Recently, there has been growing interest in more fully examining the situational conditions under which the positive effects of charismatic or transformational leadership are actually achieved. The positive impact of transformational leadership on follower performance has received wide support in the literature. However, much less is known about the impact of transformational leadership on team performance. Although a number of authors have attempted to connect transformational leadership with higher levels of team performance, there has been little effort to delineate the relationship between transformational leadership and teamwork processes or skill sets. This article offers a conceptual examination of the potential link between transformational leadership behavior and the generation of dysfunctional team conflict. Although traditionally praised as a powerful and superior form of leadership style, we suggest that transformational leaders have the potential to unwittingly ignite disproportionately high levels of affective team conflict.
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