The Relationship Between Task and Relationship Conflict with Group Member Satisfaction in the Work Environment

Sadržajni i osobni konflikti su prirodna i neizbježna posljedica ljudskih interakcija. Devedesetih godina prošlog stoljeća su se istraživanja o utjecaju osobnih i sadržajnih konflikata na zadovoljstvo intenzivirala, te je utvrđeno da između navedenih varijabli postoji negativna korelacija. Većina istraživanja je provedena u sveučilišnom okruženju polazeći od pretpostavke da postoji velika sličnost s radnim okruženjem. Važnost zadovoljstva za organizaciju ogleda se u brojnim istraživanjima i teorijskim saznanjima o zadovoljstvu i u negativnim učincima nezadovoljstva, kao što je fluktuacija radnika, visoka stopa bolovanja, nesavjesno obavljanje posla i drugo. Istraživanjem koje je provedeno u prosincu 2017. godine na uzorku od 153 ispitanika na području Republike Hrvatske, ispitana je povezanost između osobnog i sadržajnog konflikta sa zadovoljstvom članova grupe u radnom okruženju. Empirijski dio rada proveden je putem on-line upitnika, temeljenog na Intragroup Conflict Scale (ICS) i Job Descriptive Indeks (JDI). Za analizu podataka dobivenih anketom, korištene su metode deskriptivne i inferencijalne statistike, te je izračunat Pearsonov koeficijent korelacije kojim je provjereno imaju li promatrane kategorije pozitivnu ili negativnu povezanost. Utvrđeno je da su osobni i sadržajni konflikti negativno povezani sa zadovoljstvom članova grupe u radnom okruženju, pri čemu su korelacije srednjeg do slabog intenziteta. Utjecaj konflikata na organizaciju međutim mora biti određen intervencijom konflikt menadžmenta čija je uloga presudna za način na koji će se konflikt manifestirati, te je u tom smislu od izuzetne važnosti usmjeriti pažnju na adekvatne mehanizme upravljanja konfliktima koji menadžmentu stoje na raspolaganju.Task and relationship conflicts are natural and inevitable consequences of human interactions. In the 1990s, intensified research efforts on the impact of task and relationship conflicts on job satisfaction established a negative correlation between these variables. Most of the research was performed in university settings under the assumption that there was a great similarity to the working environment. The importance of satisfaction has been proven by a considerable number of research efforts and theoretical knowledge, as well as by negative effects of dissatisfaction such as a high work leaving and sick leave rate, unconscientious work performance, etc. The survey was conducted in December 2017 on a sample of 153 respondents in the Republic of Croatia and it examined the relationship between task and relationship conflict with the satisfaction of group members in the work environment. The empirical part of the work was conducted through an online questionnaire based on the Intragroup Conflict Scale (ICS) and the Job Descriptive Index (JDI). For the analysis of the data obtained by the survey, the methods of descriptive and inferential statistics were used, and the Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to verify whether the observed categories had a positive or negative relationship. It was found that task and relationship conflicts are negatively related to the satisfaction of group members in the work environment, with correlations of medium to low intensity. However, the impact of conflicts must be determined through the intervention of conflict management maintaining a crucial role regarding the way of conflict emergence. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to focus on adequate conflict management mechanisms