Conflict styles of men and women at six organization levels

By K. Thomas, G. Thomas, Nancy A. Schaubhut. 2008

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Purpose –This study used a relatively large, carefully designed sample to provide a more detailed examination of the way conflict styles vary by organization level and gender. Design/methodology/approach – We drew a stratified, random sample from a national data base on the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, selecting 200 fully-employed men and 200 fully-employed women at each of 6 organizational levels—from entry-level positions to top executives. This design allowed us to test for linear and curvilinear relationships between style and organization level, as well as to compare gender differences in styles across organization levels. Findings – Results showed moderate effect sizes for both organization level and gender, with negligible interaction effects. Assertiveness (competing and collaborating) increases monotonically at progressively higher organization levels, while unassertive styles (avoiding and 1 Portions of this paper were presented at the 2006 Academy of Management meetings, Atlanta, GA. The authors are indebted to Jenny Merriam and David Donnay for their work on an earlier analysis of these data, and to Dennis Hocevar for his statistical expertise on the current paper.

Subfields: Gender Studies, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/786e2c5563cddf68ef4bb3c4f5f6ebcc6f210e93