Conflict Resolution by Managers
The authors of this article provide a concise overview of their research on workplace conflict. For instance, they found some gender differences in conflict resolution.
Research on gender issues in dealing with conflicts
In addition to the situational approach, we have focused on gender issues in a number of studies of managers in the context of exploring the conflict resolution methods. Gender issues are one of the typical research problem areas in various fields of
knowledge. Gender issues are focused on in almost every discipline that deals with human behavior, cognition, society, and culture. The gender topic has a key dimension in personal life, social relationships, culture, and we could also add the working
life. We based our approach on the concepts of gender as a social construct, with an emphasis on gender roles, gender identity, and expectations connected to gender.
In the chapter, we present the results of the research, in which the ways
of solving the conflict situations were investigated by means of Thomas-Kilmann's TKI questionnaire. This research was conducted on the sample of 114 respondents, 68 female managers and 46 male managers, aged from 18 to 55 years, working in the areas
of trade, services, production, and education. The average age of these managers was 29.13 years, and the average length of their managerial experience was 6.11 years. Data collection was carried out in 2016 by means of the snowball sampling method.
Unlike
the above analyses, in this case the dispositional (trans-situational) approach to conflict resolution has been accepted. Male and female managers assessed each of the questionnaire items describing five ways of conflict resolution (avoiding, accommodating,
collaborating, compromising, and competing). The different ways to resolve the conflict were judged by the male and female managers on a 6-point scale from 1 (definitely not) to 6 (definitely yes).
Comparisons of the responses of the male and
female managers confirmed the existence of statistically significant differences in the preferences of conflict resolution methods in terms of four styles (accommodating, compromising, competing, and avoiding) (Table 8).
| Gender | M | t | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conflict resolution methods - TKI | ||||
| Accommodating | Female | 3.64 | 4.053 | 0.000 |
| Male | 3.11 | |||
| Compromising | Female | 3.26 | 3.562 | 0.001 |
| Male | 2.87 | |||
| Competing | Female | 3.05 | −3.759 | 0.000 |
| Male | 3.73 | |||
| Avoiding | Female | 3.38 | 4.158 | 0.000 |
| Male | 2.67 | |||
Table 8. Comparison
of assessment of conflict resolution methods between female and male managers.
The addressed female managers had higher scores in the conflict resolution methods of compromising and avoiding, and the male managers in the strategy of competing.
Female managers do not look for conflicts and therefore avoid them more often to maintain good interpersonal relationships. Tactically, they prefer to change the topic or ignore the problem. If the conflict cannot be avoided, they choose the compromise strategy, the basic idea of which is that the involved parties partially give up on what they wanted to achieve initially, and thus get something else out of their goals. This style, unlike collaborating (we did not find any statistical significance in it), however, often brings a much less satisfactory solution.
The third style, which female managers prefer more than male managers, is Accommodating, which focuses on minimizing the conflict in order to preserve relationships. Women often sacrifice their opinions and goals in order to maintain good relationships with others.
The goal of the competing way of resolving conflicts, in which the higher scores were achieved by the male managers, is to win over others and force them to accept their opinions. This often escalates the already created conflict and increases the likelihood of conflict occurrence in the future. It is demonstrated by convictive techniques, using the position, power and influence, imposing suggestions on others, assertive and aggressive behavior. This style is adequate for the quick and vigorous decisions needed to achieve the best results. Several other studies have confirmed our findings that men prefer the use of a dominant style of conflict resolution, unlike women who prefer to avoid conflict. Women often try to mitigate the conflict using the strategy of compromise or the explanation of behavioral patterns. Men will use more physical strength to convince others.
Understanding gender roles in a conflicting interaction is based on the theory of communication differences. The authors refer to the research that shows that in some circumstances there is a difference in the gender perspective of the conflict. Men tend to dominate and compete, while women try to compromise. The control over the conversation is in the hands of men, who lead it where they want. Women are expected to remain in the role of the listener. Also, Allhoff and Allhoff affirm that women in mixed discussion groups speak less. Men take the initiative, direct the conversation, and do not like to be interrupted. On the contrary, women tend to support the debate, ask questions and show interest. It is therefore efficient to give each individual, regardless of gender, the spectrum of communication behavior. Because, a conflict is usually about power and self-respect, the chance of its constructive solution thus increases.
As mentioned above, in defining gender issues as a social construct, emphasizing the gender roles, gender identity, and the expectations associated with gender, it is crucial to pay attention to the relationship of work and family. In the context of the conflict between work and family, several researches focusing on work and personal satisfaction and quality of life were conducted. One of the most well-known concepts of the positive effects of the links between the workplace and the family areas is the work-family enrichment by Greenhaus and Powell. By this term, the authors understand the extent to which the experience gained in the performance of one role will help improve performance and success in the other. In this case, it is the positive impact of solving the conflict of work and family. Positive work and family experiences contribute to higher well-being and consequently to greater life satisfaction. Even if these positive effects occurred only in one of the areas (work or family), they often perform a protective function against stress and possible failure in the other area.
Eby et al. dealt with studies and research on conflict of labor and family relationships. They distinguished them into three groups: a connection with the work area, with the family, and the individual characteristics of the individual. The issues of work conflicts, pressure, tension and stress, unfair remuneration for work performance, time demands, high workload, and loyalty, have been at the forefront of discussions. Many work preconditions for enhancing the experienced conflict are the source of the aforementioned work-related stress.
In further research, conflict resolution analysis in the context of gender issues was, again, enriched by the attribute of situational approach. This research was carried out on the sample of 154 respondents, 78 female managers and 76 male managers, aged from 20 to 65 years, working in various economic areas. The average age of these managers was 31 years, and the average length of their managerial experience was 10 years. Data collection was conducted in 2015 by means of the snowball sampling method.
Through multivariate analysis, we analyzed the ways of dealing with conflicting
situations from the viewpoint of the interactive impact of gender (male and female managers) and the work area (education, healthcare, trade, and production). One Way Scatter Analysis confirmed the F-test value of 2.050 and a statistical significance
of 0.015. Further analyses concerned the interactive impact of gender (male and female managers) and the size of the organization (small business and big business) (F-test 2.253, statistical significance 0.055), gender (male and female managers) and
age categories of respondents (18–34, 35, and over) (F-test 2.533, statistical significance 0.033). These F-test values indicate the existence of statistically significant interactions between the family and the investigated factors (work area, size
of organization, and age category) in assessment of the conflict resolution methods. Statistically significant interactions are shown in Figures 1–3.
Figure 1 Multivariate analysis of perception of the strategy collaborating − gender ×
working area.
A statistically significant interaction in the analysis of the conflict resolution method - Collaborating (F-test 2.037; p = 0.001) was demonstrated among the male and female managers working in the fields of production and education
(Tukey Post Hoc Test 0.049). School managers use cooperative strategies more often than managers in the field of production. Male managers use less of this strategy than women, and that is true mainly for the managers working in production (Figure
1).
The statistically significant interaction in terms of gender and work area in the conflict resolution method of accommodating (F-test 2.030; p = 0.050) was demonstrated among the male and female managers in production and healthcare (Tukey
Post Hoc Test 0.050). The female managers from production as well as healthcare use the accommodating conflict resolution strategy almost equally, unlike the male managers. These differ in the fact that healthcare managers are more adaptable than
managers who work in the field of production. They use less accommodating than the female managers in a given sector (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Multivariate analysis of perception of the strategy accommodating − gender × working area.
A statistically significant interaction in terms of gender and the work area was also observed in the way of dealing with conflicting situations - Competing (F-test 2.331, p = 0.002). In this context, several significant interactions have been identified, in particular among the male and female managers in the field of healthcare and education (Tukey Post Hoc Test 0.007), healthcare and production (Tukey Post Hoc Test 0.026), trade and production (Tukey Post Hoc Test 0.004), as well as trade and education (Tukey Post Hoc Test 0.001).
Healthcare female managers are using this way to resolve conflicts more often than the female managers in the areas of trade and production. On the contrary, the male managers in the healthcare sector use competing
less than the male managers in production and trade. This is the most effective method of conflict resolution used in the field of education. Even the education managers use it more than the trade and healthcare managers (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Multivariate
analysis of perception of the strategy competing − gender × working area.
Significant interactions were recorded also in the context of gender and the size of the organization (F-test 2.253, p = 0.050) in the collaborating strategy (Tukey Post
Hoc Test 0.008), and it is recognized that the female managers are more likely to use the cooperative strategy in small businesses, as compared to women in large organizations and, contrarily, men in large organizations cooperate more intensively
than the male managers in small businesses (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Multivariate analysis of perception of the strategy collaborating − gender × company size.
The conflict resolution method of collaborating has also proved to be statistically
significant in the studied interactions of gender and the age categories of managers (F-test 2.033, p = 0.048), with this strategy being more used by older as well as younger female managers. It is interesting to note that the younger female managers
prefer this strategy similarly to the older male managers (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Multivariate analysis of perception of the strategy collaborating − gender × age.
The presented findings support the aforementioned concept of understanding gender as a social construct, with an emphasis on gender roles, gender identity, and family expectations in the context of conflict resolution by managers, as well as in terms of more general concepts of gender issues.