Conflict Resolution by Managers

Conflicts occur in a variety of areas, not excluding the work life. Conflict resolution methods are essential for further development of the conflict in terms of its escalation or de-escalation. The proposed chapter focuses on the issue of dispositional vs. situational approach to exploring the ways of conflict resolution. Results of the presented research projects are based mostly on the theories distinguishing between five conflict resolution styles: avoiding, competing, compromising, accommodating, and collaborating. The chapter also includes the results of the research, in which an original methodology for identification and specification of the differences in the conflict resolution methods within various situational contexts was used. Model conflict situations were placed into three different environments (work, home, and among friends) and associated with two different conflicts (backbiting and false accusations). The results also confirmed the differences in use of the conflict resolution methods by managers both in terms of the environment in which the conflict occurred and the content of the conflict. Within the framework of these studies, gender-based comparisons have also been carried out confirming several gender specificities in the selection of ways to resolve conflicts between men and women.