Conflict productivity in PhD supervision; does conflict management style matter?
by Razia Sultana
International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy (IJMCP), Vol. 10, No. 3, 2017

Abstract: This research endeavors to unveil conflict management styles (CMS) of PhD supervisors during supervision conflicts and the impact of their chosen CMS on conflict productivity (CP). Drawing on conflict management contingency approach this research expects that PhD supervisors will adopt more collaborative/accommodating CMSs which will yield high CP. The study has applied an ex-post facto method in which 200 respondents were asked to fill research questionnaires based on Rahim organisational conflict inventory (ROCI). The sample was drawn from PhD supervisors working in Pakistan. Data was analysed by calculating means and correlation analysis through SPSS. The research findings revealed that majority of supervisors have collaborative/accommodative conflict management style. The effect of these two CMS was more inclined towards augmenting CP. As expected, competitive/avoiding CMS were not preferred by the supervisors and these styles lead to less CP. The understanding of CP has far reaching effects. Study results can assist in training and seminars regarding CP in academia where academic supervisors can be trained to adopt collaborative and accommodative CMS for productive conflict outcomes. This research adds value to conflict literature in two ways: firstly, by studying conflict management in academic supervision which has little empirical attention so far; secondly, the impact of chosen CMS on CP in academia has also not been studied so far.

Online publication date: Tue, 15-Aug-2017

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