IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v73y2020i2p528-551.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Integrated Conflict Management Systems Pay Off with Lower Levels of Formal Grievances and Lower Turnover Rates

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin B. Dunford
  • Kevin J. Mumford
  • R. Wayne Boss
  • Alan D. Boss
  • David S. Boss

Abstract

The authors analyze an eight-year, multi-source, longitudinal data set that followed a non-union health care system in the eastern United States as it implemented a major preventative conflict management initiative placing responsibility for conflict resolution directly in the hands of line managers and employees. The initiative was a system-wide implementation of conflict management interviews (CMIs) between employees and supervisors, designed to enable them to proactively resolve conflict and follow up on agreements for improving their working relationships. The authors investigate survey and personnel file data from 5,456 individuals from 2003 to 2010 and test key predictions of Integrated Conflict Management Systems (ICMS) theory. They find that employees whose managers provide high-quality CMIs have a lower likelihood of formal grievances, significantly more perceptions of participative department culture, and lower turnover rates. Collectively, these findings suggest that simply holding CMIs may not be sufficient; rather, the quality of CMIs may be the key to successful outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin B. Dunford & Kevin J. Mumford & R. Wayne Boss & Alan D. Boss & David S. Boss, 2020. "Integrated Conflict Management Systems Pay Off with Lower Levels of Formal Grievances and Lower Turnover Rates," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(2), pages 528-551, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:73:y:2020:i:2:p:528-551
    DOI: 10.1177/0019793919882892
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0019793919882892
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0019793919882892?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:73:y:2020:i:2:p:528-551. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.