Browsing by Subject "Conflict management"
Now showing 1 - 19 of 19
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item A Study on Understanding Conflict Management(Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT), 1992) Martinez, RosendoItem Cognitive and behavioral aspects of marital conflict: a test of a constructivist model(Texas Tech University, 1987-05) Blume, Thomas WylieIncreased attention is being given to marital conflict. However, much intervention is based on conflict theory and research which does not address the special characteristics of conflict in intimate relationships. This study is a partial test of a new, constructivist theoretical model of marital conflict. Marital partners' uniquely organized sets of cognitive constructs are seen as mediating their present interaction and, through a feedback cycle, becoming reciprocally altered over time. Thirty volunteer married couples completed a two-part conflict history questionnaire and a newly developed dyadic conflict version of the Role Construct Repertory Test, and were observed discussing a current disagreement. Data included measures of spouses' cognitive complexity and organization; observed Interpersonal Negotiation Strategies; self-reported constructive engagement of conflict; and satisfaction with conflict management. Findings failed to support several aspects of the theoretical model. Cognitive complexity and organization and cognitive similarity were not significantly related to either observed negotiating level or similarity of negotiating level, and neither negotiating level nor negotiating similarity was related to constructive engagement. As predicted, however, satisfaction with conflict management was significantly related to constructive engagement. Results differed by sex, with fewer significant findings for wives. Husbands' cognitive organization was positively related to negotiating level, while husbands' cognitive complexity was negatively related to constructive engagement. A significant positive relationship between age and negotiating level was found. Sampling and measurement refinements are proposed for future tests of the theoretical model. Further research is suggested to investigate possible age and gender-role influences on the relationships between cognitions and conflict behavior.Item Conflict and conflict resolution: the role of WTO in Sino-US trade disputes(Texas Tech University, 2004-05) Shiyong, YeNot availableItem Conflict measurement in the distribution channel of joint ventures: an empirical investigation(Texas Tech University, 1984-05) Habib, Ghazi MahmoudNot availableItem Conflict resolution in romantic relationships: an examination of adult attachment and early attachment experience(Texas Tech University, 1999-05) Shi, LinConflict is inevitable in intimate relationships, and conflict resolution is an important predictor of relationship satisfaction. Despite thorough understanding of the cognitive-behavioral factors in conflict resolution, very little is known about characteristics individuals bring into their relationships that influence their conflict resolution pattems. The purpose of the study was to explore the individual differences in conflict resolution behaviors using attachment theory as a framework. A total of 448 undergraduate students at a large Southwestem university were assessed on aduit attachment style, conflict resolution behavior, relationship satisfaction, and early attachment experience. These constructs were measured by Multiple-Item Measure of Adult Romantic Attachment (MIMARA, Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998), Rahim Organizational Confhct Inventory-II (ROCI-II, Rahim, 1983), Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS, Hendrick, 1988), and Inventory of Parent-Peer Attachment (IPPA, Armsden & Greenberg, 1987). The results confírmed that the two attachment dimensions, Anxiety and Avoidance, were predictive of conflict resolution behaviors and relationship satisfaction, with participants who scored lower on the two attachment dimensions displaying more positive behaviors and reporting higher relationship satisfaction. Gender had much less influence on these variables than the attachment dimensions. The influence of early attachment experiences with parental figures was limited. Closeness with father figure was moderately related to a lower level of Anxiety and less of the conflict resolution behavior of Dominating. Early separation from a parental figure was associated with greater anxiety in adulthood. The distribution of adult attachment styles varied with relationship status (married, currently in serious relationship, previously in serious relationship), with more participants who were married or currently in relationship falling into the Secure category. This result suggests that relationship and attachment styles influence each other, and that adult attachment style is not static. The study was a first attempt to understand the association between attachment style and conflict resolution behavior using a more comprehensive four-category attachment measure. In general, the results of this study provide support for the association between the two. Future research should examine the influence of childfather relationship on the formation of attachment style and the distribution of the fourcategory attachment style in various populations.Item Conflict resolution styles, somatization, and marital satisfaction in Chinese couples: the moderating effect of forgiveness and willingness to seek professional help(Texas Tech University, 2000-08) Lim, Ben Kock HongThis is the first study to examine the predictors of somatization and marital satisfaction within the Chinese-American and Chinese-Malaysian populations. Attention was given as well to the relationship between somatization and marital satisfaction. Participants were 311 Chinese couples, of which 141 resided in the United States and 170 in Malaysia. With the assistance of pastors and church leaders, a snowball sampling technique was used to recruit church-going couples in heterosexual marriages. Six measures were used, the Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory (marital conflict), the Stress Symptom Checklist (somatization), the Family Forgiveness Scale- Primary Relationship (forgiveness), the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (acculturation), the Attitudes Toward Seeking Psychological Professional Help (willingness to seeking help), and the Relationship Assessment Scale (marital satisfaction). A standardized hierarchical multiple regression moderated procedure was used to examine how the main effects of conflict resolution styles (compromising, obliging, dominating, avoiding and integrating), forgiveness, and the willingness to seek professional help, predicted marital satisfaction and somatization. The regression model also examined how marital satisfaction and somatization covary. Demographic variables and the partners' main effects were included in the regression equations as covariates. The results revealed different significant predictors of somatization and marital satisfaction for husbands and wives. This partially supported the various hypotheses. The moderating effects of forgiveness and willingness to seek help on both somatization and marital satisfaction were not supported. A 2 X 2 repeated measures ANOVA with age as a covariate indicated that there was no significant main effect of gender for somatization. However, age and nationality of the couples were significant predictors of somatization. With respect to the willingness to seek help and its relation with acculturation, an independent t-test indicated that partners residing in the United States were significantly more acculturated than their Malaysian counterparts. The analysis revealed that level of acculturation was positively associated with willingness to seek professional help. Two repeated measures ANOVAs indicated that wives in both the U.S. and Malaysia were more willing to seek professional help than their husbands, and that the husbands reported greater marital satisfaction than their wives. The results and implications from a systemic dyadic perspective are discussed from a Chinese cultural framework. Both theoretical and clinical critiques are made and several future research directions are proposed to advance this line of inquiry.Item Demand/withdraw conflict in marriages: examining Fitzpatrick's couple types and marital satisfaction(Texas Tech University, 2003-08) Lara, RisâeNot availableItem Diversity, conflict, and systems leadership in project groups: a longitudinal study(Texas Tech University, 2002-12) Agar, Feride PinarThe changing demography of the workforce has made group composition the most actively researched determinant of group effectiveness. The present study examined the effects of a major aspect of group composition, group diversity, on intragroup conflict and group performance. The majority of research on group diversity has considered diversity to be stable and objective. This study proposed a model of diversity that emphasized its perceptual and transient nature. It was postulated that different types of diversity would be salient at different times in a group's life and that these different types of diversity would trigger different group processes. Further, the model proposed in this study incorporated systems leadership, which enabled diverse groups to avoid the unfavorable effects of diversity while reaping its benefits. Seventy-six student project teams in the capstone Strategic Management class offered in the college of business administration of a large southwestern state university participated in a longitudinal survey study to test specific hypotheses derived from the proposed model. The results indicated that diversity had a transient nature and that the salience of different forms of diversity changed throughout groups' development. Also, it was found that different forms of diversity led to different types of conflict, which in turn influenced group performance. Finally, it was found that systems leadership moderated between diversity and conflict.Item Evaluating intercultural conflict management of community college instructors(Texas Tech University, 2004-12) Sanchez, Jeremy CNot availableItem The evolution of cooperation and conflict, experimental model systems and theory(2004) Sachs, Joel Lawrence; Bull, James J.I present three different studies in three chapters. In chapter 1, I describe a general theoretical framework for the evolution of cooperation both within and between species. Three general models are distinguished by which cooperation can evolve and be maintained: (i) directed reciprocation—cooperation with individuals who give in return; (ii) shared genes—cooperation with relatives; and (iii) byproduct benefits—cooperation as an incidental consequence of selfish action. In chapter 2, I investigate the origins of cooperation at the genotypic and phenotypic levels. While theory and empirical work enlighten the maintenance of cooperation, few studies explore its origins. Here, I examine the origins of cooperation by experimentally evolving two antagonistic bacteriophages. I experimentally enforced the two bacteriophages, f1 and IKe, to undergo fifty iterated cycles of co-infection, paired vertical transmission, and infectious transmission in Escherichia coli cells. Phenotypic and genomic analysis then characterized the outcome. Strikingly, the two bacteriophages evolved to co- package their genomes into one symbiotic unit, ensuring co-transmission during the infectious stage. Furthermore, one bacteriophage evolved a minimal genome with the inability to infect cells independently, becoming an obligate viral symbiont. These results parallel a wide variety of natural systems: evolution of reduced genomes, co-transmission of partners, and obligate coexistence between cooperating species. In chapter 3, I examine a puzzling example of cooperation between species, the symbiotic interaction that occurs in corals, hydras, and jellyfish and their dinoflagellate algae. These algae are mostly acquired infectiously, and according to models of virulence evolution should be selected to exploit the host. However, symbiont cheating is virtually unknown. I experimentally manipulated transmission mode of algal symbionts in jellyfish hosts to determine if altering symbiont transmission mode selects for cheating within symbiont populations. Cheating symbionts evolved under experimentally enforced horizontal transmission. Fitness estimates revealed that cheater algae had faster within-host growth, higher dispersal rates, and caused lower host growth compared to algae which underwent repeated vertical transmission. A trade-off was detected between harm caused to hosts and symbiont fitness. Such trade-offs have been modeled for pathogen evolution and may be critical in stabilizing ‘infectious’ symbioses.Item Friendship and conflict among preschool children(2001-08) Kim, Wheetai; Frost, Joe L.Item "I'm just not sure what we are going to do with her" : ambivalence and conflict in drug court decision-making(2008-12) Baker, Kimberly Michelle, 1976-; Rose, MaryThis project is designed to take an in-depth look at drug court, the most common form of specialized courts. This project will further elaborate our understanding of team decision-making. The fact that the drug court is collaborative rather than adversarial has been hailed as one of the key innovations that makes drug court better able to respond to addiction than the traditional criminal justice system. So far, very little work has been done on how the team members work together in the court. I will show that, among team members, there is ambivalence over how to understand addiction and what to expect from clients. In addition to this conflict at the organizational-level, I will also show that staff members experience conflict with each other over why and how punishment should be used. I conducted a four-month case study of a drug court located in a medium-sized city in the southwestern United States. I supplemented this case study with observations at a second drug court located in small city in the same state. Based on this research, I will show that the drug court staff experiences conflict over how to treat addiction effectively. I will then argue that the drug court staff’s conflicting expectations of clients actually encourages lying about rule-breaking behavior. Finally, I will focus on negotiations between the judge and counselors as they respond to troubled clients. By focusing here on the tensions that arise in the daily work of drug court, I will show that there are some essential problems in drug court design that still need to be worked out at ideological and practical levels. By shining light on these conflicts, I hope to help drug court practitioners to think about how we can improve on the program.Item Need for closure and mediation: effects of epistemic motivation on strategy perseverance and hypothesis testing(Texas Tech University, 2001-05) Logan, Chris R.A. W. Kruglanski developed the construct of need for (nonspecific) closure (NFC) as part of his theory of lay epistemics to account for individual differences in motivation to reach conclusions quickly. The present research investigated individual differences in NFC in the context of mediation (process of a neutral third party assisting two parties in conflict to reach consensus). Two studies were conducted to examine the influence of NFC on mediators' choices of strategies and tactics. In Study 1, Introductory Psychology students participated in a computer simulated mediation. The mediation strategies of the participants were largely unrelated to NFC. However, some findings supported the hypotheses. The high (versus low) NFC participants did demonstrate a truncated confidence range. Also, the decisiveness subscale of the NFC scale was significantly correlated with the strategy of pressing. The integration strategy was not significantly correlated with scores on the NFC scale, but categorizing (via median split) the mediators as high and low NFC resulted in a significant difference in integration as tested by a multivariate analysis. The low (versus high)NFC participants were more likely to use the integrating strategy. For Study 2, practicing mediators at the South Plains Association of Governments Dispute Resolution Center completed a mailed survey. Again, the NFC constmct was not associated with differences in mediation style. The more decisive mediators were more likely to use the strategy of pressing than less decisive mediators. Lawyers were more likely to use an evaluative style than non-lawyers. Mediators who adopted a broad perspective in mediation were more likely to take an eclectic approach than more narrowly focused mediators. Although the NFC construct as a whole was not related in either study to differences in mediation style, the decisiveness subscale was related to mediator style. The results also supported the eclectic nature of many of the mediators.Item Organizational conflict and communication(Texas Tech University, 1970-08) Larson, Gerald BevanNot availableItem Resident assistants' conflict styles at Texas Tech University: a case study(Texas Tech University, 2001-05) Pysz, Dana RossNot availableItem Social exchange and conflict management tactic selection among police officers(2007-08) Boyd, Scott Brandon; Olaniran, Bolanle A.; Roach, David; Hughes, Patrick C.There has been a lot of research done in the areas of conflict management and social exchange theory. However, no work has been done to understand how these two concepts affect law enforcement officers conflicts between themselves and there colleagues. This study is aimed at understanding how the underlying elements of relationship, task, and the availability of alternatives indicative of the social exchange process as well an officer’s demographic characteristics influence their decisions concerning conflict management styles. In order to assess these influencing factors, 143 police officers were surveyed utilizing both the social exchange measure created and pilot tested by the researcher as well as the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. Correlations were run to see if there were relationships between social exchange and conflict styles. Then regression analysis was used to see if an officer’s score on the social exchange measure could be predictive of there conflict style preferences. This study found no significant relationship between social exchange and conflict management style preferences among police officers. However, when the same analyses were run with demographic characteristics and conflict styles, it was found that the more years of service a police officers has the more likely they are to avoid conflict with there colleagues. The implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.Item The effect of renewable natural resource scarcity on ethnic conflict: an analysis of minorities at risk, 1985-1998(Texas Tech University, 2004-08) Stanton, Samuel SThis work looks at the effect of renewable natural resource scarcity on ethnic conflict. The work takes its roots from literature on environmental security and applies the study of renewable natural resource scarcity and acute conflict to the study of ethnic conflict. The theoretical framework utilized is ethnic competition and the ethnic security dilemma. Determining how renewable natural resource scarcity affects ethnic conflict requires multiple levels of inquiry. First, is there a relationship between renewable natural resource scarcity and ethnic conflict. Second, if this relationship exists how does it franslate into ethnic conflict. Third, does the framework established have evidentiary support in particular cases that can be considered. To address these three levels of inquiry, both large N statistical analysis and case study analysis is used. The large N analysis uses data taken from a variety of sources, particularly the Minorities at Risk project, the World Resource Institute, the World Bank, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the United Nations, and Keesing's World Record. Using ordered logistic regressions, and panel-corrected standard error cross-sectional time-series regressions a relationship is shown to exist between renewable natural resource scarcity and ethnic conflict. Further, using the same techniques a relationship is proven between renewable natural resources and key mechanisms that allow ethnic conflict to be affected. Finally, four cases are examined. The four individual cases look at states where there was low scarcity and low conflict, high scarcity and low conflict, low scarcity and high conflict, and high scarcity and high conflict. The case studies are conducted to see if a process can be traced that reinforces the findings of the statistical analysis conducted. Findings give a mixture of results. The findings suggest that a relationship exists statistically between renewable natural resource scarcity and ethnic conflict. They also suggest that only certain combinations of scarcity and mechanisms effect ethnic conflict. Finally, the cases suggest that in addition to these effects found to exist statistically, that there are other factors that must be considered, such as strategic decision making by both the leadership of ethnic groups and the state.Item The impact of business owners' conflict management and leadership styles on succession planning in family-owned businesses(Texas Tech University, 2001-12) Marshall, James PageFamily-owned businesses are a large part of the American economy. Unfortunately, the majority of all family businesses fail before reaching the second or third generation. Although many possible explanations exist as to why so few family firms are unable to perpetuate themselves into future generations, succession planning has emerged as a key area of interest and a potential stumbling block for business owners, consultants, and researchers to pay attention to. Succession difficulties are often related to relationship problems, such as family conflict and leadership issues, rather than business problems. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between family business owners' leadership and conflict management styles, their perceptions of the importance of succession planning and actually planning for succession, and the demographic variables of the business owners' age and the number of generations the business has been in operation. These relationships were studied using a national data set of (TV = 205) family business owners. A structural equation model was employed with leadership styles, conflict management styles, and the importance of succession planning as the primary constructs of interest. The results indicate that the overall fit of the model to the data was very good and that all the indicators of latent constructs had strong factor loadings. Significant relationships were found between a business owners' age and a controlling conflict management style, and between the number of generations the business had been in operation and flexible conflict management styles, cooperative leadership styles, and the perceived importance of succession planning on the part of the owner. It was also found that business owners who are flexible in their conflict management style are more likely to plan for succession than controlling conflict managers. In addition, business owners who employ either a cooperative or an autocratic leadership style plan for succession and perceive succession planning as being important, but they may do so for different reasons. The results are discussed in terms of implications for those therapists, counselors, and consultants who would work with and advise family business owners on how to improve their chances for success in the succession processItem The influence of family communication patterns and launching on parent-adolescent conflict management strategies(Texas Tech University, 1999-05) Wrench, Jason StevenNot available