Integrated Conflict Management Systems Pay Off with Lower Levels of Formal Grievances and Lower Turnover Rates

Abstract

The authors analyze an eight-year, multi-source, longitudinal data set that followed a non-union health care system in the eastern United States as it implemented a major preventative conflict management initiative placing responsibility for conflict resolution directly in the hands of line managers and employees. The initiative was a system-wide implementation of conflict management interviews (CMIs) between employees and supervisors, designed to enable them to proactively resolve conflict and follow up on agreements for improving their working relationships. The authors investigate survey and personnel file data from 5,456 individuals from 2003 to 2010 and test key predictions of Integrated Conflict Management Systems (ICMS) theory. They find that employees whose managers provide high-quality CMIs have a lower likelihood of formal grievances, significantly more perceptions of participative department culture, and lower turnover rates. Collectively, these findings suggest that simply holding CMIs may not be sufficient; rather, the quality of CMIs may be the key to successful outcomes.