Impact of Individualism and Collectivism on Managing Conflicts at Work: Evidence from Public Sector Banks in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Conflict management is the process of planning to avoid conflict where possible and organizing to resolve conflict where it does happen, as rapidly and smoothly as possible. The ability to manage conflict is probably one of the most important social skills. The aim of this research is to identify the influence of individualism and collectivism on managing conflicts at work place. Hence, it is necessary to identify the factors that influence on individual’s conflict management styles for improving work place relations and productivity of individuals, but very few attempts have been made to find out the factors influencing managing conflicts in the Sri Lankan context. Current study employs 86 respondents who were randomly selected from the two public sector banks. The data obtained from the structured questionnaire were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis. Through results it was found that there is a positive moderate relationship between individualism and conflict management styles. Further, it is noted that there is a positive moderate relationship between collectivism and conflict management style, and also researcher found out that out of 86 employees, 23% prefer collaborating. And also 21% of employees prefer accommodating. Two set of 20% employees prefer avoiding and compromising. The least number of employees prefer competing.