Organisational Behaviour
Written Assignment
Written Assignment
Denise Hensen s2014149 & Ylona Mak s2349507
Group 08
Team C
Teacher: Schaeperklaus
Denise Hensen s2014149 & Ylona Mak s2349507
Group 08
Team C
Teacher: Schaeperklaus
Introduction
Organizations strive to be effective. However, conflicts within an organization can distort the effectiveness of organizations. Potential for conflicts can be found in all organizations. Nowadays there is a need for understanding what exactly causes conflict. With this knowledge, organization can decrease the possibility of encountering conflict. We can describe organizational conflict, as an open argument between two or more individuals/groups within an organization, which leads to a disrupt cooperation (Hatch, 1997). In organizations, conflicts can occur on a horizontal and vertical level. In our research we will focus on vertical level conflicts, which mean that the conflict takes place between people from different hierarchical levels. As Jung (2003) states, conflicts are clearly associated with power/ status within an organization. Therefore, vertical conflicts can be caused by a lack of acceptance of status and power in a hierarchal model. This last point can be attributed to ‘power distance’, one of the culture dimensions of Hofstede. Our moderator model starts with the independent variable “status” that leads to the dependent variable “conflict”, and the relationship between these two is influenced by the moderator “power distance”. Our research question is as follows: Does power distance (moderator) influence the relation between status (IV) and conflict (DV)? If we found out that power distance influence the relation between status and conflicts, we found a cause for conflicts in organizations and then we know how to reduce conflicts, that is the importance of this research question.
Moderator modelModerator
Moderator
Power distance
Power distance
Bibliography: http://geert-hofstede.com http://ejbo.jyu.fi/pdf/ejbo_vol10_no1_pages_22-28.pdf Jung, S. (2003), “The effects of organizational culture on conflict resolution in marketing,” Journal of American Academy of Business, Vol. 3 September, pp. 242-46. Katz, D. and Kahn, R. L. (1978), The Social Psychology of Organization, John Wiley & Sons, New York.