Organisational Culture and Modes of Conflict Behaviour

Abstract

The different ways of handling a conflict have traditionally been considered as behavioural characteristics of the. individual. In this paper, we endeavour to analyse the different ways of handling a conflict in relation to the culture of the organisations. We analyse the culture with three dimensions: high versus low identification of the members with the objectives of the organisation; high versus low power distance; closed versus open system. Combining these three dimensions we elaborate different patterns of organisational culture favouring different forms of conflict behaviour. Departing from these suppositions we accomplished an intervention in a sanitary organisation with the general hypothesis that the culture of this organisation responded to the definition of Pattern 4: high power distance + closed system + low identification. This cultural pattern had to strengthen the behaviour of passive competition, based on resistance and control of the programme which the Basque Public Health Service wanted to impose.