The final article in this Special Issue not only steps away from the
traditional focus on individual and group effectiveness, but also redirects
attention away from within-group conflict towards between-group disputes.
Specifically, Richter, Scully, and West criticize that scholars and practitioners
alike tend to see the absence of conflict between groups as indicative
of effective intergroup relations within organizations. The authors
demarcate a different approach and propose alternative criteria of
intergroup effectiveness incorporating soft outcomes, e.g., team members’
value judgements about unreasonable time and human resources spent in
coordination and negotiation with other teams. They assess the psychometric
characteristics of a short measure based on these criteria and discuss
implications for both the study of intergroup relations and conflict theory.