Conflict management and emotions

Abstract

Purpose

The five studies included in this special issue focus on emotions and conflict management. These studies highlight how conflict management research can help managers, employees, and organizations more effectively manage the emotional aspects of conflict. This paper aims to summarize these studies.

Design/methodology/approach

Five studies were selected and combined in this single issue so that researchers could have an integrative review of recent research on emotions in the workplace. The studies were chosen to highlight the relationships between emotions and key conflict variables, such as task, relationship, and process conflict; trust; venting; and forgiveness. The studies were also chosen to represent a broad range of samples, including participants from more than 14 countries and cultures.

Findings

These studies indicate that a broad range of positive and negative emotions, such as anger, enthusiasm, excitement, guilt, and remorse, are significantly related in complex and varied ways to various aspects of conflict management. The studies highlight not only the importance of understanding specific emotions in conflict situations, but also the need to understand how and when the regulation of emotions can facilitate effective conflict management.

Research limitations/implications

These cutting‐edge studies demonstrate how emotions are a needed and important addition to the field of conflict management research – above and beyond cognitions and behaviors. Such findings highlight the need for additional research on emotions in conflict situations. Although these studies represent many different countries, more research is needed that specifically compares and contrasts the influence of emotions on conflict management across various cultures.

Originality/value

This special issue is the first publication to focus on the influence of conflict management in many different countries and cultures.

Citation

Posthuma, R.A. (2012), "Conflict management and emotions", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 4-5. https://doi.org/10.1108/10444061211210797