Differences in the way we decide: The effect of decision style diversity on process conflict in design teams

Extending the decision style literature to the team-level of analysis, this study examined the effects of decision making style diversity on a how members handled disagreements regarding the logistics of task accomplishment (process conflict). Majority rule moderated the relationship between decision making style diversity and process conflict, but rational and spontaneous styles exhibited distinct interactive effects. Higher decision style diversity was associated with greater process conflict when reliance on majority rule was high for the spontaneous style but when reliance on majority rule was low for the rational style. Majority rule also positively affected process conflict. Our results show promise for continued investigation of the compositional effects of decision style at the team-level.