Lundula, N (2024) Influence of leaders’ conflict management skills on multicultural team management. PhD thesis, Walden University, USA.
Abstract
Leading multicultural teams, in temporary projects, can be challenging since multicultural teams are relatively more prone to conflicts owing to the diversities that stem from contrasting cultures. The specific problem is many project managers managing a multicultural workforce in temporal projects lack effective conflict management skills, which impedes the projects’ success by fostering an unconducive working environment. The purpose of this study was to identify the best conflict management practices for managers managing multicultural teams in temporal project settings, specifically in the construction industry in the Midwestern US. The study was underpinned by a few theories including Rahim's organization conflict inventory, Blake and Mouton’s Five Conflict Management Styles, Cognitive Elements of Conflict Management, and Kilmann and Thomas’s theory. The study sought to address the question about the best conflict management practices for managers working in the defined condition. This qualitative grounded theory research utilized a sample size of 10 participants, consisting of both managers and subordinates, with the requirement that they had more than two years of experience in the industry. The data were collected using interviews guided by a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using NVivo 10 software. The study results emphasized the importance of managers being flexible in their conflict management approaches, possessing cultural intelligence, effective communication, and embracing adaptive leadership. This research’s findings could potentially influence positive social change by leading to the enhancement of the working environment in temporal projects characterized by a multicultural workforce, hence boosting productivity.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Jones, L and Hyuk, K |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | communication; conflict management; conflicts; grounded theory; inventory; leadership; productivity; sample size; skills; workforce |
| Index terms: | conflict management, interview, manager, team management, questionnaire, inventory, project manager, sample size, grounded theory, productivity, construction industry |
| Subjects: | practitioner, inventory management, theoretical framing, data collection methods, profession, research design and methodology, management, industry analysis, conflict resolution |
| Topics: | Supply Chain Management, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here