None of my business? Leaders as third parties in employees' conflict

Conflicts are ubiquitous in organizations and employees as well as organizational leaders need to deal with conflicts in order to prevent detrimental outcomes. In case of conflict between employees, an important societal question is, when and how the direct supervisor best intervenes. The team leader acts as an engaged third party in such conflicts. Academic research and theories on leader’s third-party behavior in such conflicts, its antecedents, and consequences is, however, limited. This thesis aims to contribute to our understanding of leaders’ third party behavior. First, we give a general introduction to the subject (Chapter 1) by discussing the relevance of this issue, defining the key theoretical constructs, and formulating our research questions. In Chapter 2 we present the results of a systematic literature review. We analyze 29 published articles that examined leaders as third parties in employees’ conflict. The articles show a wide plethora of descriptions of leader’s third-party behaviors, as well as different measures of third party behavior. Moreover, little is known about contingency factors in the emergence and outcomes of these behaviors, underscoring the need for more systematic theory and research. In Chapter 3, we examine three types of leader’s third-party behaviors: forcing, avoiding and problem solving. We developed a new measure to assess these behaviors. And we test the moderating effect of these behaviors on the relationship between three different conflict types and employee’s stress experience. For this purpose we analyzed survey data of 145 employees of a Dutch insurance company. As expected, we find that leader’s third-party behavior can amplify as well as suppress the relationship between specific conflict issues and employees’ stress. In Chapter 4, we further explore employees’ experiences, expectations, and evaluation of leaders’ involvement in impactful conflicts they had been engaged in. We used a qualitative method, analyzing 20 conflict cases discussed in depth during 14 interviews. Employees do have varying expectations of leaders’ third party behavior, depending on the extent to which their work is affected by the conflict. This study shows the essential role perceptions, expectations and evaluations of employees have in defining outcomes of leaders’ third-party behavior. We conclude in Chapter 5 with a summary of our main findings, the theoretical and practical implications, as well as discussing avenues for future research. We present a contingency model for leaders’ third party behavior in conflicts of their employees. This model drives from contextual and cultural factors, parties’ as well as conflict characteristics, determining the most effective third party interventions for leaders.nrpages: 187status: publishe