The Effects of Gender on Task and Relationship Conflict: A Multilevel Approach

Given increasing gender diversity in organizations and growing attention to gendered organizational structures, the lack of gendered analysis focused on the moment of conflict itself—rather than its causes, responses to it, or methods of resolving it—constitutes a troubling gap in the literature on workplace conflict. Utilizing survey data and multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM), I focus on how types of conflict—relationship and task—vary as a result of gender role pressures. This study contributes to our current understanding of both conflict management strategies and gender diversity’s impact on conflict in organizations, as well as our interpretation of the divergent effects of that conflict on outcomes like turnover, morale, and creativity. Additionally, our research raises questions about the delineation between the conflict types and underlying assumptions of functionality or lack thereof.