A Review of Research on Top Management Team Conflict on Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Avoidance Conflict Handling Methods

Abstract

This paper reviews the research on the relationship among top management team (TMT) conflict,  conflict management and firm performance,  mainly introduces the the moderating effect of avoidance conflict management style on TMT conflict and firm performance.  The results of this study will provide a reference for whether senior managers should adopt avoidance conflict management when facing TMT conflicts. Previous studies mainly focused on team conflict, while studies on TMT mainly focused on the impact of TMT heterogeneity on firm performance, and the moderating role of conflict management strategies in conflict and firm performance was not fully discussed. This  research clarify the research status of conflict management theory points out that the transformation of TMT conflict  needs to be adjusted by conflict management methods, focuses on the moderating effect of conflict avoidance management  strategies on TMT conflict and firm performance. At the end of this paper, the trend of future research in this field is prospected.