Unraveling the Role of Shared Vision and Trust in Constructive Conflict Management of Family Firms. An Empirical Study From a Mixed Methods Approach

Family firms are a unique setting to study constructive conflict management due to the influence of family ties of the owning family imprinting a sense of common purpose and shared destiny, and high levels of trust. We study the relationship between shared vision and trust that intervene in the adoption of constructive conflict management. To achieve our purpose, we carried out a systematic indirect observation using a mixed methods approach. We used the narratives of 17 semi-structured interviews, audio-recorded and transcribed, of family and non-family managers or directors from five Spanish family firms in the siblings' partnership stage, combined with documentary data obtained from different sources. Intra- and inter-observer reliability were confirmed. Results show a dynamic relationship between shared vision and specific components of trust (benevolence and ability) at different levels of conflict management. We also provide evidence of specific processes of concurrence-seeking and open-mindedness in family and ownership forums accounting for the relevance of family governance in these type of organizations. Family firms are a sum of several subsystems which exhibit a particular resources configuration. This study sheds light on constructive conflict management in family firms opening interesting avenues for further research and offering practical implications to managers, owners, and advisors.

Pathways to connection: An intensive longitudinal examination of state and dispositional hope, day quality, and everyday interpersonal interaction

Building on hope theory, this study demonstrates that state and trait hope are associated with daily interpersonal experiences. Multilevel modeling of daily diary data ( N = 127 adults) indicated that state hope—composed of the dual factors of pathways (i.e., the ability to devise routes toward goals) and agency (i.e., motivation to pursue devised routes)—was negatively associated with amount of daily interpersonal conflict, positively associated with constructive conflict management when conflict occurred, and negatively associated with daily challenges in maintaining relationships. These relationships were found largely at the within-person level. Further, and consistent with central tenets of hope theory, moderated multilevel models showed that within-person state pathways and agency thinking were more strongly associated with day quality on days when individuals experienced higher-than-usual levels of relational maintenance challenges. Finally, in an extension of hope theory, multilevel models showed that dispositional pathways and between-person state agency were positively linked to momentary feelings of connection as captured by experience sampling over a 7-day period. Overall, the findings contribute to the continued expansion of hope theory into the study of social and personal relationships.

Relational curiosity and constructive conflict: a study in classrooms

Researchers have cast conflict as inherently emotional, but the emotions promoting constructive conflict handling remain underexplored. This article extends existing research using social interactionism as a lens to understand emotions as embedded in the relations and relationships that animate social disputes. Departing from three cases observed inside classrooms, the article demonstrates how teachers utilise curiosity to reframe, stimulate and transform conflicts with their students. Results elucidate the features of relational curiosity, an instrumental emotion with the capacity to promote social problem solving in concert with others. More broadly, findings contribute to research on prosocial emotions as tools for constructive conflict management and emotional labour as a relational phenomenon in educational contexts.

Interpersonal Conflict Goals: A Literature Review

Conflict, a process involving perceptions of differences and opposition, is often an undesired but inevitable consequence of social interaction. This review describes the various goals (internal representations of desired states) that can be present in interpersonal conflict. Several streams of research are examined: conflict motivational models which examine the conflicting parties’ motives, conflict types which classify conflicts by the parties’ conscious focus, and desired outcome models which seek to identify what the parties in a conflict desire to happen. An integrative summary of these streams of research identifies four major categories of conflict goals: content goals, relationship goals, identity goals, and process goals. Further research is needed to clarify the nature of these goals, as well increase our understanding of the relationship between conflict goals, conflict outcomes, and conflict behavior in various contexts. Such research may lead to more constructive conflict management and more satisfying conflict resolution.

Collectivist values for constructive conflict management in international joint venture effectiveness

Purpose This study aims to identify mechanisms to manage conflicts that occur when organizations with different cultures, habits and experiences try to coordinate effectively in international joint ventures (IJV). This study proposes that partners can promote their joint venture performance to the extent that they rely on cooperative rather than competitive conflict management. This study further hypothesizes that adopting collectivist values strengthens relationships and thereby provides a foundation for cooperative conflict management. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected data for this study in Shanghai, which is currently the most attractive province in China for FDI (FDI Intelligence, 2014). In all, 75 pairs of foreign and Chinese managers at middle and senior levels, knowledgeable about the joint venture relationships, completed their respective questionnaires. Findings Results of the structural equation analyses support the hypotheses that collectivist values support cooperative conflict management that in turn facilitates joint venture learning and performance. In contrast, individualistic values promoted competitive conflict management which in turn frustrated IJV performance. Practical implications Results suggest that IJV managers can strengthen their venture by developing collective values and training such cooperative conflict management skills as self-expression and demonstrating understanding of opposing views. Originality/value This study directly documents that while conflicts may interfere they can also stimulate discussions and decisions that promote coordination and performance of IJVs. This study contributes to conflict management research that has largely focused on investigating the consequences of approaches by examining conditions that promote constructive conflict management approaches.