Managing Conflict in Software Development Teams: A Multilevel Analysis

School managers have to manage conflict in a way that most benefits the organization and do the least harm to conflicting parties (Gannon 1979). A manager brings his people and personality to his office. This theory signifies the indispensability of one’s personality to a leader’s performance in his official job (Davis and Newstrom 1995). This descriptive survey-correlation method of research tried to find out which conflict management styles relate significantly to the personality attributes of the Southeast Asian school managers. The findings may serve as a feedback as to how this group of school managers manages conflict in certain situations and as a partial basis for assessment to determine their conflict management styles and personality attributes. The result indicated non-significant differences between their conflict management styles used in each of the five areas of concern which was established based on the computed value of the Phi-Coefficient since there were only two conflict management styles expressed by them in each area of concern namely, Integratingand Forcing. Point-Biserial Correlation Coefficient resulted to significant relationships between their conflict management styles and personality attributes since conflict management styles of Executive Position and Career have significant relationships with Selfesteem and Risk taking personality attributes. Keywords - Conflict management, personality attribute, educational administration, organizational conflict, and organizational management.

Adolescents' conflict management styles with parents are assumed to have an important impact on the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship and on adolescents' psychosocial development. Longitudinal research investigating possible determinants of these conflict management skills is scarce. The parenting context and adolescents' tendency to reject maternal authority are expected to shape adolescents' conflict management styles. Therefore, the present three-wave longitudinal study focuses on how parenting and adolescents' reactance relates to adolescents' conflict management styles and conflict frequency with mothers over time, and whether reactance may also explain the associations between parenting and certain conflict variables. We addressed these research questions by using a hybrid cross-lagged panel model with parenting as a latent variable (i.e., supportive parenting) and the other variables as manifest variables. Supportive parenting was measured by four well-known parenting dimensions: autonomy support, responsiveness, psychological control, and harsh control. Four conflict styles were investigated: positive problem solving, withdrawal, conflict engagement, and compliance. Questionnaires were completed by 812 adolescents at three annual waves (52% girls at Time 1). Supportive parenting was associated with fewer conflicts, more positive problem solving, and less compliance and reactance over time. Reactance was associated with more conflicts, conflict engagement and withdrawal, and less compliance. We did not find evidence for the mediating role of reactance in the over-time associations between parenting and adolescents' conflict management and frequency. Both parenting and reactance appeared important and unique determinants for adolescents' conflict management styles and frequency.

This study assessed the correlation between educational leaders’ conflict management styles and the non – teaching employees’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in A University. The respondents of the study were the 98 non – teaching employees from the various departments within A University. The study used adapted questionnaires that were customized to harmonize with the specific objective of establishing a relationship between conflict management styles and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among non-teaching staff. For the evaluation of conflict management styles, the researcher employed a modified version of the Thomas-Kilmann Model questionnaire, incorporating avoidance, accommodation, compromise, collaboration, and competition as the variables. To gauge the OCB of non-teaching employees, the researcher adapted a 25-item instrument rooted in the OCB scale formulated by Podsakoff in 1990. This tool encompasses facets such as altruism, courtesy, civic virtue, sportsmanship, and conscientiousness. Based on the conclusions derived in this study, the following are the recommendations: The study recommends implementing a conflict management program within organizations to address issues and foster an ideal working environment. It suggests offering training programs for leaders to improve conflict resolution skills, promoting open communication and recognizing high-level organizational citizenship behavior. The program should also encourage cross-functional communication and teamwork, and incorporate conflict management training into leadership development courses. The goal is to create a conflict management program where issues are skillfully addressed, ensuring that employees from diverse backgrounds feel valued and motivated. This Proactive Conflict Resolution Program aims to prevent conflicts from escalating, promoting a positive work environment by implementing proactive conflict resolution strategies based on organizational citizenship behavior.

Purpose Negotiating effectively in multicultural contexts or others is not only a very important skill for all organizational elements but also crucial to inter-organizational relations (Adler, 2008). If defined as a process that occurs when one party feels adversely affected by another (De Dreu, 1997). Conflict management styles can be analyzed as a function of personality variables. In this respect, cultural intelligence and self-monitoring appear to be relevant variables, as they are characterized by the demonstration of flexibility and interest in elements that are present in conflict management styles. This study aimed to evaluate the extent to which variables such as cultural intelligence and self-monitoring can positively influence the ability to solve interpersonal conflicts more effectively. Design/methodology/approach This study, with a sample of 399 individuals, aimed to test a model that explores how cultural intelligence and self-monitoring are related as predictor variables in the styles of conflict resolution. Findings It was observed that cultural intelligence presents itself as a reasonable predictor of conflict management styles, whereas self-monitoring appeared as a dispositional and controversial measure in relation to those styles. Self-monitoring exhibited itself as an important predictor of conflict management, but on the other hand, it had an influence on the choice of the dominating style in conflict situations. Practical implications Understanding the predictors of conflict management style and, in particular, realizing the extent to which cultural intelligence promotes a more effective conflict management style can help in the development of selection processes and skill training programs. The development of these multicultural skills will contribute to individual, social and organizational well-being. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature of individual differences and conflict management, demonstrating that some individual differences that predict the styles of conflict management can lead to a certain ambiguity in understanding the behaviour that an individual may adopt in situations of conflict.

Knowledge enablers exist at the organizational and project levels. There is however, no meaningful means to measure organizational or project knowledge sharing. The need to understand the elements that enable this flow of knowledge is dramatically evidenced in information technology organizations in which insufficient knowledge sharing leads to intellectual capital loss, rework, skills deterioration, and repeated mistakes that increase project costs or failures. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship among knowledge sharing processes at the organizational level – organizational learning enablers (OLEs) – the project level – project learning enablers (PLEs) – and project success variables (PSVs). After identifying and validating the OLE, PLE, and PSV constructs they were codified in a survey. Results showed a positive and significant relationship among OLEs, PLEs, and PSVs. A multiple regression indicated that the combination of OLEs and PLEs accounted for 30% of a project's success, however, PLEs alone were not statistically significant.

The objective of the study was to assess the relationship between conflict management styles and work-related well-being of employees in a higher education institution in South Africa. Participants were academic personnel (n = 180) and support staff (n = 201), of which 59.9% were females and 29.9% were black African participants of a large South African university. They completed self-report measures of conflict management and work-related well-being. The data were analysed to predict work-related well-being from conflict management styles and to determine the differences between support staff and academic personnel regarding conflict management styles and work-related well-being. Findings indicated the conflict management style of compromise to predict lower levels of engagement and higher levels of disengagement. Support staff reported to utilise the compromising and dominating style more than did academic personnel. Diversity in conflict management styles may serve organisations better than a monolithic conflict management style.

The relationship between conflict management styles used by nurse managers in psychiatric clinics and the stress level of their subordinates C onflict can be defined as disagreements between indi- viduals and organizations arising from deficiencies in communication, prejudices, differences in beliefs, and personality differences. [1]Conflict is seen as a result of differences in perspectives, ideas, values, preferences, desires, interests, beliefs, and goals. [2]In recent years, it has been observed that the workforce has become more diverse in organizations, and conflicts have emerged as a result of this social diversity. [1] is seen that organizational conflicts affect motivation and organizational performance.Therefore, it is important for managers to manage conflicts effectively in achieving organizational success and goals. [3]For organizational effectiveness and efficient conflict management, it is necessary to have a certain level of conflict and to manage it with appropriate conflict strategies.In other words, it is not desirable to have no conflicts; rather, it is important to have conflicts that can Objectives: This study aimed to determine the relationship between the opinions of nurses working in psychiatric wards regarding their managers' conflict management styles and their self-perceived stress levels.Methods: This was a descriptive, comparative, and correlational study.The population consisted of 580 nurses working in psychiatric clinics of public and private hospitals in Istanbul, and 199 nurses were included in the sample.The "Personal Information Form," "Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory-II (ROCI-II) Form A," and "Perceived Stress Scale" were used for data collection.Data were analyzed using frequency and percentage distributions, the Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman correlation analysis, and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results:The participants' mean scores on the Conflict Management Scale were as follows: integration subscale 2.500.90;obliging subscale 3.030.74;dominating subscale 2.920.85;avoiding subscale 2.980.66;and compromising subscale 2.610.83.The mean score of the Perceived Stress Scale was 13.784.74.The mean score for the perceived stress subdimension was 4.492.04,and for the perceived coping subdimension was 9.303.45.A statistically significant, weak positive correlation was found between the perceived stress subdimension and the dominating subscale, while a weak negative correlation was observed with the compromising and integration subdimensions.A weak negative correlation was also found between the perceived coping subdimension and the integration, obliging, and compromising subdimensions.Conclusion: According to the nurses, their managers most frequently use obliging, avoiding, dominating, compromising, and integration styles, respectively, in conflict management.As managers' use of compromising and integration styles increases, the nurses' perceived stress levels decrease.

This study aimed to evaluate the moral competence and conflict management styles in emergency nurses. This cross-sectional study was conducted among emergency department nurses. Convenience sampling was employed. The data collection tools comprised a demographic-occupational questionnaire, a questionnaire assessing the moral competence of clinical nurses, and another questionnaire focused on exploring conflict management styles. A total of 190 emergency department nurses were involved in this study. The study revealed that emergency department nurses' average moral competence score was 159.81 (standard deviation, SD=13.00), ranging from 121 to 184 points. Among emergency department nurses, the average score for conflict management styles stood at 105.61 (SD=10.67), ranging from 41 to 132 points. The study findings revealed statistically significant associations between several factors and nurses' overall moral competence score; age group (P =0.004) and type of employment (P =0.035) showed substantial relationships. Significant associations emerged between the overall conflict management score, job position (P =0.021), and age group (P =0.044). Emergency nurses demonstrated a commendable average score in moral competence and predominantly utilized conflict management styles over participation styles when handling conflicts. A robust and direct correlation between moral competence and conflict management was also observed.

Purpose: To examine link between conflict management styles used by university library managers with such demographic attributes such as gender, education, academic vs administrative status, experience, and their full vs. part time involvement with their role as library managers. Methodology: Data was secured by questioning library managers about their preferred treatment of staff conflicts. The tool used for data collection was a questionnaire designed by the researcher drawn on Thomas Kent’s model of five common conflict management styles. Analysis was carried out using SPSS software Findings: Managers preference for collaboration, compromise, and domination was evident. Accommodation and avoidance strategies were respectively less preferred. Analysis showed that gender, education, academic vs. administrative status had little correlation with the preferred style, whereas, full time mangers and managers with longer management experience expressed a tendency toward avoidance style. Also, male managers with longer experience preferred domination style more than their female counterparts. Originality: A similar research was not found in Iranian LIS literature Keywords: Conflict- Conflict Management- Conflict Management Styles University Library-University Library Managers.

Problem: The purpose of this study was to determine general high school teachers' perceptions towards the frequency of school principals' conflict management styles and their effectiveness. Method: The sample of the study consisted of 362 teachers working for general high schools during 2007-2008 academic year in Izmir. The 28 item scale titled “Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory IIâ€? developed by Rahim (1983) was administered in order to collect data. The data collected was analyzed by employing statistical techniques such as mean, standard deviation, the t-test, the one way analysis of variance and LSD test. Results: After analyzing the data the following results have been reached: According to the perceptions of teachers, while school principals mostly use “collaborationâ€? style , they prefer “compromiseâ€?, avoidanceâ€?, “dominationâ€? styles occasionally dealing with conflicts among teachers respectively. The teachers perceived that the principals use “accomodationâ€? style with minimum frequency. Teachers also perceived that the most effective conflict management style exhibited by their principals was “collaborationâ€? style, on the other hand “compromiseâ€?, “avoidanceâ€? and “accomodationâ€? was perceived relatively less effective but the “dominationâ€? style was perceived least effective by teachers. According to the 20-29 age group of teachers' perceptions, most effective style is “avoidanceâ€? while 30-39 and 40 and over age groups emphasize “collaborationâ€? style as most effective conflict management style. The least effective style according to the 20-29 age group's perception is “accommodationâ€? style, while 30-39 and 40 and over age groups perceive “dominationâ€? style is the least effective one. The perceptions on the effectiveness of “collaborationâ€? and “accommodationâ€? styles differ according to the age groups. The group of 30-39 age sees the “collaborationâ€? style more effective than the group of 20-29. The 30-39 age group also thinks that the “accommodationâ€? style is more effective than the groups of 20-29 and 40 and over think. The perceptions of the teachers on the effectiveness of the conflict management styles differ according to their education level. The teachers who have pre-license and license education, perceive the “collaborationâ€? style as the most effective one while the teachers who have post-graduate degree perceive “avoidanceâ€? is the most effective one. According to the teachers' perceptions of pre-license and license groups, the least effective conflict management style is the “dominationâ€? style while the teachers who have post-graduate degree, think the least effective one is the “accommodationâ€? style. The teachers' perceptions on the effectiveness of the “accommodationâ€? and “compromiseâ€? styles differ according to their educational level. The teachers who have license degree, see the “accommodationâ€? and “compromiseâ€? styles more effective than the teachers who have post-graduate degree. Recommendations: According to the findings, the recommendations the following were developed: School managers have to know in which organizational conditions which conflict management style they have to use. According to this research findings, they use the “collaborationâ€? style frequently but they use the other styles “sometimesâ€? and “rarelyâ€?. The most effective conflict management style differs according to the organizational situations and conditions. School managers must be trained by in-service education programs on which style is convenient in which organizational conditions. The young teachers (20-29 years old) see the “avoidanceâ€? style as the most effective conflict management style. This finding shows that young teachers prefer to ignore the problems. The reason of this ignorance can be the fear of being harmed by the system. The educational system must have more legal professional security for the young teachers. The “collaborationâ€? and “accommodationâ€? styles are seen more effective in 30-39 age group of teachers than 20-29 and 40 and over age groups of teachers. “Collaborationâ€? and “accommodationâ€? are the styles of democratic and reconcile the different thoughts. The 20-29 age of group can be against of “accommodationâ€? because they can think everything by being against. The 40 and over age group of teachers also think that “accommodationâ€? style is not effective as much as the 30-39 age group think. These teachers of 40 and over age group can think they are in the end of the profession. So, the group of 30-39 age of teachers seem more reconciler than the other age groups. It can be thought that the teacher between 30-39 age, are more suitable for attaining managerial positions. The education level has an effect on conflict management styles. The teachers who have pre-license and license degree, see the “collaborationâ€? style as the most effective conflict management style, while the teachers who have post-graduate degree see the “avoidanceâ€? style as the most effective one. This finding shows that post-graduated teachers do not want to be interested in school matters a lot. This can means there are some problems between school managers and the teachers who have post-graduated teachers. Some research has to be done to explore the problems between school managers and the teachers who have post-graduate degree. Key Words: Conflict, Conflict Management, Perception, General High School, Teacher.

Conflict in schools: Student nurses’ conflict management styles

Conflict is a factor that is known to challenge the status quo and provides the foundation for innovation and change. So, one of the important tasks of managers is the conflict management in organizations. Due to the growth of researches in the field of creativity, as well as the importance of managers’ role for the conflicts between their selves and their employees, the main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between conflict management styles and creativity of managers in small and medium enterprises.

Unfolding the recipes for conflict resolution during the new service development effort

There are few options available for school managers who wish to effectively tackle school conflicts. The aim of the present work was to assess the issue of school conflict, its sources, and the effectiveness of different conflict management styles in Secondary Education school units in Greece. Teachers (n = 128) from twelve randomly selected schools in the region of Epirus, NW Greece, participated in the present work. Teachers’ views on their school Principals’ leadership style as well as the sources, the type(s), and the severity of conflict in their school unit were surveyed. Conflict appeared to be a frequent issue in schools. Frequent sources of conflict included interpersonal and organizational parameters. School leaders exhibited a range of conflict management styles. Compromise and Collaborative styles were frequently observed, followed by Smoothing and Forcing. Avoidance was less frequently exhibited by school leaders. The transformational and transactional leadership styles exhibited were equally effective in successful conflict resolution, whereas a laissez-faire leadership style was not. The results indicate that leadership and conflict management style can be associated with the effectiveness of conflict management.

This study examines the influence of conflict management styles, both cooperative and competitive, on information sharing and, in turn, on organizational performance. The mediation of information sharing in the relationship between conflict management styles and organizational performance is also examined. The effects of conflict management styles were analyzed at the intragroup level in a field that presupposes cooperation through a survey carried out with professionals who work in agricultural cooperatives. For the analysis of the 91 valid answers, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used. The results indicate a relationship between conflict management styles and information sharing, which is positive for the cooperative style and negative for the competitive style. Furthermore, a positive relationship was observed between information sharing and organizational performance. However, no mediating effect of information sharing on the relationship between cooperative and competitive conflict management styles and organizational performance was found. Based on the results, it is concluded that the cooperative style of conflict management promotes the sharing of information and improves organizational performance. The same was not found for the competitive style of conflict management in the researched cooperatives. This broadens discussions about the possible benefits of conflicts in organizations, contrasting with the approaches about their harmful effects on organizational performance.