ISSN 0832-7203 INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT AND ITS MANAGEMENT IN INFORMATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT Par : Henri Barki, École des HEC

Researchers from a wide range of management areas agree that conflicts are an important part of organizational life and that their study is important. Yet, interpersonal conflict is a neglected topic in information system development (ISD). Based on definitional properties of interpersonal conflict identified in the management and organizational behavior literatures, this paper presents a model of how individuals participating in ISD projects perceive conflict and its influence on ISD outcomes. Questionnaire data was obtained from 265 IS staff (main sample) and 272 users (confirmatory sample) working on 162 ISD projects. Results indicated that the construct of interpersonal conflict was reflected by three key dimensions: disagreement, interference, and negative emotion. While conflict management was found to have positive effects on ISD outcomes, it did not substantially mitigate the negative effects of interpersonal conflict on these outcomes. In other words, the impact of interpersonal conflict was perceived to be negative, regardless of how it was managed or resolved.