Give and take: understanding the role of conflict resolution in sports teams

Research on sports teams highlights the detrimental role intragroup conflict (relationship, task, and process) plays in team functioning (Boulter et al., 2022). Furthermore, it is recognised that the extent to which teams resolve conflict, and the application of strategies to resolve them, has significant applied implications for sports teams. To this end, we investigated how conflict resolution strategies impacted the intragroup conflict-task cohesion relationship. Study 1 (N = 212) tested the presence of a conflict x conflict resolution interactions. Moderated regression results revealed that when athletes felt relationship and process conflict was resolved this significantly mitigated the negative association between the conflict type and cohesion. There was no interaction effect for task conflict, however. Although a limitation of Study 1 was the lack of detail on how conflict was resolved, organisational psychology provides a framework yet to be applied to the sports setting. Using this framework, Study 2 (N = 141) investigated how conflict resolution strategies (cooperative, competitive, avoiding, and openness to debate) moderated the conflict-task cohesion relationship. Moderated regression results revealed that competitive conflict strategies buffered the negative associations relationship and process conflict had with task cohesion and accentuated the positive relationship for task conflict and task cohesion. No significant interactions were found for the other conflict resolution types. These initial findings indicate potential new avenues for practitioners. Notably, contrary to organisational literature, these initial results suggest competitive strategies could have a positive (or at least a less detrimental) effect on team functioning in the sports domain.