Diverse and often unacknowledged assumptions underlie organizational conflict research. In this essay, we identify distinct ways of conceptualizing conflict in the theoretical domain of organizational conflict with the aim of setting a new critical agenda for reflexivity in conflict research. In doing so, we first apply a genealogical approach to study conceptions of conflict, and we find that three distinct and essentially contested conceptions frame studies of conflict at work. Second, we employ two empirical examples of conflict to illustrate how organizational conflict research can benefit from a more reflexive approach and advance our understanding of conflict. In this essay, we emphasize how philosophical and political assumptions about conflict frame knowledge production within the field and we encourage future theory development to build on different notions of conflict to become better at coping with the complex and dynamic nature of conflict.
AlvessonM.HardyC.HarleyB. (2008). Reflecting on reflexivity: Reflexive textual practices in organization and management theory. Journal of Management Studies, 45, 480-501.
2.
AmasonA. (1996). Distinguishing the effects of functional and dysfunctional conflict on strategic decision making: Resolving a paradox for top management teams. Academy of Management Journal, 39, 123-148.
3.
BarkiH.HartwickJ. (2004). Conceptualizing the construct of interpersonal conflict. International Journal of Conflict Management, 15, 216-244.
4.
BarleyS. (1991). Contextualising conflict: Notes on the anthropology of disputes and negotiations. In LewickiR.SheppardB.BiesR. (Eds.), Research on negotiation in organizations: Handbook of negotiation research (Vol. 3, pp. 165-199). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
5.
BartunekJ.KolbD.LewickiR. (1992). Bringing conflict out from behind the scenes: Private, informal, and nonrational dimensions of conflict in organizations. In KolbD.BartunekJ. (Eds.), Hidden conflict in organizations: Uncovering behind-the-scenes disputes (pp. 209-228). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
6.
BayazitM.MannixE. (2003). Should I stay or should I go? Predicting team members’ intent to remain in the team. Small Group Research, 34, 290-321.
7.
BehfarK.MannixE.PetersonR.TrochimW. (2011). Conflict in small groups: The meaning and consequences of process conflict. Small Group Research, 42, 127-176.
8.
BenderskyC.HaysN. (2012). Status conflict in groups. Organization Science, 23, 323-340.
9.
BlakeR.MoutonJ. (1964). The managerial grid. Houston, TX: Gulf.
10.
BordoneR.MoffittM. (2006). Create value out of conflict. Negotiation, 9(6), 2-6.
11.
BouldingK. (1957). Organization and conflict. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1, 122-134.
12.
BrummansB.PutnamL.GrayB.HankeR.LewickiR.WiethoffC. (2008). Making sense of intractable multiparty conflict: A study of framing in four environmental disputes. Communication Monographs, 75, 25-51.
13.
BurrellG. (1996). Normal science, paradigms, metaphors, discourses and genealogies of analysis. In CleggS.HardyC.NordW. (Eds.), Handbook of organization studies (pp. 642-650). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
14.
ChoiY. (2013). The influence of conflict management culture on job satisfaction. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 41, 687-692.
15.
CleggS.HardyC. (1996). Representations. In CleggS.HardyC.NordW. (Eds.), Handbook of organization studies (pp. 676-708). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
16.
CleggS.MikkelsenE.SewellG. (2015). Conflict: Organizational. In WrightJ. (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of social and behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Amsterdam, US: Elsevier Science.
17.
ClovenD.RoloffM. (1991). Sense-making activities and interpersonal conflict: Communicative cures for the mulling blues. Western Journal of Speech Communication, 55, 134-158.
18.
CoserL. (1956). Functions of social conflict. New York, NY: Free Press.
19.
DeChurchL.Mesmer-MagnusJ.DotyD. (2013). Moving beyond relationship and task conflict: Toward a process-state perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98, 559-578.
20.
De DreuC. (1997). Productive conflict: The importance of conflict management and conflict issue. In De DreuC.Van de VliertE. (Eds.), Using conflict in organizations (pp. 9-22). London, England: Sage.
21.
De DreuC. (2008). The virtue and vice of workplace conflict: Food for (pessimistic) thought. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 5-18.
22.
De DreuC.BeersmaB. (2005). Conflict in organizations: Beyond effectiveness and performance. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 14, 105-117.
23.
De DreuC.GelfandM. (2008). Conflict in the workplace: Sources, functions, and dynamics across multiple levels of analysis. In De DreuC.GelfandM. (Eds.), The psychology of conflict and conflict management in organizations (pp. 3-54). New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum.
24.
De DreuC.HarinckF.Van VianenA. (1999). Conflict and performance in groups and organizations. In CooperC.RobertsonI. (Eds.), International review of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 376-405). Chichester, UK: John Wiley.
25.
De DreuC.van DierendonckD.DijkstraM. (2004). Conflict at work and individual well-being. International Journal of Conflict Management, 15, 6-26.
26.
De DreuC.WeingartL. (2003). Task versus relationship conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction: A meta-analysis. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 741-749.
27.
DeutschM. (1949). A theory of cooperation and competition. Human Relations, 2, 129-151.
28.
DeutschM. (1973). The resolution of conflict: Constructive and destructive processes. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
29.
de WitF.GreerL.JehnK. (2012). The paradox of intragroup conflict: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97, 360-390.
30.
de WitF.JehnK.ScheepersD. (2013). Task conflict, information processing, and decision-making: The damaging effect of relationship conflict. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 122, 177-189.
31.
DewulfA.GrayB.PutnamL.LewickiR.AartsN.BouwenR.van WoerkumC. (2009). Disentangling approaches to framing in conflict and negotiation research: A meta-paradigmatic perspective. Human Relations, 62, 155-193.
32.
DriskillG.MeyerJ.MirivelJ. (2012). Managing dialectics to make a difference: Tension management in a community-building organization. Communication Studies, 63, 243-261.
33.
DruckmanD. (2005). Doing research: Methods of inquiry for conflict analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
34.
ErbertL. (2014). Antagonistic and nonantagonistic dialectical contradictions in organizational conflict. International Journal of Business Communication, 51, 138-158.
35.
FelstinerW.AbelR.SaratA. (1980). Emergence and transformation of disputes: Naming, blaming, claiming . . . . Law & Society Review, 15, 631-654.
36.
FinkC. (1968). Some conceptual difficulties in the theory of social conflict. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 12, 412-460.
37.
FoucaultM. (2003). The essential Foucault: Selections from essential works of Foucault, 1954-1984. New York, NY: New Press.
38.
GallieW. (1956). Essentially contested concepts. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 56, 167-198.
39.
GameroN.Gonzalez-RomaV.PeiroJ. (2008). The influence of intra-team conflict on work teams’ affective climate: A longitudinal study. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 81, 47-69.
40.
GarverE. (1978). Rhetoric and essentially contested arguments. Philosophy and Rhetoric, 11, 156-172.
41.
GoffmanE. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin.
42.
GrayB. (1985). Conditions facilitating interorganizational collaboration. Human Relations, 38, 911-936.
43.
GrayB.ColemanP.PutnamL. (2007). Introduction: Intractable conflict: New perspectives on the causes and conditions for change. American Behavioral Scientist, 50, 1415-1429.
44.
GrayJ. (1977). On the contestability of social and political concepts. Political Theory, 5, 331-348.
45.
HatchM.YanowD. (2008). Methodology by metaphor: Ways of seeing in painting and research. Organization Studies, 29, 23-44.
46.
HegelG. (1975). Lectures on the philosophy of world history: Introduction, reason in history (Translated from the German edition of Johannes Hoffmeister from Hegel papers assembled by H. B. Nisbet). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
47.
HockerJ.WilmotW. (1991). Interpersonal conflict. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown.
48.
JaffeD. (2008). Conflict at work throughout the history of organizations. In De DreuC.GelfandM. (Eds.), The psychology of conflict and conflict management in organizations (pp. 55-80). New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum.
49.
JamesonJ. (2004). Negotiating autonomy and connection through politeness: A dialectical approach to organizational conflict management. Western Journal of Communication, 68, 257-277.
50.
JehnK. (1995). A multimethod examination of the benefits and detriments of intragroup conflict. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 256-282.
51.
JehnK. (1997). A qualitative analysis of conflict types and dimensions in organizational groups. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42, 530-557.
52.
JehnK.MannixE. (2001). The dynamic nature of conflict: A longitudinal study of intragroup conflict and group performance. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 238-251.
53.
JohnsonP.DuberleyJ. (2000). Understanding management research: An introduction to epistemology. London, England: Sage.
54.
KatzD.KahnR. (1978). The social psychology of organizations. New York, NY: John Wiley.
55.
KilmannR.ThomasK. (1977). Developing a forced-choice measure of conflict-handling behavior: The “MODE” instrument. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 37, 309-325.
56.
KingW.MilesE. (1990). What we know—and don’t know—about measuring conflict. Management Communication Quarterly, 4, 222-243.
57.
KnappM.PutnamL.DavisL. (1988). Measuring interpersonal conflict in organizations: Where do we go from here?Management Communication Quarterly, 1, 414-429.
58.
KolbD.BartunekJ. (1992). Hidden conflict in organizations: Uncovering behind-the-scenes disputes. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
59.
KolbD.PutnamL. (1992). The multiple faces of conflict in organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13, 311-324.
60.
KorsgaardM.JeongS.MahonyD.PitariuA. (2008). A multilevel view of intragroup conflict. Journal of Management, 34, 1222-1252.
61.
KusztalI. (2002). Discourses in the use and emergence of organizational conflict. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 20, 231-247.
62.
LêJ.JarzabkowskiP. (2015). The role of task and process conflict in strategizing. British Journal of Management, 26, 439-462.
63.
Leon-PerezJ.MedinaF.ArenasA.MunduateL. (2015). The relationship between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 30, 250-263.
64.
LewickiR.GrayB. (2003). Introduction. In LewickiR.GrayB.ElliotM. (Eds.), Making sense of intractable environmental conflicts (pp. 1-10). Washington, DC: Islands Press.
65.
LewickiR.WeissS.LewinD. (1992). Models of conflict, negotiation and third party intervention: A review and synthesis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13, 209-252.
MackR.SnyderR. (1957). The analysis of social conflict—toward an overview and synthesis. Conflict Resolution, 1, 212-248.
68.
MarxK. (1976). Capital (Vol. 1). Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin.
69.
MikkelsenE. (2013). An analysis of the social meanings of conflict in nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 42, 923-941.
70.
MikkelsenE.GrayB. (2016). Everyday conflict at work: An organizational sensemaking ethnography. In PedersenA.HumleD. (Eds.), Doing organizational ethnography (pp. 17-39). New York, NY: Routledge.
71.
MorrillC. (1989). The management of managers: Disputing in an executive hierarchy. Sociological Forum, 4, 387-407.
72.
MorrillC. (1995). The executive way: Conflict management in corporations. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
73.
NicoteraA. (1993). Beyond two dimensions: A grounded theory model of conflict-handling behavior. Management Communication Quarterly, 6, 282-306.
74.
NicoteraA.MahonM. (2013). Between rocks and hard places: Exploring the impact of structurational divergence in the nursing workplace. Management Communication Quarterly, 27, 90-120.
75.
OlekalnsM.PutnamL.WeingartL.MetcalfL. (2008). Communication processes and conflict management. In De DreuC.GelfandM. (Eds.), The psychology of conflict and conflict management in organizations (pp. 81-114). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
76.
O’NeillT.AllenN.HastingsS. (2013). Examining the “pros” and “cons” of team conflict: A team-level meta-analysis of task, relationship, and process conflict. Human Performance, 26, 236-260.
77.
PerrowC. (1967). A framework for the comparative analysis of organizations. American Sociological Review, 32, 194-208.
PondyL. (1992). Reflections on organizational conflict. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13, 257-261.
80.
PutnamL. (2010). Negotiation and discourse analysis. Negotiation Journal, 26, 145-154.
81.
PutnamL. (2013). Definitions and approaches to conflict and communication. In OetzelJ.Ting-ToomeyS. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of conflict and communication (pp. 1-32). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
82.
PutnamL.NicoteraA.McPheeR. (2009). Introduction. Communication constitutes organization. In PutnamL.NicoteraA. (Eds.), Building theories of organization: The constitutive role of communication (pp. 1-20). New York, NY: Routledge.
83.
PutnamL.PooleM. (1987). Conflict and negotiation. In JablinF.PutnamL.RobertsK.PorterL. (Eds.), Handbook of organizational communication: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 549-599). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
84.
RahimM. (1983). A measure of styles of handling interpersonal conflict. Academy of Management Journal, 26, 368-376.
SheppardL.AquinoK. (2013). Much ado about nothing? Observers’ problematization of women’s same-sex conflict at work. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 27, 52-62.
91.
SomechA.DesivilyaH.LidogosterH. (2009). Team conflict management and team effectiveness: The effects of task interdependence and team identification. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30, 359-378.
92.
SpectorP.Bruk-LeeV. (2008). Conflict, health, and well-being. In De DreuC.GelfandM. (Eds.), The psychology of conflict and conflict management in organizations (pp. 267-288). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
93.
SwantonC. (1985). On the “essential contestedness” of political concepts. Ethics, 95, 811-827.
94.
TjosvoldD. (2006). Defining conflict and making choices about its management: Lighting the dark side of organizational life. International Journal of Conflict Management, 17(2), 87-95.
95.
TjosvoldD. (2008a). The conflict-positive organization: It depends upon us. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 19-28.
96.
TjosvoldD. (2008b). Conflicts in the study of conflict in organizations. In De DreuC.GelfandM. (Eds.), The psychology of conflict and conflict management in organizations (pp. 445-453). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
97.
TsoukasH. (2017). Don’t simplify, complexify: From disjunctive to conjunctive theorizing in organization and management studies. Journal of Management Studies, 54, 132-153.
98.
Van de VliertE. (1998). Conflict and conflict management. In DrenthP.ThierryH.de WolffC. (Eds.), Handbook of work and organizational psychology (pp. 351-376). Hove, UK: Psychology Press Ltd.
99.
WallJ.CallisterR. (1995). Conflict and its management. Journal of Management, 21, 515-558.
100.
WeickK. (1979). The social psychology of organizing. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
101.
WeickK. (1995). What theory is not, theorizing is. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 385-390.
102.
WeickK. (2007). The generative properties of richness. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 14-19.
103.
WeingartL.BehfarK.BenderskyC.TodorovaG.JehnK. (2015). The directness and oppositional intensity of conflict expression. Academy of Management Review, 40, 235-262.
