Conflict styles of men and women at six organization levels

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to provide a more detailed examination of the way conflict styles vary by organization level and gender.Design/methodology/approachThe authors drew a stratified, random sample from a national database on the Thomas‐Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, selecting 200 fully‐employed men and 200 fully‐employed women at each of six organizational levels – from entry‐level positions to top executives. This design allowed them to test for linear and curvilinear relationships between style and organization level, as well as to compare gender differences in styles across organization levels.FindingsResults showed moderate effect sizes for both organization level and gender, with negligible interaction effects. Assertiveness (competing and collaborating) increases monotonically at progressively higher organization levels, while unassertive styles (avoiding and accommodating) decrease. Compromising shows a curvilinear relationship to organization level, decreasing at both the highest and lowest levels. The strongest gender finding was that men score significantly higher on competing at all six organization levels. Thus, there was no evidence that conflict styles of men and women converge at higher organization levels.Originality/valueThe study provides a more detailed picture of conflict style differences by organization level and gender. Among other things, these differences suggest the usefulness of multiple sets of norms for conflict style instruments and the need for conflict training and team building to take into account the typical style patterns at a given organization level.

Personality traits and conflict management styles in predicting job performance and conflict

“…We need to explore how people understand and interpret these measuring scales (Ting-Toomey et al, 1991). Also, we may need a selected sample, as these CMSs may be used possibly opted according to various levels of organizational hierarchy (Thomas et al, 2008) and conflict situation (Bono et al, 2002), especially considering the power and status hierarchies in countries like Pakistan (Brew and Cairns, 2004).…”

Okul Yöneticilerinin ve Öğretmenlerin Çatışma Yönetimi Stillerinin Sosyal Zekâ ve Bazı Kişisel Değişkenlere Göre İncelenmesi

“…Sypridon (2008) yapmış olduğu araştırmanın sonucunda, kadınların ödün stilini erkeklerden daha fazla kullandıklarını bulmuştur. Thomas, Thomas ve Schaubhut (2008) yapmış oldukları araştırmanın sonucunda, erkeklerin hükmetme (yarışma-üstünlük kurma) stilini kadınlardan daha fazla kullandıklarını bulmuşlardır. Vokić ve Sontor (2009), yapmış oldukları araş-tırmanın sonucunda, kadınların erkeklere göre uyma ve uzlaşma stilini daha fazla kullandıklarını bulmuşlardır.…”

“…Bunlar; kaçınma (geri çekilme), uyma (ödün verme-itaat etme), hükmetme (zorlamayarışma-üstünlük kurma), uzlaşma (karşılıklı ödün verme) ve işbirliğidir (bütünleştirme-tümleştirme-pazarlık) (Bayar, 2015;Huan ve Yazdanifard, 2012;Thomas, Thomas ve Schaubhut, 2008;Weitten, Yost-Hammer ve Dunn, 2016). Kaçınma stilinde birey, çatışma yaşadığında çok rahatsız olur.…”

“…There are five styles of conflict resolution: avoidance, accommodating, competing/forcing, compromising, and collaborating styles (Huan and Yazdanifard, 2012;Thomas, Thomas and Schaubhut, 2008;Weitten, Yost-Hammer and Dunn, 2016). In the light of these approaches to conflict resolution, communication process clearly plays a key role both for the creation and resolution of conflicts (Goldstein, 1999) and effective communication is central to this process (Mayer, 2000).…”

Managing interpersonal conflicts at work by line managers

“…Moreover, there are disagreements about the key factors influencing line managers' conflict management modes; psychologists emphasise the role of the conflict situation (Rahim, 2002, Thomas et al, 2008 and personal traits (Antonioni, 1998), while other scholars focus solely on the impact of the organisational aspects of managing interpersonal conflict (Teague and Roche, 2012). The contribution of this paper lies in investigating whether situational, personal and/or organisational aspects influence line managers' conflict management modes.…”