdepartmental goal interdependence and competitive goal interdependence are antecedents to employees engaging in open-minded discussion in the context of interdepartmental collaboration, and that open-minded discussion in turn influences conflict outcomes, i.e. task accomplishment, relationship strengthening, and future collaboration. Results further suggest that employee’s pro-social motive moderates the relationship between competitive goal interdependence and open-minded discussion, and that proself motive moderates the relationship between cooperative goal interdependence and open-minded discussion. Findings also suggest that practitioners promote effective interdepartmental collaboration by strengthening their prosocial motive when perceiving competitive goal and proself motive when perceiving cooperative goal, setting cooperative interdepartmental goal interdependence, and handling conflict through open-minded discussion. The study contributes to conflict management literature as well as the goal interdependence theory in the organizational behavior literatures.

The effects of goal interdependence on employees’ performance outcomes have been well documented in the literature. Yet, the relationship between goal interdependence and employees’ proactive behaviors remains largely unexplored. Integrating the theory of cooperation and competition with the employee proactivity literature, this study investigates how cooperative goal interdependence and competitive goal interdependence respectively influence employee knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding, and in turn shape their propensity to seek help from coworkers. It further examines reciprocity beliefs as an individual factor in affecting the indirect effect of goal interdependence on help seeking. Specifically, positive reciprocity belief is hypothesized to moderate the mediating role of knowledge sharing, whereas negative reciprocity belief is expected to moderate the mediating effect of knowledge hiding. In Study 1, a total of 127 interviews were conducted with full-time employees working in professional service firms across four cities including Hong Kong, Macau, China and Taiwan. Results of structural equation modeling supported the mediating role of knowledge sharing in the relationship between cooperative goal interdependence and employee help seeking. In Study 2, an experimental study was conducted with 150 full-time students at a university in Macau to replicate the findings in Study 1 and to test the moderation hypotheses. It yielded findings consistent with Study 1 and supportive of the moderating role of negative reciprocity belief in the mediated effect of goal interdependence on help seeking. Specifically, knowledge hiding mediates the relationship between competitive goal interdependence and help seeking, when an individual is high in negative reciprocity belief. Findings of the two studies provide both theoretical contributions to the literature and practical insights to organizations. Cooperative goal interdependence is a valuable method for managers to promote knowledge sharing, inhibit knowledge hiding, and encourage active help seeking among employees.