Cultivating a conflict-positive workplace: How mindfulness facilitates constructive conflict management

• Published in: Organizational behavior and human decision processes 2020-07, Vol.159, p.8-20
• Main Authors: Kay, Adam A., Skarlicki, Daniel P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Avoidance; Cognitive reappraisal; Collaboration; Conflict management; Emotion regulation; Intervention; Metacognition; Mindfulness
• ISSN: 0749-5978; 1095-9920
• DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.02.005

•First study on the effects of mindfulness on conflict management.•Mindfulness increases collaboration and decreases conflict avoidance.•Cognitive reappraisal mediates mindfulness and collaboration but not avoidance.•Effects of mindfulness on collaboration hold even controlling for positive affect.•Largest, most exacting mindfulness intervention to date in organizational research. What can organizations do to cultivate a more conflict-positive workplace? A promising line of inquiry can be found in mindfulness. This paper examines the effect of mindfulness on the constructive management of workplace conflict - conceptualized as high collaboration and low avoidance - and tests the mediating role of cognitive reappraisal. Results reveal that mindfulness facilitates constructive conflict management by increasing collaboration and reducing avoidance, showing that the advantages of mindfulness in conflict management stem from more than its benefits for affect. Results further reveal that while cognitive reappraisal explains how mindfulness increases collaboration, it does not clarify why mindfulness reduces conflict avoidance. Ultimately, this paper shows that mindfulness can be an effective tool for promoting constructive conflict management in the workplace.