Structure and Connection between Intragroup Conflict Components in Small Groups

This study examined the structure of conflict levels (i.e, between individuals, subgroups, an individual and a subgroup, an individual and a group, a subgroup and a group) and types of conflict (activity-oriented and subject-oriented), as well as the relationship between conflict levels according to two types in the context of a production group and an informal subgroup in the group. We have studied 43 small groups: small companies and primary structural units in medium and large organizations. The total sample was 323 people. Employees were investigated with a questionnaire of interpersonal conflict and a questionnaire of group and micro group conflict. The evaluation of the conflict between the subgroups and between the subgroup and the group was carried out on the relative performance of these questionnaires. Informal subgroups in groups were identified by means of a special formalized algorithm. The questionnaires were integrated with the specified algorithm for detecting subgroups in the computer technology "Group Profile". The study was conducted on personal computers using this technology. We have found that levels but not types of conflict play the leading role in components formation in the factor structure of intragroup conflicts. Differences between two-factor models were found: one is a conflict in the group as a whole, and another is a conflict in the context of a subgroup. These differences relate to: integration of interpersonal conflict with other levels of conflict, the size of the determining power of some levels of conflict with respect to others, and the type of significant connection or absence of a significant connection between some variables (levels and types) of conflict, included in various factors. Similar features of these two models were identified. They affect the interplay between a micro group conflict, on the one hand, and the conflict between subgroups and between a subgroup and a group, on the other, and the relationship between the last two levels of conflict. General and distinctive features of the intragroup conflict model are analyzed in two contexts: in the group as a whole and in subgroups. Significant linear and non-linear relationships were interpreted, as well as determinations between levels of conflict (of two types) were found in these contexts. The results of the study indicate that the proposed model of intragroup conflicts provides the most complete picture of conflict variables and their relationships. Intra-group conflicts should be analyzed not only in the group as a whole, but also in the context of informal subgroups. The relationships studied within this model allow us to take a fresh look at the dynamics of intragroup conflicts. The dynamics denotes the influence of some levels of conflict on other levels, the transformation of some levels of conflict into others. Awareness of these relationships makes it possible to predict their interrelated change.