A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF WORKPLACE CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLES IN INDIAN ORGANIZATIONS

• Published in: Pranjana 2012-07, Vol.15 (2), p.1
• Main Authors: Abbas, S M Shariq, Joshi, Neha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavior; Conflict management; Employees; Gender; Management styles; Marital status; Organizations; Personal relationships; Private sector; Problem solving; Social conflict; Statistical analysis; Studies; Work environment; Workplace diversity
• ISSN: 0971-9997; 0974-0945

Conflict is all pervasive in nature and organizations are not untouched with it. Present study deals with interpersonal conflict in the private enterprises (both corporate and academic) in Delhi and adjoining areas in India. The study has a non-experimental, descriptive, and quantitative research design, a sample size of 103 employees working in financial, IT, academic and marketing sectors were analyzed (stratified random sampling was used for the purpose). Statistical measures like Cronbach's alpha, independent samples t test, bivariate correlation, robust tests for equality of means, multiple comparisons (Tukey HSD) and chi square tests were employed to analyze the data. Research revealed that employees of fairer sex in Indian organizations used integrating, compromising and avoiding styles of interpersonal conflict handling. Dominating and obliging styles were followed by males and same was true for all the employees as their age increased. Additionally, employees having superior income and work experience were found to be less integrative and more dominating in their management of conflict. Further, marital status of the employees also affected the conflict handling style. Interpersonal conflict understanding is crucial for smooth functioning of the organizations. Managers today are devising innovative handling techniques as conflict poses a great challenge for them. The present study can facilitate the management practitioners in understanding the concept and its implications. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]