The Influence of Supervisors’ Conflict Management Style on Employees Counterproductive Work Behaviours

Abstract

The study sought to find the relationship between supervisors’ conflict management style and employees work attitude specifically counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). The study proposed that supervisors integrating, dominating and obliging conflict management styles will be negatively related to counterproductive work behaviour while avoiding and compromising will be positively related CWB. A sample of 115 subordinates from financial organizations, a telecommunication organization, manufacturing firms and a computer software company were selected for the study. The results revealed that dominating, obliging and compromising styles of managing conflict was positively related to CWB while integrating and avoiding styles were negatively related to CWB. Measures of conflict management styles used by supervisors and counterproductive work behaviour were administered to students. The study employed Pearson Correlation Coefficient to analyze that data. The findings are discussed below.

Keywords: Conflict management styles, Counterproductive work behaviors (CWB)