The level of emotions remaining after an organizational conflict has the potential to alter the trajectory of organizational relationships. One hundred seventy-four employees and supervisors reported their memories of a conflict. Results from 11 different organizations indicate that the emotional nature of the recollected narratives increased if the conflicts were perceived as unresolved, remembered as an ongoing series of events, or discussed with the other persons involved in the exchanges. Also, the intensity of the recollected narratives of organizational conflict interactions was greater if the respondents were supervisors or managers or if the other persons involved were administrators. The ways recollected emotional narratives may affect future conflictual interactions and organizational relationships are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Baumeister, R. F. , Stillwell, A., & Wotman, S. R. (1990). Victim and perpetrator accounts of interpersonal conflict: Autobiographical narratives about anger. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 994-1005.
2.
Bies, R. J. , Shapiro, D. L., & Cummings, L. L. (1988). Causal accounts and managing organizational conflict: Is it enough to say it's not my fault?Communication Research, 15, 381-399.
3.
Bowers, J. W. (1964). Some correlates of language intensity. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 50, 415-420.
4.
Bradac, J. C. , Bowers, J. W., & Courtright, J. A. (1979). Three language variables in communication research: Intensity, immediacy, and diversity. Human Communication Research, 5, 257-269.
5.
Campbell, A. , & Muncer, S. (1987). Models of anger and aggression in the social talk of women and men. Journalfor the Theory of Social Behavior, 17, 489-511.
6.
Cloven, D. H. , & Roloff, M. E. (1991). Sense-making activities and interpersonal conflict: Communicative cures for the mulling blues. Western Journal of Speech Communication, 55, 134-158.
7.
Cloven, D. H. , & Roloff, M. E. (1995). Cognitive tuning effects of anticipating communication on thought about an interpersonal conflict. Communication Reports, 8, 1-9.
8.
Conrad, C. (1983). Power and performance as correlates of supervisors' choice of modes of managing conflict: A preliminary investigation. Western Journal of Speech Communication, 47, 218-228.
9.
Conrad, C. (1991). Communication in conflict: Style-strategy relationships. Communication Monographs, 58, 135-155.
10.
Deluga, R. J. (1994). Supervisortrustbuilding, leader-member exchange, and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 67, 315-326.
11.
Donohue, W. A. (1991). Communication, marital disputes, and divorcemediation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
12.
Fineman, S. (1996). Emotion and organizing. In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, & W. R. Nord (Eds.), Handbook of organizational studies (pp. 543-564). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
13.
Gayle, B. M. (1993, November). Adolescent/parent conflicts and language intensity. Paper presented at the meeting of the Speech Communication Association, Miami, Florida.
14.
Gayle, B. M. , & Preiss, R. W. (in press). Language intensity plus: An analysis of the emotions in college student conflicts. Communication Reports.
15.
Gergen, K. J. , & Gergen, M. M. (1987). Naffatives of relationship. In R. Bumett, P. McGee & D. Clarke (Eds.), Accountingfor relationships: Explanation, representation, and wnowledge (pp. 269-287). New York: Methuen.
16.
Graen, G. B. , & Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multi-domain perspective. Leadership Quarterly, 6, 219-247.
17.
Harvey, J. M. , Flanary, R., & Morgan, M. (1986). Vivid memories of loves gone by. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 3, 359-373.
18.
Hochschild (1983). The managed heart. Berkeley: University of California Press.
19.
Jablin, F. M. , & Krone, K. J. (1987). Organizational assimilation. In C. R. Berger & S. H. Chaffee (Eds.), Handbook of communication science (pp. 711-746). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
20.
Klos, D. S. , & Singer, J. L. (1981). Determinants of the adolescent's ongoing thought following simulated parental confrontations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 975-987.
21.
Lee, J. , & Jablin, F. M. (1995). Maintenance communication in superior-subordinate work relationships. Human Communication Research, 22, 220-257.
22.
Metts, S. , Sprecher, S., & Cupach, W. R. (1991). Retrospective self-reports. In B. Montgomery & S. Duck (Eds.), Studying interpersonal interactions (pp. 162-178). New York: Guilford.
23.
Miell, D. (1987). Remembering relationship development: Constructing a context for interactions. In R. Burnett, P. McGee, & D. Clarke (Eds.), Accounting for relationships: Explanation, representation, and knowledge (pp. 60-73). New York: Methuen.
24.
Morrill, C. , & Thomas, C. K. (1992). Organizational conflictmanagementas disputing process: The problem of social escalation. Human Communication Research, 18, 400-428.
25.
Mumby, D. K. , & Putnam, L. L. (1992). The politics of emotion: A feminist reading of bounded emotionality. Academy of Management Review, 17, 465-486.
26.
Neisser, U. (1982). Snapshots or benchmarks. In U. Neisser (Ed.), Memory observed: Remembering in natural contexts (pp. 43-47). San Francisco: Freeman.
27.
Ostell, A. (1996). Managing dysfunctional emotions in organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 33, 525-557.
28.
Pinkley, R. L. (1990). Dimensions of conflict frame: Disputant interpretations of conflict. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 117-126.
29.
Rafaeli, A. , & Sutton, R. I. (1987). Expression of emotion as part of the work role. Academy of Management Review, 12, 23-37.
30.
Rafaeli, A. , & Sutton, R. I. (1989). The expression of emotionin organizational life. Research in Organizational Behavior, 11, 1-42.
31.
Randall, D. M. (1993, November). A conversation approach to attribution theory. Paper presented at the meeting of the Speech Communication Association, Miami, Florida.
32.
Rogan, R. G. (1995). Language intensity: Testing a content-based metric. Communication Reports, 8, 128-135.
33.
Rogan, R. G. , & Donohue, W. A. (1991, May). Validation of a message content-based measure of language intensity in naturali.stic conflict discourse. Paper presented at the meeting of the Intemational Communication Association, Chicago, Illinois.
34.
Scherer, K. R. , & Giles, H. (1979). Social markers ir speech. New York: Cambridge University Press.
35.
Scott, W. A. (1955). Reliability of content analysis: The case of nominal scale coding. Public Opinion Quarterly, 19, 321-325.
36.
Shockley-Zalaback, P. (1981). The effects of sex differences on the preference for utilization of conflict styles of managers in a work setting: An exploratory study. Public Personnel Management, 10, 289-295.
37.
Sias, P. M. , & Jablin, F. M. (1995). Differential superior-subordinate relations, perceptions of fairness, and coworker communication. Human Communication Research, 22, 5-38.
38.
Sillars, A. L. , Coletti, S. F., Parry, D., & Rogers, M. A. (1982). Coding verbal conflict tactics: Nonverbal and perceptual correlates of the "avoidance-distribution-integrative" distinction. Human Communication Research, 9, 83-95.
39.
Sparrowe, R. T. , & Liden, R. C. (1997). Process and structure in leader-member exchange. Academy of Management Review, 22, 522-552.
40.
Tempkins, T. , & Cummings, H. W. (1986). The use of conflict management behaviors in voluntary organizations: An exploratory study. Journal of Voluntary Action Research, 15, 5-18.
41.
van de Vliert, E. , Euwema, M. C., & Huismans, S. E. (1995). Managing conflict with a subordinate or a superior: Effectiveness of conglomerated behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 271-281.
42.
Wayne, S. J. , Shore, L. M., & Liden, R. C. (1997). Perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange: A social exchange perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 82-111.
43.
Weiner, B. , Graham, S., & Chandler, C. (1982). Pity, anger, and guilt: An attributional analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 8, 226-232.
44.
Wilhelm, C. C. , Herd, A. M., & Steiner, D. D. (1993). Attributional conflict between managers and subordinates: An investigation of leader-member exchange effects. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 14, 531-544.
