The relationship between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that conflict management styles play in the relationship between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying. Design/methodology/approach – A survey study was conducted among 761 employees from different organizations in Spain. Findings –...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of managerial psychology 2015-01, Vol.30 (3), p.250-263
Main Authors: Leon-Perez, Jose M, Medina, Francisco J, Arenas, Alicia, Munduate, Lourdes
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bullying
Causality
Conflict management
Conflict resolution
Constructive conflict
Corporate culture
Corporate image
Correlation
Dynamics
Employees
HR & organizational behaviour
Interpersonal conflict
Management
Management styles
Medical personnel
Occupational health
Occupational psychology
Organizational conflict
Organizational psychology
Problem solving
Researchers
Role conflict
Social conflict
Strategy
Tasks
Workplaces
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Summary:Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that conflict management styles play in the relationship between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying. Design/methodology/approach – A survey study was conducted among 761 employees from different organizations in Spain. Findings – Results suggest that an escalation of the conflict process from task related to relationship conflict may explain bullying situations to some extent. Regarding conflict management, attempts to actively manage conflict through problem solving may prevent it escalating to higher emotional levels (relationship conflict) and bullying situations; in contrast, other conflict management strategies seem to foster conflict escalation. Research limitations/implications – The correlational design makes the conclusions on causality questionable, and future research should examine the dynamic conflict process in more detail. On the other hand, to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study empirically differentiating interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying. Originality/value – This study explores how conflict management can prevent conflict escalating into workplace bullying, which has important implications for occupational health practitioners and managers.
ISSN:0268-3946
1758-7778
DOI:10.1108/JMP-01-2013-0034