Analysis on the Current Situation of Conflict

Management and Future Prospects

Yujie Yi
School of Management, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
DOI: 10.4236/ojbm.2019.72071 PDF HTML XML 1,352 Downloads 5,787 V
iews Citations

Abstract
Inevitable conflicts in the workplace have dual effects on organizations. How to
manage conflicts and make it play a constructive role in the organization is of great
importance to the success of the organization. It is also one of the necessary
management skills for managers. In order to enable managers to face up to
conflicts, learn to manage conflicts in the right way, and play a constructive role in
the organization. This paper studies conflict and conflict management behaviors by
means of literature research. Firstly, this paper defines the meaning of conflict
management and clarifies the specific content of conflict management. Then it
reviews and analyses the research on conflict management by scholars at home and
abroad. Finally, it points out the shortcomings of current research on conflict
management, and briefly looks forward to the future development of conflict
management research.

Keywords
Conflict, Conflict Management

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Yi, Y. (2019) Analysis on the Current Situation of Conflict Management and Future
Prospects. Open Journal of Business and Management, 7, 1053-1062.
doi: 10.4236/ojbm.2019.72071.

1. Preface
According to a survey by American historian Slater, managers manage conflicts
about 20% of their working time, and conflicts are inevitable in their work. People
have different opinions about the conflict, which can be roughly divided into three
stages. In the first stage, people think that conflict is harmful, synonymous with
irrationality and destruction, and should be avoided in the organization. In the
second stage, people realize that conflict is inevitable and we should accept and
rationalize it. In the third stage, it is further recognized that conflicts can be
constructive and that teams or organizations need to maintain a certain level of
conflict. Throughout the researchers’ researchs on the impact of conflict, scholars
have also launched a series of studies. Ma Hongyu (2011) [1] pointed out that the
relationship between organizational conflict and organizational performance is
inverted U-shaped. Zhou Mingjian (2014) [2] research shows that team task conflict
has a positive impact on team creativity, and relationship conflict has a negative
impact on team creativity. Team effectiveness plays a mediating role in it. Hu N et
al. (2017) [3] argued that inter-organizational relationship conflicts were negatively
correlated with organizational innovation performance. The relationship between
task conflict and innovation performance is U-shaped. Hjerto K B and Kuvaas B
(2017) [4] show that cognitive task conflict is negatively correlated with team
performance, and emotional conflict is negatively correlated with team job
satisfaction. Emotional task conflict is positively correlated with team performance.
From the above research point of view, it can be said that conflicts in organizations
are a double-edged sword. We cannot blindly think that they are harmful to avoid
and ignore. What we need is to adopt the right way to manage and guide conflicts
and make them play a constructive role. How to play the constructive role of conflict
in organizations depends on how to manage conflict. This paper reviews the
research on conflict management at home and abroad in terms of the meaning,
influencing factors and results of conflict management, and points out the
shortcomings of current research and prospects for future research.

2. The Conceptual Connotation of Conflict Management

Research on the division of conflict management methods is mostly based on the
management grid theory of Blake and other dual concerns (caring for people and
relationship production). Blake and Mouton (1968) [5] designed another conflict grid
model based on the original “management grid” model and divided the conflict
management into five types. (1, 1) Avoidance. Managers regard the possibility of
avoiding conflicts as an effective way to relieve sudden emergencies, (1, 9)
Moderation. It considers that differences between the two parties to a conflict can
coexist peacefully by easing tension or maintaining superficial harmony, but in fact,
the root causes of the conflict remain unresolved. (9, 1) Press. Most people would
think that conflict can force both sides of the conflict to obey through power. (5, 5)
Compliance. In this way, both sides of the conflict need to make submission or
negotiation. As a result, no one wins or loses. It is a more practical way to solve the
conflict. (9, 9) Face. In this way that the conflict problem can be solved by facing
actively. It is a more active way of conflict management, which can thoroughly
resolve conflicts. Thomas and Kilmann (1974) [6] based on the “management grid”
theory and describe the conflict management behaviors in organizations and teams
with five conflict management modes: Competition, cooperation, avoidance,
accommodation, compromise, from the two dimensions of caring for themselves and
others. Rahim (1983) [7] divided conflict management into five types: cooperation,
Obliging, competition, avoidance and compromise from the perspective of caring for
himself and others. Later this method has been widely used. Tjosvold et al. (2003
[8] classified conflict management behaviors into three categories: integration,
competition and avoidance. Chen Jing et al. (2006) [9] proposed conflict
management in Chinese context. They classified Chinese interpersonal conflict
management into three categories: coordination, concession and confrontation. Aw
V K J and Ayoko O B (2017) [10] believed that problem solving, facing up to and
informal behaviors can better and practically divide conflict management behavior in
organizations. Among them, problem solving includes the way of cooperation and
compromise divided by predecessors, the way of dealing with conflicts which is
equivalent to competition, and the way of avoiding and obeying is informal behavior.
The details are as follows (Table 1).

3. The Factors Affecting Conflict Management

This article will answer the following factors for the impact of conflict management,
why should we manage conflicts? When is it managed? And how to manage conflicts
in the workplace? Research on the influencing factors of conflict management mainly
focuses on the individual level and organizational level.
3.1. Individual Level
The demographic characteristics of different individuals and individual psychological
characteristics such as gender, role preference, stress, and emotional intelligence
will affect the way individuals adopt different conflict management methods. Zhang
S J et al. (2015) [11] found that Chinese intelligence companies have a significant
positive correlation between emotional intelligence and conflict management
methods of cooperation, compromise and competition. And the conflict management
method of cooperation is significantly positively related to the innovation
performance of enterprises. Yeung D Y et al. (2015) [12] had shown that the role
and age of conflict participants in an organization has an important impact on how
conflicts are managed. Older employees are more inclined to adopt conflict
avoidance management methods when managing conflicts with superiors than
younger employees. When managing conflicts with lower levels, younger employees
use less conflict management methods. They also found that that the negative
correlation between avoid conflict management method and interpersonal
relationships is only found among young employees,

Table 1. Division of conflict management methods.

but not among older employees. Yang MY (2015) [13] studied the relation between
behavior of Trait Emotion, Instantaneous Emotion and conflict framework, conflict
management. The results of the study found that positive emotional traits and
positive momentary emotions are related to the framework of compromise. The
compromise framework will adopt cooperation management method. Another import
factor is Leadership. Managers’ different leadership styles will affect how they
perceive conflicts and how they choose to solve them. Saeed T et al. (2015) [14]
show that leaders who demonstrate a transformational style are more inclined to
adopt integrated and avoid conflict management methods at work. Managers who
show more trading styles have chosen compromise management method. Managers
who are considered to have a laissez-faire leadership style adopt a style of
avoidance to manage conflicts with subordinates. Jit R et al. (2016) [15] show that
in the workplace, service leaders tend to be persuasive, patient, modest and choose
employee-centric approach to resolve conflict, regardless of whether they play the
role of a third-party mediator/arbitrator or directly face conflicts with subordinates.
This kind of conflict management method can bring a fair and tolerant organizational
atmosphere to the organization and facilitate the formation of organizational
citizenship behavior.
3.2. Organizational Factors
The factors affecting conflict management at the organizational level mainly focus on
three aspects: organizational level, organizational culture, and organizational
fairness.
There are great differences in conflict management among employees of different
levels or working years in organizations. Blake and Mouton (1968) [5] studied the
conflict management styles of eight different levels in the organization, from the
bottom up to the grassroots supervisor and chairman of the board of directors. The
results show that managers with higher levels are more inclined to adopt conflict
management methods of competition and cooperation, and employees at lower
levels are more inclined to adopt conflict management methods of compliance,
compromise and avoidance. Further research by Thomas K W et al. (2008) [6] at
the organizational level shows that as organizational levels increase, conflict
management for dictatorial (competition and cooperation) increases, and conflict
management for moderation (avoidance and relocation) decreases. The
compromised conflict management model has a curvilinear relationship with the
organizational hierarchy, and conflict management at the highest and lowest
organizational levels is reduced. Cultural background, cultural environment, cultural
system, values and so on are all important antecedents that influence the way
conflicts are managed. The study by Komarraju et al. (2008) [16] examines the role
of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism in the choice of conflict
management models. Studies have shown that an individualistic-oriented culture
emphasizes the need to meet individual needs. Individuals under the influence of
this culture are more inclined to adopt mandatory or dominant conflict management
methods than altruistic or evasive conflict management methods. Collectivist
culture-oriented individuals are more likely to choose integrated conflict
management method for the collective interests to sacrifice individual interests. And
the study further pointed out that horizontal collectivism is more likely to prefer
altruistic methods, while vertical collectivists prefer to avoid conflict management
methods. Bélanger J J et al. (2015) [17] studied the relationship between
supervisors and subordinates’ choice of conflict management methods for
subordinates. Studies have shown that when supervisors take more stringent rights
to employees who need high-closed cognition, Employees are more inclined to adopt
constructive (solving problem) conflict management methods. When the supervisor
takes a more moderate right to the employees who need lower closed cognition,
Employees are more inclined to adopt a constructive approach to conflict
management. Yang M Y (2015) [13] found that the team’s positive trait emotions
and positive short-term emotions are positively related to cooperative conflict
management. Tatum and Eberlin (2008) [18] examine the relationship between
organizational justice and conflict management. The empirical results show that
managers who are sensitive to organizational justice issues are more likely to adopt
cooperative conflict management methods in the face of conflicts with employees.
Managers who are insensitive to the issue of organizational justice tend to seek
competitive or dominant conflict resolution strategies in a potentially high conflict
situation.
In summary, the existing research on the factors affecting conflict management
mainly focuses on the research perspectives of organizational factors, leadership
factors and individual factors. Among them, Organizational factors and leadership
factors summarize the causes of conflict management from people’s perception of
the surrounding environment. Individual factors show that conflict management
needs to start with the differences of psychological processes among individuals can
interact and influence each other.

4. The Study of the Outcome Variables of Conflict

Management Methods
There are relatively few research results on the outcome variables of conflict
management methods. This paper mainly elaborates from the organizational level
and individual level
4.1. Individual Level
The impact of different conflict management methods on the individual level of
employees is mainly focused on the specific organizational behavior and
psychological state of the employees. Yang I et al. (2017) [19] take the leadership
of Chinese organizations as the research object. The research shows that there is a
positive correlation between the conflict management methods of leadership
avoidance in the organization and the subordinate’s sense of fairness, trust and
happiness. Such a result is closely related to the distance between rights in China’s
collectivist culture and organizations. Yu Jingjing et al. (2015) [20] used the
employees of Shandong enterprises as the survey object. The research results show
that the conflict management method of competition and cooperation has a
significant positive impact on the behavior of employees, and psychological security
plays a part of intermediary role between cooperative conflict management and
voice behavior. Later, they using the questionnaire survey method, 430 employees
from more than 30 enterprises in Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai and other
provinces were used as research objects, and the hierarchical regression method
was used for data analysis. The study found that cooperative, competitive and
avoiding conflict management methods have a significant positive impact on
employee innovation behavior. Team learning plays a moderating role. Le Yun et al.
(2014) [21] studied the relationship between the three different conflict
management methods of the project manager’s decision, prudence, and avoidance,
and the employee’s turnover behavior. The results show that adopting a decisive
and prudent conflict management method will significantly enhance the quality of
LMX, while the avoidance method will lead to the low quality of LMX and thus
enhance the employee turnover intention. LMX partially mediates between conflict
patterns and turnover intention and the experience of working together will
strengthen the impact of conflict management method on LMX.
4.2. Organizational Level
At the organizational level: Aw V K J and Ayoko O B (2017) [10] studies show that
when subordinates adopt constructive conflict management methods (cooperation,
compromise), they can enhance the quality of team members’ exchange relationship
and then improve the performance of the organization. Constructive conflict
management is positively related to transformational leadership Improve the quality
of organizational members’ exchange relationships and improve organizational
performance. Constructive conflict management methods are positively related to
transformational leadership. Le Yun et al. (2014) [21] show that decisive and
prudent conflict management methods will improve the quality of LMX, while
avoidance will reduce the quality of LMX. An empirical study by Zhang S J et al.
(2015) [11] shows that cooperative conflict management method is significantly
positively correlated with organizational innovation performance. Chen Xiaohong and
Zhao Ke (2010) [22] found that conflict and conflict management behavior has
significant impact on team performance through empirical research on conflicts,
conflict management behaviors and team performance of 76 work teams. The
competitive conflict management method will increase the relationship conflict,
which leads to the decrease of team performance. The avoidance conflict
management method is negatively correlated with the relationship conflict.
In summary, we know that conflict is inevitable, and it will have an impact on the
organizations and individuals. Not only will it affect the specific behavior of
employees, the psychological state of employees, or even the performance and
innovation of organizations. Mastering the methods of conflicts management is very
important in the workplace, especially for managers, which is also a very big
challenge.

5. Future Research Prospects

As an important function of the organization, conflict management has been paid
attention to by psychology and organizational behavior scholars for decades. The
existing literature has made important research progress on the concept of conflict
management, the study of antecedent variables and outcome variables. However,
with the development of the times, conflict management research still needs to
further expand its research scope. On the basis of further summarizing the
shortcomings of previous studies, it is necessary to further strengthen the in-depth
study on the following aspects of conflict management.
5.1. Strengthening Cross-Cultural Conflict Management Research
Current research on conflict management is either based on Eastern cultural
contexts or based on Western cultural contexts, and research on cross-cultural
contexts is inadequate. For example, the relative power distance can influence how
employees perceive the leader’s conflict management intervention. The power
distance is relatively low in Western countries such as the Netherlands, and
relatively high in Eastern countries such as China. The compulsory conflict
management behavior in countries with high power distance may be more
acceptable, while in low-power distance countries, compulsory conflict management
Behaviors are more easily perceived by employees as dictatorship conflict
management.
5.2. Deepening Research on the Impact Mechanism of Conflict
Management
Firstly, it is necessary to further explore the mechanism of conflict management on
outcome variables. Current research focuses on the impact of different conflict
management methods on organizational performance, organizational innovation,
organizational justice and employee sentiment, and impact on leaders themselves
and individual factors of employees. For example, Zhang (2011) [23] verified the
mediating effect of conflict management on transformational leadership and team
performance, and pointed out that the relationship between transformational
leadership and potential of conflict management could be further studied in the
future. Secondly, future research can consider revealing the influencing factors and
results of conflict management from different theoretical perspectives. Secondly,
future research can consider revealing the influencing factors and results of conflict
management from different theoretical perspectives. In the future, we can further
expand other theoretical perspectives for multi-angle research, such as the use of
social learning theory to reveal the impact mechanism of conflict management.
Because conflict management can create a better organizational and social
environment for employees to learn, it is conducive to the improvement of individual
capabilities and career development.
5.3. Exploring the Conflict Management of Employment
Relationship
At present, the research on conflict management is mostly limited to the conflict
management between teams and the conflict management between leaders and
subordinates, which has not contributed enough to the conflict management
between employees and organizations.
At present, China’s social structure has undergone profound changes, and industrial
relations have become one of the basic relations of Chinese society. Chang kai
(2005) [24] believes that China has begun to enter a period of frequent labor
conflicts and conflicts. Labor conflicts and labor conflicts have exerted far-reaching
influence on China’s economy and society, increasing economic costs and causing
losses to enterprises. Labor-capital conflict and labor-capital conflict have become
important factors affecting social harmony and stability. At present, whether the
management of labor conflicts and collective actions in China is proper or not has
considerable political influence. Therefore, it is of theoretical and practical
significance to study the conflict management mode of employment relationship.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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