Social conflict: the emergence and consequences of struggle and negotiation. (2010)

“This essay considers how social conflict emerges, the ways in which it can be managed and the functions it performs. .. Conflict can have both negative and positive influences for teams working together

Carsten K.W. De Dreu. Written while the author was on sabbatical leave at Leiden University, the Netherlands.
Published in Handbook of Social Psychology, 5^th edn. New York: Wiley. Susan T. Fiske, Daniel T. Gilbert & Gardner Lindzey (eds)

Conflict can have both negative and positive influences for teams working together. It can be destructive and hurt decision-making, or it can be “a source of creativity and a catalyst for change”.

This essay, presented as one chapter in a much larger work, considers how social conflict emerges, the ways in which it can be managed and the functions it performs.

While the social-psychological literature is the main focus of the author’s discussion, he also draws on other areas including the organizational sciences and behavioral economics or neuroeconomics.

De Dreu attempts to synthesize disparate literatures on cooperation and competition with other work that looks at psychological and behavioral processes in conflict escalation, negotiation and problem solving. He offers a discussion on the theoretical principles and research findings at these levels of analysis, highlighting similarities and dissimilarities. And, while study in this area often focuses on negative consequences of conflict, he reviews both its negative and positive outcomes.

View the paper here: Social Conflict: The Emergence and Consequences of Struggle and Negotiation.