COVID-19, Creative Conflict, and the Seven Cs: A Social Diagnosis of Digital Communication Platforms for Gen Z/Gen T

Abstract

Adding to the work on creative conflict management that has been the object of organizational and management studies for the last several decades, we focus on a subset of Gen Z or “Generation Tech” (Gen T). This generation will be the first to instinctively and reflexively bring a “technology first” approach to their work practices including conflict resolution. Scholars of organizational communication identify the management of creative conflict as a prosocial process with important ramifications for organizational well-being. Taking a social diagnosis approach, we contribute to this growing literature by bringing it into dialogue with digital sociology and Gen Ters who are well-suited to use digital communication platforms (DCPs) like Teams and Slack to engage in creative conflict that benefits the well-being of organizations and their members. Our analysis shows that DCPs can encourage prosocial behaviors, when they (1) include nonsynchronous functionality, (2) associate contributions with members’ real names, and (3) make all interactions visible to all team members. Our study reveals that when organizational DCPs are governed by these parameters, they can foster the Seven Cs of Creative Conflict that we identify as clarity, candor, contribution, cooperation, challenge, courage, and collegiality. The Seven Cs foster a growth mindset feedback loop in which members learn to self-reflectively apply a social diagnostic approach to their own digitally mediated well-being, thereby potentially improving organizational communication. Therefore, the Seven Cs form a core of communication competencies that will be increasingly important for organizational success as Gen Ters continue to mature and become colleagues in a variety of organizations.

Gen Z, Remote Work, and COVID-19

Studies of remote work during the pandemic have shown the importance of various digital modalities for hybrid and remote work. Specifically, text and video work platforms can have diametrically opposed effects on individuals’ intention to work remotely; there is a positive relationship between the frequency with which they use text messaging platforms (e.g., Slack) compared to a negative correlation with videoconferencing (e.g., Zoom) (Schulz et al., 2023). This prompts us to consider the strengths of text-based workplace communications, particularly among young adults who have been primarily socialized with digital technology from childhood onward. From a tech-ethics perspective, we believe that using digital tools to build multigenerational communities of belonging will create healthier organizations for all.

Because many Gen Zers are young people for whom the internet has always been a normal facet of everyday life, research is needed to understand the unique contours of this generation both now and as its members mature through the COVID-19 pandemic and enter the workforce. Many consider Gen Z or iGeneration to be the first truly digital generation to grow up after the inception of widespread internet use:

The iPhone launched in 2007, when the oldest Gen Zers were 10. By the time they were in their teens, the primary means by which young Americans connected with the web was through mobile devices, WiFi and high-bandwidth cellular service. Social media, constant connectivity and on-demand entertainment and communication are innovations Millennials adapted to as they came of age. For those born after 1996, these are largely assumed.

The implications of growing up in an “always on” technological environment are only now coming into focus. Recent research has shown dramatic shifts in youth behaviors, attitudes and lifestyles—both positive and concerning—for those who came of age in this era. What we don’t know is whether these are lasting generational imprints or characteristics of adolescence that will become more muted over the course of their adulthood. Beginning to track this new generation over time will be of significant importance. (Dimock, 2019)

Being the first truly digital generation is not without costs. The vast majority (95%) of teen Gen Zers report smartphone access and 45% reporting that they are “online almost constantly” (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). Less than a third (31%) of Gen Zers believe that social media has a net positive effect, with the reason of connecting with friends and family frequently cited, compared to about a quarter of teens reporting that social media has a primarily negative effect, with bullying and gossip most frequently referenced (Parker & Igielnik, 2020).

Furthermore, a social diagnosis approach to digital engagements allows better understanding of how Gen Zers are more likely to experience mental health issues that scholars increasingly link to digital media. Some researchers show correlations between increased screen time, particularly social media, and decreased psychological well-being (Keles et al., 2020; San Juan et al., 2022; Twenge & Campbell, 2018). Many of these negative patterns were potentially exacerbated by COVID-19 lockdowns that necessitated heavy reliance on digital media use; these patterns may be indicative of the digital trauma paradox, in which oversaturation from toxic digital content may act as a social determinant of health (Chiaraluce et al., 2022). More specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the ways in which trauma can be digitally mediated, and therefore, may help to understand the decrease in mental health and well-being. These connections deserve greater study given the uptick in mental health issues experienced particularly by Gen Zers, which have particular salience for traditionally underrepresented groups (Rideout et al., 2021; Schaeffer, 2022). According to Lipson et al. (2022), from 2013 to 2021 there was a significant increase in the prevalence of mental health issues, including depression and self-harm, with disproportionate impacts on disadvantaged groups, which signals the need to address mental health inequalities among this age cohort.

A social diagnosis approach illuminates how these issues may be associated with digital engagements and well-being with particular salience to Gen Zers’ entry into workplaces, including organizational workplaces. Before COVID-19, Gen Zers born after the mid-1990s started to come of age in the midst of a strong economy with low unemployment. Unlike Millennials before them, Gen Zers had reason to expect a more stable and prosperous economic future (Parker & Igielnik, 2020). In 2020, the oldest members of Gen Z were entering the workforce and increasing their presence across varied organizations. However, with the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the oldest members of this generation suddenly experienced significant upheaval just as they were entering the workforce and organizations as young adults. In a matter of a few short months, Gen Zers experienced wide sweeping societal changes during their formative years entering adulthood. According to Parker and Igielnik (2020), “Instead of looking ahead to a world of opportunities, Gen Z now peers into an uncertain future.” Alongside their own economic vulnerability due to their overrepresentation in public-facing service jobs that were eliminated with stay-at-home orders, the authors note that a higher percentage of 18–23-year-olds (compared with older age cohorts) reported that a household member had lost work or taken a pay cut during the pandemic. As this indicates, due to COVID-19, Gen Zers experienced great uncertainty that turned their future work and career expectations upside down while increasing their reliance on digital media.

A Social Diagnosis Approach to the Seven Cs of Creative Conflict

In this article, we advance our scholarship using a social diagnosis approach to examine organizational communication during the pandemic in digital communication platforms (DCPs) among a subset of Gen Zers that Levine (2023) calls “Gen Tech.” Gen Ters are distinguished by their collective lived experience and socialization in an age of ubiquitous digital connectivity; they are a distinct subset of global Gen Zers set apart by their embeddedness in a technology-rich milieux. We bring the concept of Gen T into dialogue with our prior research on COVID-19 that has shown the value of using a social diagnosis approach. We identify the ways in which digital engagements can function as a social determinant of health with a variety of impacts on well-being (Chiaraluce et al., 2022; Robinson et al., 2021).

Here, we take our social diagnosis approach in a new direction to explore Gen Ters’ use of digital communications during the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects on well-being and organizational health in what we call the Seven Cs of Creative Conflict. We identify the Seven Cs as clarity, candor, contribution, cooperation, challenge, courage, and collegiality. By creative conflict we refer to working through conflict or dissensus in order to achieve organizational goals as a relational process with positive outcomes that mitigate the potential negative effects of certain digital media engagements. This prosocial approach helps members of organizations to:

. . . see themselves in relation to others, especially during episodes of conflict . . . crystalise their goals and strive to achieve them by more creative means. This is because most people want harmonious relationships with those around them and when obstacles to achieving that harmony appear, they become more determined to overcome them. (Lee, 2015)

Rather than reinforcing a pattern of conflict avoidance or escalation, we show how DCPs can be used to manage creative conflict as a process that benefits individuals, teams, and organizations. As our study shows, within certain parameters, nonsynchronous DCPs allow members to work through disagreements fruitfully, thereby harvesting the benefits of what scholars have termed “creative” or “positive” conflict (Baron, 1991).

The Seven Cs approach seeks to channel the sharp increase in reliance on digital media specific to the Gen T experience of the pandemic into positive outcomes for organizations and individuals. As the pandemic has made at least part-time work from home the new normal for many, more scholarship must examine DCPs like Teams and Slack—particularly as members of this generation have a preference for flexible and collaborative working styles (Katz et al., 2021). To meet this need, our article begins to unpack the potential benefits of digital communication and engagements in organizational settings using DCPs. Our findings show how involvement in digital media may build well-being among Gen Ters in their roles as members of organizations. Identifying this linkage allows us to better comprehend the potential relationships between positive digital interactions and well-being writ large.

Creative Conflict in Organizations

Inspired by a tech-ethics perspective to well-being, we make these connections by taking a social diagnosis approach to work on creative conflict management that has been the object of organizational and management studies for the last several decades. Building on our theoretical work on digital communications during the pandemic (Chiaraluce et al., 2022), we contribute to this literature by bringing it into dialogue with digital sociology and generational tech adoption. Scholars of organizational communication identify the management of creative conflict as a prosocial process with important ramifications for organizational well-being.

To date, insufficient attention has been paid to the short- and long-term effects of COVID-19 on Gen T along these axes. To begin to remedy this lacuna, we probe how involvement in DCPs can socialize members to engage in creative conflict:

Within an organization, conflict does not always indicate problems; when used creatively, it can increase employee interest. Conflict can be described as a situation where solutions appear mutually exclusive and where goals, methods, and objectives are opposed. Resolution is one method of dealing with conflict, but if it involves compromise, forced solution, futility or withdrawal, a residue of undesirable attitudes can be left. Confrontation is a better method. It does not produce losers, and it minimizes chances of future conflict. Guidelines for confrontation include: confronting opposing parties directly; getting personal feelings out in the open; minimizing status differences; not placing blame; identifying areas of agreement; emphasizing mutual benefits; and identifying one’s own feelings and biases. (Preston & Hawkins, 1979, p. 7)

Although these words were written over forty years ago, they remain salient today in an entirely new arena: digital communications. Therefore, we engage with the growing literature on creative conflict as it occurs in one of the digital environments normative to Gen T: DCPs like Slack or Teams. Jung and Lee (2015) observe that when working through conflict is approached as a relational process, creative conflict ultimately benefits individuals, teams, and organizations.

Creative conflict is of increasing importance to organizational health, given that over a third of employees (36%) report dedicating significant time and energy to dealing with conflict, which results in a variety of individual and organizational costs (Hackston, 2022). Ongoing conflict results in negative impacts on both physical health (sickness and missed days) and emotional health (anxiety, depression, and stress) as well as demotivation, disengagement, weaker relationships, and reduced cooperation and trust (CPP, 2008; Hackston, 2022).

When conflict mismanagement or avoidance becomes widespread in organizations, interactions grind to a halt and individuals withdraw thereby generating a culture of conflict avoidance that damages organizational health, productivity, and well-being. When organizational cultures do not deal with conflict effectively, individuals become unable or unwilling to productively engage, collaborate, and innovate for the benefit of the organization (LeMay, 2020). Under such circumstances, individuals often avoid conflict by engaging in protective communication strategies to shield themselves from negative interactions and antisocial behaviors (Grieve et al., 2017; Moles, 2017).

While mismanagement of conflict can hinder organizational growth and functionality—adding to tangible and intangible organizational costs—when conflict is managed productively, creative conflict can optimize creative flows and maximize collaboration and innovation that move organizations forward (Waters, 2021). Normalizing creative conflict can halt such downward spirals that harm organizations. When groups possess the abilities and/or modalities to engage in creative conflict, efficiency and productivity are augmented for entire organizations:

. . . intercollegial conflict is inevitable. Such conflict may have an adverse effect on employee turnover, workplace morale . . . Conversely, skillful management of conflict may result in beneficial change and improvement. Improved conflict management . . . has been shown to reduce the negative impacts of conflict. (Kfouri & Lee, 2019, p. 15)

A growing number of researchers agree that creative conflict can lead to numerous benefits we identify in this study. These strengths can help optimize well-being for both individuals and organizations and are increasingly valued by many employers (Baron, 1984; Cosier & Dalton, 1990; Hackston, 2022; Tjosvold, 2008). While organizational communication scholars have explored creative conflict among older members of organizations, they have yet to put these studies in sufficient dialogue with Gen Zers who will comprise more than one third of the workforce by 2030 (Ganguli et al., 2022).

Gen Tech and Creative Conflict in DCPs

We begin to meet this need by applying a social diagnosis approach to creative conflict in order to map out how resolving conflict creatively in organizational DCPs, such as Slack or Teams, may promote well-being among Gen Ters and the organizations of which they are members. Bringing organizational and management literatures into dialogue with work on digital sociology, we build on earlier work establishing linkages between young people’s acquisition of digital competencies and emotional well-being (Huang et al., 2015), digital engagements and emotion work (Robinson, 2018), and capital-enhancing school-to-work digital experiences (Robinson, 2020). With these studies in mind, we note that as Gen Ters transition to adulthood through the pandemic and expand their presence in organizations, there is an increasing need to take a social diagnosis approach to improve well-being among this age cohort. We do so by conceptualizing how DCPs may promote creative conflict that is successfully managed so that individuals may thrive in many organizational settings.

Our findings move forward the body of work linking young people’s digital media use and professionalization (Robinson, 2011) by raising awareness of the strengths of DCPs to facilitate seven different facets of creative conflict. Our social diagnosis approach encapsulates this process as the Seven Cs of Creative Conflict that create a normative culture of creative conflict. Specifically, as we show, the first two interrelated steps in this process are clarity and courteous candor. Simultaneously, members of organizations must be able and willing to listen and hear one another with clarity; they must also express themselves in a courteous and candid manner. When these preconditions are normalized, all team members are incentivized to contribute. These set the stage for cooperation and being challenged to grow by engaging with one another with prosocial behaviors. In turn, when these normative expectations are established, the courage to problem solve increases, and a culture of collegiality flourishes. Deploying a social diagnosis approach to the Seven Cs of Creative Conflict also primes individuals and groups to engage in creative conflict as a relational process governed by goodwill and joint goal-seeking behaviors for the good of the organization and the enhanced well-being of individuals.

As our data reveal, DCPs, when used appropriately, can improve colleagues’ ability to manage conflict productively, which ultimately improves organizational members’ agility (Pitafi et al., 2018; Wei et al., 2020). The benefits of the Seven Cs foster a “growth mindset” in which individuals believe that they can learn from one another, which in turn improves innovation and collaboration; when individuals are motivated by a growth mindset, they achieve more, are less preoccupied by appearing intelligent to others, experience greater empowerment, and display heightened commitment to organizations (Dweck, 2016). For this reason, when properly managed, disagreement can create positive organizational change. Furthermore, digital spaces can facilitate creative conflict that has the power to improve organizational functioning, enhance well-being among members, and teach participants to internalize a social diagnostic approach to their own digital interactions.

Archival Evidence and Research Methods

In the tradition of digital sociology, archival data from discussion boards are an excellent basis for generating a dataset that preserves a record of interactional strategies and identity work (Robinson, 2005). Our research draws on this tradition by collecting archival data from the oldest members of Gen T in their late teens and early twenties who engaged in DCPs in educational organizational settings during the pandemic.

In this research, we examine evidence from over 1,350 Gen Ters by assembling a subset of archival data from the period surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic from a larger body of archival data from our use of DCPs at multiple educational institutions over the last two decades. Our archival data therefore allow for multiple angles of comparison across generations, the growth of the internet, and the pre-/post-pandemic landscape.

To build the dataset, we gathered archival evidence from across a variety of DCPs used in the social sciences and humanities. To ensure quality control of our inventory, we established inclusion criteria with formalized evaluations of the courses in which the DCPs were embedded using standardized institutional queries to ensure that all courses were at or above departmental norms. In addition, we only included courses in which Gen Ters had been required to engage in DCPs on a regular basis and also to reflect upon the process.

To ensure that variation was not due to digital interface limitations or affordances, data were drawn from DCPs that (1) included nonsynchronous functionality, (2) ensured that all content was associated with members’ real names, and (3) made all content viewable by all team members. This combination implicitly draws upon Moles’ work on a rich variety of facilitation tools for engagement that create “an open learning environment” including generating “guidelines for respectful dialogue” (2017, p. 178; 2020). These distinctions are important when considering that previous research indicates the absence of any of these parameters may contribute to an increase in interactional friction, failure, and/or withdrawal (Lin & Tian, 2019; Menchik & Tian, 2008).

To analyze the archived data, we used standard techniques for discovery-oriented research (Yin, 1992). We inductively coded the entire data to privilege members’ meanings and understandings (Emerson et al., 2001). We employed open coding followed by rounds of code-and-recode and verification of codes through targeted coding. Through many iterations, we honed and refined the themes of clarity, candor, contribution, cooperation, challenge, courage, and collegiality. Through these analytic procedures, we standardized our coding parameters across the dataset and ensured inter-coder reliability. These procedures grounded our findings in the data in the tradition of grounded theory (Emerson et al., 2011). As this indicates, we are not employing objective measures in the tradition of quantitative social-psychological methods.

We make no claim of generalizability to larger populations that would be beyond the scope of the data or to digitally disadvantaged populations (Robinson et al., 2020). Our analysis of creative conflict should not be generalized to social media writ large or anonymized communications outside of an organizational framework but rather should be used to better utilize interfaces such as Microsoft Teams or Slack that the COVID-19 pandemic normalized for many organizations. We also note that it is beyond the scope of this research to analyze the benefits of different forms of individual or small group collegial interactions. This being said, as with all discovery-oriented research, our findings may serve as the foundation for more generalizable work going forward by providing evocative new concepts for scholars to operationalize across more representative settings and populations. Finally, all of the materials have been anonymized for analysis and replicated without attribution, edited only for brevity and clarity when necessary.

Findings: Creative Conflict in DCPs

Applying a social diagnosis approach to examine the dynamics of creative conflict on DCPs during the COVID-19 pandemic, we offer rich empirical data from first-person accounts of Gen Ters. As we detail in each section below, our analysis illustrates how organizational DCPs allow Gen Ters to gain a variety of complementary competencies that are key to collaboration in organizations. Specifically, we describe significant facets of the creative conflict process as voiced by Gen T members. As these Gen Ters establish, DCPs can foster the Seven Cs of Creative Conflict: clarity, candor, contribution, cooperation, challenge, courage, and collegiality. In turn, the Seven Cs engender a growth mindset feedback loop in which members learn to self-reflectively apply a social diagnostic approach to their own digital interactions, see the quality of the interactions as integral to the success of larger organizational dynamics, and offer themselves course corrections that support their own well-being and that of their colleagues.

Clarity, Candor, and Contribution

Scholars have argued that digital communications have introduced deep changes in the ways that we think (Carr, 2020) and make use of temporal resources that impacts our collective ability to process and respond to information effectively (Robinson and Gran, 2018). For this reason, the nonsynchronous functionality of DCPs can be a powerful tool that enhances creative conflict management. The nonsynchronous format of the DCP interface allows Gen Ters to achieve clarity by removing sequencing pressures that can lead to misunderstandings. As these Gen Ters agree, the DCP format provides “more time . . . [to] formulate . . . thoughts and responses.” When Gen Ters have time to clarify their thoughts, they are better able to express themselves with lucidity:

I can take my time and think about what I want to say and not miss out. I can take my time typing to be civil and think clearly . . . you are protected by the keyboard. You have time to think and respond. You aren’t forced to react because you can’t see facial expressions that might cause fear in how you respond.

Working to achieve clarity also reduces tension as the Gen Ter explains:

I think the format allows me to think . . . because I am able to read their ideas multiple times and digest it, rather than a . . . setting where one person speaks and then everyone moves onto the next person.

Gen Ters report that DCPs improve their ability to marshal their thoughts and share them effectively. Unlike simultaneous interactions that put members on the spot, in DCPs, members have the time to best express themselves. As this Gen Ter explains:

I think this type of collaborative asynchronous work is actually very beneficial especially for myself. One thing I loved most was that it gave me time to think about and reflect on my answers to these difficult topics. I know in person I often get flustered and make a mistake and always regret speaking up but here I felt way less pressure to be perfect and say the right thing since I was able to actually spend time thinking about the material and my responses to it . . . since sharing opinions is a huge part of learning and it was interesting to read each person’s take-aways.

Clarity is highlighted as a key element in creative conflict as is apparent in the comments of another respondent: “I really liked how much information I gathered from others . . . the structure of the [DCP] encouraged open-minded thinking and collaboration . . .” Here we see particular value in the DCP nonsynchronous format that provides time to achieve clarity on what others are saying before sharing one’s thoughts. Furthermore, because members know others will also more carefully consider their words, the interactive sequencing of DCPs also facilitates candor as we see next.

Significantly, nonsynchronous DCPs both allow the individual to better express oneself with clarity and, as a consequence, facilitate candor in expressing nonconforming sentiments. Gen Ters concur that the DCP format allows them to be more candid in offering independent thinking: “. . . format allows my peers and I to share ideas without having to worry about appearances and ad hominem arguments. I feel that it allows people to be more genuine and authentic.” Another Gen Ter argues that DCPs: “make it easier to participate with others and exchange ideas or agreements/disagreements because you can fully read and understand what someone else is saying and formulate your response without worrying that you may be spoken over, etc.” When they feel that they can offer candid commentary, these Gen Ters describe being better able and willing to engage on the DCPs rather than shutting down or off:

I don’t want to look like the outcast so I don’t always talk if I disagree. I think ‘What if I did something bad . . .’ ‘What if I said this . . .’ You might blurt something out and there would be consequences. And if I don’t agree I’ll be focused on what I want to say and then I miss something.

By blunting the fear of being misunderstood, nonsynchronous DCPs offer Gen Ters the ability to be more candid even if they are outliers. As another expresses: “The asynchronous format . . . helped me feel comfortable sharing my ideas . . . without feeling a need to “cater” to the audience . . . I felt more courage and ability to disagree with my peers on this format . . .” Ample time to hone communications and contribute with greater clarity is key to creative conflict that relies on candor.

By obviating the pressure on Gen Ters to conform to dominant talking points, Gen Ters are better able to develop the courage to contribute and give voice to their beliefs. Here we see how the sequencing of DCPs is critical to inculcating competencies that work together to produce the benefits of creative conflict. As we have seen above, when Gen Ters have more time to absorb others’ thoughts, they understand them better and respond to them with greater clarity. In turn, their self-assurance in their own commentary also grows and strengthens, making them better able to contribute. As a corollary, involvement is more equitable thanks to greater contribution by all, which encourages individuals who might otherwise contribute less or not at all. As this Gen Ter reflects on a heightened desire to engage with others due to feeling more “welcome” and less “judged”:

Personally, I tend to get very nervous . . . and don’t typically speak up as much as I wish I could. Because of the asynchronous format . . . I felt very welcome in sharing my ideas without fear of judgment. I liked interacting . . . and hearing their ideas without fear of being wrong . . . I was able to organize my thoughts before sharing them . . . making for more productive conversations.

The DCP modality allows members to contribute to conversations with greater ease, which is critical for those who might normally be shut out of collegial involvement because they are afraid of being censured. Others agree on how DCP engagement encourages them to contribute: “I also reflected on many of the same aspects of the format. I can relate to being nervous . . . and how this format has provided bigger opportunities of sharing thoughts in a safe space.” In sum, we see that nonsynchronous DCPs are fertile ground for creative conflict because this modality permits Gen Ters to achieve clarity and candor that motivates them to contribute. Building these competencies bestows numerous benefits for both individuals and organizations, such as increasing mutual understanding, collegial engagement, team building, and organizational functioning.

Cooperation and Challenge

When clarity, candor, and contribution are normalized, individuals cooperate and are challenged to grow. As the data show, these Gen Ters are hungry for the kind of cooperation facilitated by DCPs because individuals have the courage to take part in mutually respectful exchanges. As this Gen Ter reflects: “I was skeptical of the online format at first as well, but I realized . . . that I heard from many different people about their take on each week’s material that maybe I wouldn’t have heard.” An ethos of cooperation encourages more equitable involvement in the collective thought process:

“. . . at first I was also skeptical of the virtual format . . . With that said, the nature . . . allowed each of us to think creatively as individuals and . . . allowed us to voice . . . what we learned each week in an efficient and effective manner more than I originally believed it could.”

Yet another Gen Ter also makes linkages between cooperation, a growth mindset, and creative conflict:

I also like the digital format because it can make it easier to consider new perspectives, agree and disagree with others. The one thing I really like about it is that everyone gets to share their thoughts, even those that usually don’t raise their voice . . . we learn from each other.

Other Gen Ters agree on the communal companionship they experience in DCPs:

. . . it was fantastic to see other . . . sides through the weekly interactions. . . I also agree with you that the digital tools used to engage with others . . . fostered . . . an easy way to communicate with others.

Another summarizes how the DCP experience encourages fellowship where everyone has a place: “You don’t have to pick sides. You can learn from other people.” When Gen Ters experience cooperation they are more incentivized to be coagents who consider all sides of an argument and bring fresh angles of vision that may benefit organizations.

Gen Ters describe how DCP involvement allows for the collegial exchange of competing worldviews that prompts them to challenge and collaborate with one another. This Gen Ter articulates how being challenged to grow is the result of the cooperation inculcated by DCP engagement that:

. . . promoted ideas and thoughts to be challenged . . . Hearing others perspectives and why they thought this way promoted growth within one’s own perspectives. Once people become colleagues in a workplace, there will be many different perspectives that people have. Not listening to those or just believing one’s own perspective is correct will prevent actual growth in the workplace.

These Gen Ters indicate that their DCP engagements establish cooperation that grows by being challenged in ways that foster collegiality. Another Gen Ter remarks on how being challenged to grow promotes independent thinking that benefits all members: “I think you bring up a great point of not feeling a need to “cater” towards a specific audience [as] opportunities for those who don’t speak up . . . to share their reflections in a low-pressure environment.” Yet a third Gen Ter connects these dots to show how cooperation and being challenged to grow create cultures of inclusion:

. . . the digital interactive . . . format . . . highlighted the very diverse perspectives . . . and allowed certain marginal viewpoints . . . to be better heard. I’m not sure I would have heard so many diverse opinions in a normal [discussion]. I am very hopeful that we use more technology tools in education and business going forward, as I believe it will enhance inclusion and diversity.

For Gen Ters, normative cooperation obviates a mindset of siloed thinking and replaces it with an organizational spirit of cooperation and growth that is necessary for collaboration. Growth mindsets (Dweck, 2016) are necessary for creative conflict because organizations thrive when colleagues constructively critique one another. This happens when DCPs prompt participants to:

. . . think about and share our worldview . . . fostered open, respectful dialogue [with] . . . people who did not share the opinions of others . . . encouraged us to share what we agree with and disagree with to better understand various perspectives.

In sum, engagement in DCPs builds collaboration that is deepened by growth mindsets, which in turn enhance the ability to engage in creative conflict that benefits both individuals and the organization.

Courage and Collegiality

When Gen Ters agree and disagree in a collegial manner, they gain courage to engage in problem solving thanks to a better set of communication habits. The nonsynchronous DCP format encourages Gen Ters to solve problems together, as this Gen Ter summarizes: “What inspired me the most about digital tools for communication was that it will allow me to learn new things, solve complex problems and boost efficiency and productivity in the workplace.” This Gen Ter also indicates how building competencies builds courage to communicate and collaborate:

. . . tackling/solving societal problems. Taking part . . . allowed me to hear other people . . . and learn so many new things that I had not thought about . . . made it easier to exchange ideas and agree/disagree with one another. In the future, I feel as if digital tools for communication and collaboration can help make positive social change because digital tools allow multiple opinions . . . and allows one to agree/disagree with one another.

As Gen Ters note, engaging in DCPs socializes them to be better colleagues able to engage in creative conflict leading to innovative solutions: “Great work . . . I like how you mention that the format . . . allowed us all together to find the passion to solve problems existing in the world . . .” Yet another concurs that DCPs are “a great tool for interacting” around “problems that people have solved” because they can “wrestle with the ideas and problems we are seeing. I think this format definitely makes it easier to express ideas and consider new perspectives.” This Gen Ter explains how DCPs can be transformative because they allow for cordial: “agreement or disagreements and reflection on our own ideas. This inspired me that with any issue, there are always solutions [that can] always be improved or further innovated.” Specifically, DCP involvement allows Gen Ters to see themselves as active problem solvers able to engage in creative conflict: “We are able to collectively learn about each other’s viewpoints and get good ideas from each other. We can build on each other’s ideas to create a big solution to social problems.”

Finally, successfully engaging in creative conflict makes Gen Ters ready and eager to not only solve problems in the world around them but also to resolve conflict among themselves by promoting collegial behaviors. Given the costs to organizational health stemming from unresolved conflict, the more colleagues can work out issues internally, the more time is spent efficiently. As this Gen Ter reflects on how engaging in DCPs will make them a better colleague:

I appreciate the asynchronous learning format. It enables me to produce higher quality work . . . by interacting . . . to gain different perspectives . . . format is most similar to the real working world. In the corporate world, we are going to have deadlines for projects, but time to work on your part of the project individually.

The Seven Cs of Creative Conflict are a powerful tool kit foundational to—and inclusive of—collegiality and healthy team dynamics. These DCP members welcome opportunities to collaborate because Gen Ters desire positive experiences in organizations (Ganguli et al., 2022). Growing their tool kits with DCPs, these Gen Ters understand that they are able to grow as better colleagues thanks to the DCP format that:

. . . enhanced my ability to be a better colleague in the future because it provided me with structured ways to communicate effectively and positively comment on my colleagues work and thoughts . . . The idea of being able to have a chance to think before responding . . . was a key factor for communicating . . . and helping create positive social change. I really enjoyed working with and sharing ideas . . .

According to DCP members, fortified with the same communication competencies, collegiality flourishes. These Gen Ters become alive to their ability to work through differences, which is critical to prosocial involvement in organizations because it equips members with the tools necessary for collegial creative conflict:

In considering what I learned . . . I feel that I recognized how my peers and I all seek to make the world a better place by providing solutions to problems that affect large groups of people. I feel that we are now empowered into recognizing that a small group of people can make a large impact on influencing the collective . . . this digital format has enhanced my ability to be a better colleague in the future . . . overall improving my performance.

Perhaps most important, these DCP members are empowered to strive to be better colleagues in the future because they recognize the interrelated nature of these communication competencies in their growth as colleagues, as this Gen Ter summarizes:

. . . made me think in new ways, or shared perspectives and aspects that I wouldn’t have thought of myself. I think this really has enhanced my learning, and the format of taking in everyone’s valuable perspectives is therefore something I will take with me to be a better colleague in the future.

For these Gen Ters, nonsynchronous digital interaction is a “good preparation for engaging . . . with future co-workers because oftentimes, our realm of communication will be through online platforms . . .” DCP involvement builds courage to solve organizational challenges and build collegiality, increasing the ability to collaborate in autonomous teams.

In summary, these interrelated affordances acquire increased salience when we consider that many of the oldest members of Gen T were shut out of organizations during their formative years as young adults by the COVID-19 lockdowns. DCPs offer an important and understudied vehicle to assist them in making up potentially lost ground during the pandemic to prepare them to be professionals on diverse teams. Gen Ters in our study report being better able to work independently and deliberate difficult topics among themselves without managerial oversight. Their experiences model successful organizational dynamics that minimize unproductive conflict and promote creative conflict (Kfouri & Lee, 2019). When individuals see themselves as atomized, as opposed to seeing themselves as part of a larger organization, they may be unable to decouple their own discomfort in the face of conflictual interactions with the need to work through them for the collective good. Engaging in creative conflict implicitly teaches members to adopt a social diagnosis approach that facilitates self-reflection and awareness of larger group dynamics and well-being. Therefore, the Seven Cs enable organizational members to understand how their behavior contributes to overall organizational health.

Synthesis

Drawn from the midst of the crises generated by COVID-19, our findings offer evidence of what we call the Seven Cs of Creative Conflict: clarity, candor, contribution, cooperation, challenge, courage, and collegiality. This communication toolkit is particularly important for the oldest members of Gen T who grew up digital and have less robust organizational experience due to the pandemic. As we have noted, Gen Ters derive multiple benefits from involvement in DCPs that (1) include nonsynchronous functionality, (2) associate contributions with members’ real names, and (3) make all interactions visible to all members. Within the specified parameters, Gen Ters can use DCPs to acquire a battery of interrelated competencies that facilitate “creative conflict,” all of which promote well-being as they mature as members of organizations.

As our social diagnosis approach has illustrated, DCPs offer a powerful tool to facilitate creative conflict for both “push” and “pull” motivations, with positive impacts on individual and organizational health and well-being. Engaging in DCPs, Gen Ters approach their organizational engagements with an increased willingness to contribute both by achieving clarity in expressing themselves and showing consideration when listening to others. These prosocial behaviors create a powerful “push” that encourages them to become adept and valuable members of diverse organizations. At the same time, they also experience the “pull” of interactional well-being produced by cooperation and being challenged to grow. These prosocial “pulls” not only sharpen their abilities to provide constructive critiques, but also socialize them to better hear these critiques from others. Ultimately, this combination improves prosocial behaviors making them more adept problem solvers and better colleagues.

Gen Ters provide evidence that DCPs offer the potential to manage creative conflict to drive collaboration and bring together diverse stakeholders to tackle problems together. Returning to Preston and Hawkins’ work speaking to pre-digital organizational settings, we see the DCPs offer a venue that meets all of their specifications to successfully manage conflict creatively:

Guidelines for confrontation include: confronting opposing parties directly; getting personal feelings out in the open; minimizing status differences; not placing blame; identifying areas of agreement; emphasizing mutual benefits; and identifying one’s own feelings and biases. (1979, p. 7)

When these guidelines are implemented in DCPs they carry the same benefits that Preston and Hawkins applied to non-digital communications of increasing “employee interest,” nonthreatening disagreement, and engagements that do “not produce losers” (1979, p. 7). This approach reduces the chances of negative forms of conflict and/or conflict avoidance and potential concomitant negative outcomes for organizational health.

The DCP modality is key to achieving well-being on multiple levels. Thanks to its nonsynchronous structure, DCPs give Gen T members sequential control of both their own contributions and reactions to others’ contributions to engage successfully in confronting opposing parties directly. Given the time to thoughtfully consider the words of others and craft their own articulations, DCPs make it possible for Gen Ters to get personal feelings out in the open in ways that minimize status differences. Furthermore, Gen Ters involved in DCPs experience psychological benefits and emotional well-being stemming from the normalization of prosocial behaviors including not placing blame; identifying areas of agreement; emphasizing mutual benefits; and identifying one’s own feelings and biases (Preston & Hawkins, 1979, p. 7). DCPs allow individuals to cooperate and be challenged to grow. When this occurs, prosocial behaviors become dominant and antisocial behaviors are diminished, both of which are necessary for creative conflict to be effectively managed. As a result, Gen Ters are highly incentivized to engage and interact, grow in their ability to solve challenges, and become valued colleagues in healthier organizations.

Implications of Creative Conflict

These findings inform theorization of the Seven Cs of Creative Conflict—clarity, candor, contribution, cooperation, challenge, courage, and collegiality—that may be applied to various organizational structures to inculcate a growth mindset. Regarding the use of DCPs, it is important to remember that Gen T is the first digital generation, and as such also the first “digital first” generation. Gen T, in general, mediates the world utilizing a “technology first” approach. This “technology first” approach means Gen Ters are more likely to seamlessly integrate a variety of digital interfaces into different life realms. While it may seem natural to extend their engagement in DCPs to more organizations, it is crucial to understand the importance of ensuring prosocial behaviors central to creative conflict that supports both healthier individuals and organizations.

While creative conflict has benefits for most members, it may be an especially powerful tool to both augment well-being and reduce stress that has grown since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic for members of Gen T. From this angle of vision, we see the potential of DCPs to prepare Gen Ters to contribute as colleagues to productive organizational growth through collaboration and creative conflict. With the right interrelated competencies, creativity and innovation thrive when all colleagues can courteously challenge one another and work through disagreements with collegiality because they trust one another, can speak their minds freely, and feel that their voices and experiences are valued. To these ends, our study advocates the use of DCPs as a medium that can help organizations be more egalitarian, productive, and collaborative sites of creative conflict.

Benefits of Creative Conflict for Organizational Health and Well-Being

Given that both managers and employees can exhaust precious time dealing with various conflicts, training colleagues with the competencies to handle issues on their own frees up time for other tasks. Moreover, relationship conflicts in organizations, which are based on personal value differences, tend to detrimentally affect the ability to process otherwise productive suggestions because such conflict negatively impacts perceptions of others and preoccupies teammates from focusing on a given task (Pitafi et al., 2018). Being able to empathize with colleagues despite value differences is important to building team agility. Allowing people to share more freely builds trust and background knowledge to help colleagues assume the best of each other during a disagreement where value differences play a role. By increasing well-being, Gen Ters are better able to process and apply new information to find solutions vital to organizational success.

Furthermore, our findings suggest that DCPs provide ways to connect with others and think in innovative ways, which increases Gen Ters’ ability to work as autonomous teams where members are better able to collaborate independently and deliberate on difficult topics among themselves without managerial oversight. For all of these reasons, the DCP modality appears to be a good fit with Gen T communication preferences. Members of this generation are motivated to innovate and contribute to positive organizational environments (Ganguli et al., 2022). Knowing how to communicate well on DCPs is key to collaborative work flows for a variety of organizations.

Finally, to promote ethics and inclusion, inculcating a culture of communication using the Seven Cs teaches members to internalize a social diagnostic approach to their own digital interactions as part of a growth mindset feedback loop. When Gen Ters practice the Seven Cs, they are learning to deploy a social diagnosis approach to better understand how to continually engage in quality control of their digital engagements for their own benefit and that of their organizations. Therefore, our findings suggest that organizations may benefit enormously by incorporating the lessons here in their use of interfaces such as Slack or Teams that can share the qualities of the DCPs in our study. As we have shown, organizational messaging platforms can contribute to more positive and inclusive environments when norms for collegial engagement are clear and feature the following design criteria: (1) include nonsynchronous functionality, (2) associate contributions with members’ real names, and (3) make all interactions visible to all team members. With these features in place, team members employing the Seven Cs of Creative Conflict in organizations are more likely to experience well-being that may enhance innovation and lead to more inclusive collaborations; thanks to the communication strategies we identify in this article.

Future Directions

Looking ahead, from an organizational vantage point, it is also important to understand this generation’s unique characteristics and preferences as they enter adulthood in larger numbers and grow to nearly 35% of the global workforce by 2030 (Ganguli et al., 2022). On a related note, while our findings above speak clearly to enhancing well-being, we also note that scholars are increasingly recognizing multiple challenges to mental health that have been augmented by the pandemic (Coelho et al., 2020). For this reason, more work is needed on how DCPs may provide opportunities to create a growth mindset within organizations for what Parker and Igielnik (2020) note is the most diverse generation in U.S. history vis-a-vis race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.

While we have mapped out implications from the study that will enhance the capacity of Gen Ters to help organizations innovate and thrive, future work is needed to examine the Seven Cs of Creative Conflict across different organizational fieldsites populated by different age cohorts. Additional scholarship would do well to probe how the Seven Cs can be used at the micro- and meso-levels to improve organizational dynamics and organizational well-being across generations. To this end, future research could also explore the role of managers in facilitating interactive communications to produce desirable outcomes, such as those noted here, to enhance well-being and reduce stress responses caused by organizational dysfunction for all age groups. From this angle of inquiry, DCPs could be of real value to a number of organizational settings seeking to promote autonomous multigenerational teams able to self-regulate—all of which contribute to healthier organizations that are more agile and efficient. Such work would shed much needed light on the potential of DCPs to inculcate intergenerational solidarity needed to tackle organizational, social, and ethical challenges ever increasing in the digital world.

In closing, from a social diagnosis as well as a tech-ethics perspective, the Seven Cs model prosocial communications with the potential to improve individuals’ and groups’ health and well-being. As the Seven Cs approach provides a tangible protocol to inculcate creative conflict, future research should explore its application in diverse settings, as well as its benefits in multiple life realms. Beyond organizations, the Seven Cs can be integrated into individuals’ and groups’ daily interactions and social relationships from the personal private sphere of interpersonal relationships (friendship, intimate, and familial) to leaders tackling complex challenges that require trust, collaboration, and commitment to the common good. In each case, the relational goals are the same: to communicate more effectively, create inclusive environments, manage conflict productively, and reject a zero-sum mentality, all of which contribute to individual and organizational health and well-being.

Author Biographies

Katia Moles is a social ethicist trained at the Graduate Theological Union and UC Berkeley where her work examined the policy implications of culturally embedded framings of sexuality and reproduction within larger ethical and religious traditions. She is a faculty member in the School of Engineering at Santa Clara University where her research speaks to the intersection of inequalities and tech ethics, particularly issues of inclusion that impact traditionally underrepresented groups. The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion awarded Moles the “New Scholar Award” for her article “A Culture of Flourishing: A Feminist Ethical Framework for Incorporating Child Sexual Abuse Prevention in Catholic Institutions.” UC Berkeley, Santa Clara University, Dominican University, Graduate Theological Union, and Florida International University have also recognized Moles’ work in justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion that animates her research and teaching.

Laura Robinson is a professor in the Department of Sociology at Santa Clara University and Faculty Associate at the Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. After earning her PhD from UCLA, where she held a Mellon Fellowship in Latin American Studies, her other affiliations include the UC Berkeley’s Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, the Cornell University Department of Sociology, Department of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin, USC Annenberg Center, and the École Normale Supérieure. Robinson’s service positions include Series Co-Editor of Emerald Studies in Media & Communications and Palgrave Studies in Digital Inequalities, North American Coordinator of the Brazil-U.S. Colloquium on Communication Research, Organizing Committee Member of the Media Sociology Symposium, Steering Committee Member of the Digital Sociology Thematic Group of the International Sociological Association, and CITAMS Section Chair 2014–2015. Her research has earned awards from CITASA, AOIR, and NCA IICD for her work on digital inequalities and digital sociology in Brazil, France, and the United States.

Lloyd Levine (ret.) is a senior policy fellow at UC Riverside’s School of Public Policy and a former member of the California State Legislature. He served as Chair of the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce, specializing in issues relating to electricity, renewable energy, telecommunications, and broadband. He is the cofounder of the Center for Technology, Policy and Society at UC Riverside’s School of Public Policy and a founding board member of the California Emerging Technology Fund. Through his work and academic publications, he has earned a reputation as a nationally recognized leader in government technology and policy, including being named “one of the 40 most thought-provoking innovators in New York city and state” by the prestigious New York City & State magazine recently. He has appeared on the television and radio programs across the country and has been published and cited widely in print media, with articles published in everything from daily newspapers to legal publications. He has also served as a panelist and keynote speaker at energy, and technology conferences around the world. He has been a guest lecturer in many universities and law schools.

Cara Chiaraluce is a senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Santa Clara University. She earned her PhD from the University of California, Davis, and conducts research in the fields of medical sociology, gender and family, and carework and digital resources. Her manuscript titled Becoming an Expert Caregiver: Shifting Paradigms on Care and Disability through Autism Carework is currently in press with Rutgers University Press. Additional recent scholarly articles include: “Narratives on the Autism Journey: ‘Doing Family’ and Reconfiguring the Caregiver Self” in the Journal of Family Issues (2018) and “Becoming an Expert Autism Caregiver: Health Literacy and Community Catalysts”' in Research in the Sociology of Health Care (2015).