The Effects of Conflict Avoidant Leadership on Team Dynamics

Conflict Avoidance Leadership (CAL) portrays a leader who refuses to de-escalate a situation when conflict arises in a team due to a fear of criticism or disapproval from their followers (Medakovic, 2023). Unlike Laissez-Faire leadership (Bass, 1985), CAL describes leaders who are enthusiastic and involved in their team, but when conflict arises, they choose to step away or avoid the encounter for fear of disapproval or criticism (Barbuto & Cummins-Brown, 2007) (Griffith, 2021). This paper elaborates on the construct of CAL and aims to explain how CAL can affect team dynamics by examining role ambiguity and team conflict as mediating mechanisms. I propose a model to delineate how CAL can lead to increased workplace stress and “quiet quitting” (followers providing the minimum effort required of one’s job with a lack of enthusiasm) in a team-based model (Choi, Seo, & Kyoo Kim, 2024) (Romano, 2023). This paper contributes to the leadership literature by introducing CAL, examining its debilitating effects on followers’ psychological and behavioral outcomes, and sequentially impacting team performance.