Baumgartner, Bastian (2022) The Effect of Power Construal of a Leader on Conflict Handling Strategies in the Workplace; The Moderating Role of a Leader’s Age. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
People in leading positions spend a considerable amount of their time handling interpersonal conflicts. Research has shown that leaders greatly influence conflict at work based on how they choose to handle such conflict. As leaders additionally differ in how they perceive the power corresponding to their position, it can be assumed that this also influences the leaders’ choice of conflict strategies. The current study investigates how perception of power influences which conflict management strategies leaders choose. Therefore, two types of power construal (power construed as opportunity and power construed as responsibility) and their influence on the leaders’ choice between five different conflict strategies (forcing, avoiding, accommodating, compromising and problem solving) were studied. As older leaders are supposed to perceive power differently compared to younger leaders it was hypothesized that the relationship between power construal and conflict management strategies is moderated by the leaders’ age. We conducted a field study and collected 121 dyads of leaders and employees from different companies. It was found that Power construal as opportunity positively correlated with the conflict strategies forcing and avoiding. Age had a slight negative effect on accommodating and problem solving. No moderation effects by age on the relationship between power construal and conflict management strategies were found. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Supervisor name: | Fousiani, K. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology (WOP) [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Feb 2022 14:36 |
| Last Modified: | 21 Feb 2022 14:36 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/219 |
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