JOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, VOL. 13,263-264 (1992)

Overview of Conflict and conflict management by KENNETH THOMAS

Thomas’ chapter in the 1976 Handbook (Dunnette, 1976) proved to be an important benchmark in the study of conflict and its management. As noted by Thomas in his contribution to this issue, the chapter was written at a time when there had been some substantial theoretical develop- ments in conflict research in the previous decade, but when there were also very strong normative pressures in the field (and in society) to find effective conflict management techniques. The chapter represents a convergence of both those descriptive and normative themes.

Thomas devotes the early part of the chapter to finding a parsimonious definition of conflict, and to briefly exploring some of its positive and negative consequences. He then turns to the description of two major conflict models - a process model and a structural model. The process model focused on the internal dynamics of conflict episodes, particularly dyadic conflict. The model suggested that conflict moved through five key stages or phases: frustration (‘conflicts appear to stem from one party’s perception that another party frustrates the satisfaction of one of its concerns’, p. 895); conceptualization (the parties define the conflict in terms of their concerns and possible outcomes); behavior (orientation to different modes of conflict handling, strategic objectives and tactics); interaction (the sequence of behaviors between conflicting parties that leads to conflict escalation or de-escalation, and the factors which encourage or discourage this spiraling) and outcomes (the short-term and long-term conflict aftermaths). Thomas also paid some brief attention to third party interventions which might affect or change the dynamics of the process model.

While the process model provided a framework for understanding discrete conflict episodes, the structural model was designed to understand those parameters which apply across conflict episodes. The structural model was an effort to capture four sets of factors which affected dyadic interaction in conflict: the individual predispositions of each party in the conflict, the social pressures on each party in conflict, the incentive structure or ‘magnitude of the stakes’ and conflict of interest in dispute, and the framework of rules and procedures which governs or limits each party’s conflict behaviors. Behavioral predispositions were envisioned to operate much like a ‘dominant style’ or personality predisposition. Social pressures are similar to the constituent pressures described by Walton and McKersie. Incentive structures include the general degree of compatibility or incompatibility between the parties, and the magnitude of the stakes, and the degree to which incentives are structured to reward cooperative or competitive behavior. Finally, rules and procedures include the existence of decision rules by which the conflict can be resolved, how the parties negotiate, and whether various forms of third parties are available.

0894-3796/92/030263-02$05.00 0 1992 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

264 K.THOMAS

Thomas ends the chapter by iterating a number of ‘diagnostic questions’ that are designed to help apply the process and structural models to real disputes. A ‘state of the field’ is provided, and some prescriptions are offered for future research.

Reference Dunnette, M. (Ed) (1976). Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Rand McNally.