Conflict Management between Departments: Contribution of Social Identity and Controversy

An interview sample of 129 Chinese employees described and rated a critical incident when they had a conflict with their coworker from another department in the same organization. Using structural equations modeling, we examine the extent to which the influence of interdepartmental goal interdependence on collaboration flows through constructive controversy (i.e. the open-minded discussion for mutual benefit). Results further indicate that organizational identification moderated the association of competitive goal interdependence with constructive controversy such that the negative association was weaker with higher organizational identification. These results underline the positive role of organizational identification in conflict management, especially under competitive goals.