Hierarchy Conflict: Causes, Expressions, and Consequences

Maartje E. Schouten (), Daan van Knippenberg () and Lindred L. Greer ()
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Maartje E. Schouten: Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Daan van Knippenberg: Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005
Lindred L. Greer: Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

Organization Science, 2024, vol. 35, issue 4, 1535-1551

Abstract: Hierarchy conflict, a dispute among members over the rank order of influence in the team, often impairs team processes and outcomes. The current literature often operates from the assumption that self-interest must be high when team members engage in hierarchy conflict. Building on interdependence theory, we propose that hierarchy conflict may also occur when members have a more prosocial motivation, leading to a more constructive expression of the hierarchy conflict and more positive effects on team performance than hierarchy conflict instigated by members with a more proself motivation. Specifically, we argue that the extent to which a team member is more driven by prosocial (versus proself) motivation heightens the threshold and lowers the frequency for engaging in a hierarchy conflict and that more prosocially motivated team members express their challenge of the hierarchy more directly and with less intensity than more proself-motivated members. This sets in motion a hierarchy conflict exchange that is more constructive and helps teams perform better compared with hierarchy conflict instigated by proself motivation. Our theory complements and extends the current study of the causes, expressions, and consequences of hierarchy conflict in teams across multiple levels of analysis and helps redirect the focus of how hierarchy conflict is viewed in the literature.

Keywords: hierarchy; conflict; teams; influence; social motivation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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