An Eye for an Eye Will Make the Whole World Blind: Conflict Escalation into Workplace Bullying and the Role of Distributive Conflict Behavior

The current study investigated how work-related disagreements—coined as conflicts—relate to workplace bullying, from the perspective of the target as well as the perpetrator. We hypothesized a positive indirect association between task conflicts and bullying through relationship conflicts. This process accounted for both for targets and perpetrators of bullying. Targets are distinguished from perpetrators in our assumption that this indirect effect is boosted by distributive conflict behavior, being yielding for targets and forcing for perpetrators. Results in a large representative sample of the Flemish working population (N = 2,029) confirmed our hypotheses. Additionally, our study also revealed a direct effect from task conflicts to bullying in the analyses regarding the indirect as well as the conditional indirect effects. For perpetrators, both the indirect and direct relationships are moderated by forcing, underlining the importance of distributive conflict behavior particularly for the enactment of bullying behaviors.     

Conflict Evolution: Tracking the Middle East Conflict with Drama Theory

The situation in the Middle East has developed through an episodic process in which the protagonists have periodically changed the ‘game’ that they are playing by inventing new options, seeking to eliminate the options available to others, or by raising or eliminating doubts in the minds of others about their intentions. Such conflict evolution is readily captured by the framework of drama theory which goes some way to explaining the pressures motivating such actions. This paper traces the recent development of relations between the Israelis and the Palestinians through a succession of drama theoretic models. The importance of taking note of interactions at several levels is highlighted: stalemate at one level may be dislodged by actions taken in others. It is concluded that any resolution of the confrontations in the Middle East is likely to require the active involvement of the international community but may be destabilised by pressure from internal factions within the key parties.     

以眼还眼：职场排斥对沉默行为的影响

本研究基于社会互动视角,探讨职场排斥与沉默行为的过程机制,在此基础上提出一个调节的中介模型,特别是工作投入和感知凝聚力的中介作用和情绪智力的调节作用。通过213名员工的三阶段时间滞后调查分析,结果显示：职场排斥正向影响沉默行为;工作投入和感知凝聚力在职场排斥与沉默行为关系中发挥中介作用;情绪智力调节职场排斥与工作投入之间的关系,调节职场排斥和感知凝聚力之间的关系;此外,情绪智力调节“职场排斥-工作投入-沉默行为”和“职场排斥-感知凝聚力-沉默行为”这两条中介路径。     

团队任务冲突与关系冲突转化机制——团队氛围的调节作用

团队中不同类型冲突之间作用机制的关系,日益成为组织管理领域的重要问题.本文引入团队氛围作为调节变量,对团队任务冲突对关系冲突影响的边界条件进行了探索.实证研究结果表明,团队氛围能对任务冲突与关系冲突的正相关关系产生负向调节作用,从而减弱任务冲突对关系冲突的负向影响.通过促进和谐的团队氛围,能够使团队在任务冲突存在的前提下形成有效的团队合作.团队经理应尽量避免任务冲突向关系冲突转化,促使团队中的任务冲突发挥促进信息交流和团队学习的作用,从而促进团队绩效的提升.     

Service Design in the NHS: Collaboration or Conflict?

Continuous new service design / redesign is a key contributor to organisational performance. The NSD literature, originally evolving from new product development studies, often emphasised a sequential, linear process. More recently, however, the role of culture, internal politics and social dynamics in the NSD process has been highlighted. The potential for an enhanced role for political behaviour and stakeholder conflict within public sector organisations is apparent. In view of the increasing importance of consumer opinion as both an input into, and evaluation of, the design of public sector services, the need to understand the process of new service formation and its impact on consumer perceived service quality is of major importance. This study examines the design process for three mental health resource centres. Through interviews with a range of stakeholders, the role of conflict within complex, multi-organisational decision making is highlighted and the impact on the final consumer is assessed.     

Code Integration: Alignment or Conflict?

Companies are increasingly singing up to a range of corporate responsibility codes and other voluntary commitments. Using evidence from the mining industry’s experience with the Australian Greenhouse Challenge, the Minerals Council’s Code for Environmental Management and the ISO14001 Specification for Environmental Management Systems, this article examines whether the outcomes from the adoption of multiple voluntary approaches differ from those outcomes that would be expected if each voluntary approach was adopted in isolation. The article demonstrates that it is feasible for companies to participate in multiple voluntary approaches and to derive benefits such as reduced transaction costs, improved data quality and enhanced implementation. However, there is limited evidence that the voluntary approaches in combination have enhanced environmental performance, economic efficiency, innovation or competitiveness beyond that which would be achieved from each of the approaches in isolation. Furthermore, many of the limitations of voluntary approaches (in particular, environmental performance, acceptability to NGOs) remain. The material presented in this article is based on research conducted by the author as part of his Ph.D. dissertation (see, further, Sullivan, 2005).     

Work-Family Conflict: A Virtue Ethics Analysis

Work-family conflict has been examined quite often in human resources management and industrial/organizational psychology literature. Numerous statistics show that the magnitude of this employment issue will continue to grow. As employees attempt to balance work demands and family responsibilities, organizations will have to decide to what extent they will go to minimize this conflict. Research has identified numerous negative consequences of work-family stressors for organizations, for employees and for employees' families. There are however many options to reduce this strain, each with advantages and disadvantages. An ethical analysis, from a virtue ethics perspective, is applied to this timely issue to present an alternative view in addressing this critical business decision. In addition, a strong connection between the virtue ethics analysis and a well-known management theory is given to provide a foundation for managerial implications for resolving work-family conflict.     

In the Eye of the Beholder: An Exploration of Managerial Courage

There is growing interest in the positive organizational literature in the complex interplay between the positive and negative facets of organizations, individuals, and situations. The concept of courage provides fertile ground to study this interplay, since it is generally understood to be a positive quality that is manifested in challenging situations. The empirical study presented here looks at courage in a strategic decision-making context and takes an interpretive perspective; it focuses on the cognitive structures and subjective understandings of managers and administrators involved in merger projects as a way to understand the dynamics surrounding managerial courage. Our study makes several contributions: it shows that managers consider courage to have a moral dimension, e.g., to be a positive and ethical response to a risky or difficult situation in which there is an interplay between organizational and personal interests; it identifies two kinds of managerial moral courage; it proposes a conceptual model with which to understand how evaluations of what is courageous and what is not are made; and finally, it offers four schemas developed from the data that add to our understanding of moral courage in management.     

Conflict of Interest and the Talmud

A core value of Judaism is leading an ethical life. The Talmud, an authoritative source on Jewish law and tradition, has a number of discussions that deal with honesty in business and decision-making. One motive that can cause individuals to be unscrupulous is the presence of a conflict of interest. This paper will define, discuss, and review five Talmudic concepts relevant to conflict of interest. They are (1) Nogea B’Davar (being an interested party), (2) V’hiyitem N’keyim (behaving to ensure that one is above suspicion) (3) Lifnei Iver (placing a stumbling block before the blind), (4) Shokhad (accepting a bribe), and (5) Geneivat Da’at (deception and undeserved goodwill). Case examples will be used to apply these Talmudic principles to contemporary business practice. This will include discussion of these Talmudic concepts as it applies to specific contemporary business examples relevant to the boardroom, accounting firms, investment banking, politics, and government. It may be impossible to eliminate all conflicts of interest. However, knowledge and awareness of these Talmudic principles can help individuals in business settings better address the ethical issues that they confront. Joshua Fogel, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Business Program of the Department of Economics at Brooklyn College. He is the Business Program’s behavioral scientist. He has an interest in the interface of religion and business ethics and can be contacted at joshua.fogel@gmail.com. Hershey H. Friedman, PhD, is a Professor in the Business Program of the Department of Economics at Brooklyn College. He has interest in business ethics and also the interface of religion and entrepreneurship. He currently is funded with a grant by the Kauffman Foundation to study religion and entrepreneurship.     

Conflict analysis of the NAFTA negotiations

The 1991–92 negotiations for a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are modelled at two points in time during the negotiation process from a Mexican perspective. The first model in February 1992 captures the positions of the parties on several key issues. The second model in April 1992 concentrates on the energy issue, which is of particular importance to Mexico. The formal model provided a framework for structuring the negotiation, and a communications medium for discussing and recording it. The analyses were fairly accurate as predictors of events and could have been effective in giving advice to the negotiations.     

Putting Meta-Analysis to Work: Accountants' Organizational-Professional Conflict

Commentators on empirical research in business ethics have recommended that use should be made of meta-analysis – the quantitative analysis of a group of research studies. This paper elaborates upon those recommendations by conducting, as a "case study" for further reflection, a meta-analysis of studies of accountants' organizational-professional conflict (OPC) previously published in accounting and psychology journals. Of five variables capable of analysis, only the population correlation coefficient between OPC and organizational tenure is identified. It was not possible to find the population correlation coefficient of the other four variables, for which several possible reasons are suggested. The paper then shows how meta-analysis can make a valuable contribution, even when the substantive findings are limited, by providing guidance for future research and a safeguard against the drawing of unjustified conclusions, to which the more usual narrative reviews of literature are prone.     

The Third Eye: Exploring Guanxi and Relational Morality in the Workplace

We examine the use of Confucian relational morality as an alternative reference point to that of modernist morality in judging workplace ethical conduct. A semi-structured interview based study involving 46 ethnic Chinese managers and 30 non-Chinese expatriate managers in Singapore, provided evidence of the use of traditional guanxi-linked morality as a moral resource by some of the former group in judging workplace ethical dilemmas. While such morality played only a minor role in moral reasoning, and was largely overshadowed by modernist morality, the research nonetheless demonstrates that moral reasoning reflects wider cultural heritage, and is not merely a function of corporate culture and individual moral development.     

论多边环境协定与世贸组织规则的冲突与协调

多边环境协定与世贸组织规则的关系问题在近年的争论中获得了新进展。多边环境协定中的某些贸易限制条款确实与世贸组织规则发生冲突,如何协调和解决目前仍然悬而未决。无论世贸组织成员及其贸易部长还是各国学者都对该问题极为关注,并提出协调两者关系和解决两者间冲突的种种建议,试图保持多边环境协定缔约国和世贸组织成员在多边环境体制与多边贸易体制之间的利益平衡。     

用另一种眼光看世界——陕西卫视《不考不知道》闪亮出击

由陕西卫视和光线传媒共同打造的益智类综艺节目《不考不知道》播出以来，受到业界强烈关注。这是一场全新的对话，发生在阅历丰富的成年人与不谙世事的小学生之间。各行各业的人士赶赴这个由小学生主导的考场，共同接受这场看似简单的知识竞赛。他们能连续答对这11道题吗？如果回答不出这些看似简单的问题，就必须放下他们的“骄傲”与“尊严”，求助于现场的5位小学生。     

思科:网络与文化兼修

<正> “在那段时间里,我家的两个小孩子也留在了家中每天都通过网络学习,与老师保持联系。我认为,互联网本来就是一个工具,它不应只在‘非典’流行的时期才使用。大家应当共同努力,推动互动式网络教学的发展。从长远来看,     

Resolving International Conflict: What Role for Business?

This second 1996 Stockton Lecture focuses on poverty as a cause of international conflict - and on what businesses can do or avoid doing to reduce it. Poverty, Roddick argues, fuels revolution. And while the western armaments industry is especially to blame, big institutions like the World Bank and the multinationals have all contributed to causing conflict. Her answers to the problem include more "microenterprise" and fair trading initiatives by multinationals in local communities in the developing world. Her central message is that business "must not only avoid hideous evil; it must actively do good".