Using Robots to Moderate Team Conflict: The Case of Repairing Violations

• Published in: Hri '15: ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction USB Stick pp. 229 - 236
• Main Authors: Jung, Malte F., Martelaro, Nikolas, Hinds, Pamela J.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: ACM 01.03.2015
• Subjects: conflict; emotion regulation; group problem solving; Human-robot teamwork; Maintenance engineering; Mood; Problem-solving; repair; Robots; Spirals; Task analysis; team performance; Teamwork
• DOI: 10.1145/2696454.2696460

We explore whether robots can positively influence conflict dynamics by repairing interpersonal violations that occur during a team-based problem-solving task. In a 2 (negative trigger: task-directed vs. personal attack) x 2 (repair: yes vs. no) between-subjects experiment (N = 57 teams, 114 participants), we studied the effect of a robot intervention on affect, perceptions of conflict, perceptions of team members' contributions, and team performance during a problem-solving task. Specifically, the robot either intervened by repairing a task-directed or personal attack by a confederate or did not intervene. Contrary to our expectations, we found that the robot's repair interventions increased the groups' awareness of conflict after the occurrence of a personal attack thereby acting against the groups' tendency to suppress the conflict. These findings suggest that repair heightened awareness of a normative violation. Overall, our results provide support for the idea that robots can aid team functioning by regulating core team processes such as conflict.