The Role of Organizational Culture on Informal Conflict Management

Abstract

Many researchers and scholars would without hesitation justify the role of formal processes to manage the conflict in the workplace. The conflict process is greatly influenced by organizational culture. A number of researchers have explored the influences of organizational culture on the different ways of handling conflict. But the organizational culture and conflict management research has often ignored the examination of the impact and implications of culture on informal conflict management in organizations.In this article we take a narrower approach that focuses on the specific domain of culture pertaining to the management of conflict. The purpose of this study was to analyze the amount and types of conflict in organizations with the aim of investigating the relationship between organizational culture and the behavioral norms used to informally manage conflict by examining the results of a survey questionnaire given to 168 employees of a Public Administration. The results indicate that there is a relationship between culture and behavioral norms. In this scenario, formal processes of conflict management become prescriptions and lose their relevance for understanding the challenges and the evolutions of conflict situations.We demonstrate that the practice of conflict management is more problematic, especially in that it brings the topic of organizational culture into the discussion of conflict theory literature.

Firm performance and alliance capability: the mediating role of culture

“…Furthermore, scholars find that organizational culture has a significant effect on areas such as learning (Danish et al, 2014;Kao, Wu and Su, 2011), conflict management (Di Pietro and Di Virgilio, 2013), innovation (Naranjo-Valencia, Jiménez-Jiménez and Sanz-Valle, 2011) and change (Adil, 2014), all of which can occur at the firm level in alliances.…”

Conflict pressure cooker: Nurse managers’ conflict management experiences in a diverse South African workplace

“…Mazibuko and Govender (2017) confirmed conflict as prevalent in diverse South African workplaces and this was also an international norm. Conflict is a daily reality (Di Pietro & Di Virgilio 2013) faced by nurse managers (Guerra et al 2011:364), especially within healthcare organisations and diverse workplaces, irrespective of them being military or not. Organisational culture impacts conflict frequency (Di Pietro & Di Virgilio 2013) in specialised healthcare organisations (Aitamaa et al 2015).…”

“…Conflict is a daily reality (Di Pietro & Di Virgilio 2013) faced by nurse managers (Guerra et al 2011:364), especially within healthcare organisations and diverse workplaces, irrespective of them being military or not. Organisational culture impacts conflict frequency (Di Pietro & Di Virgilio 2013) in specialised healthcare organisations (Aitamaa et al 2015). This especially holds true for an organisational culture that disregards existing problems associated with wrongs and corrective inertia.…”

Gender and Public Organization: A Quasi-Experimental Examination of Inclusion on Experiencing and Reporting Wrongful Behavior in the Workplace

“…Over the past couple of decades, organizational culture has been a significant topic of interest in public management research (Di Pietro & Di Virgilio, 2013; Garnett, Marlowe, & Pandey, 2008; Jennings, 2012; Jung et al, 2009; Molina, 2009; Moon, 2000; Muscalu, 2014; Rice, 2004; Taylor, 2014; Teodoro & Hughes, 2012). Although its definition has varied in the literature, many researchers agree that organizational culture consists of shared values and beliefs and socially constructed patterns of action that guide the behavior of its members (Jennings, 2012; Jung et al, 2009; Ott, 1989; Rice, 2004; Schein, 2010).…”

“…These values and beliefs are both formal and informal and can be both written and unwritten (Rice, 2004). In addition, these patterns serve as a powerful social control function, limiting the range of acceptable behavior and restricting individual differences in organizations (Di Pietro & Di Virgilio, 2013; O’Reilly & Chatman, 1996). Often, organizational culture represents long-standing traditions or assumptions, and socialization of these traditions begins once a member joins the organization.…”