Exploring the association between relationship conflict and group performance

This laboratory study implemented the hidden profile paradigm in an attempt to assess whether group cohesion (both task and social) mediated the negative effects of relationship conflict on group performance. In the main, it was found that the negative effect of relationship conflict was mediated by task cohesion, but not by social cohesion. Instead, it was shown that social cohesion was better represented as a critical group-level outcome. That is to say, relationship conflict had indirect negative effects on both task-based aspects of group performance (i.e., decision accuracy), as well as social-based aspects of group performance (i.e., social cohesion). A discussion is offered in which the implications of these findings are considered.