Relationship among conflict management styles, employees' job satisfaction and team effectiveness: A comparison between public and private hospitals in Taiwan (China)

This study examined the relationship among conflict management styles, team effectiveness and job satisfaction in hospitals from public and private sectors in Taiwan. The major postulate of the study was that managers develop norms regarding how they will manage conflicts that carry over to affect other activities, such as team effectiveness and job satisfaction. To determine which conflict management style managers prefer to use, the study explored conflict management style of managers in public and private sectors in Taiwan using Form A of the ROCI-II, (Rahim, 1983a) a 35-item questionnaire that assesses the five conflict management styles used with one's immediate supervisor. This study also examined how conflict management styles relate to two general reactions to work: employee job satisfaction and team effectiveness. The extent to which respondents experienced job satisfaction was assessed by a 20-item questionnaire (The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire); team effectiveness was determined by a team effectiveness survey, (www.willamette.edu/agsm/cpm/team2/te_survey.doc) a 26-item questionnaire designed to assess how groups' vision, mission and team goals, role clarification, decision-making and managing meetings, act together to determine the team's value. The team effectiveness survey, (www.willamette.edu/agsm/cpm/team2/te_survey.doc) a 26-item questionnaire designed to assess how groups' vision, mission and team goals, role clarification, making decisions and managing meetings, determine the team's value, utilize the conflict management skill; a 20-item questionnaire designed to assess the extent to which respondents experienced important outcomes on job satisfaction (The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire). A total of 327 usable questionnaires reported managers' and employees' perceptions of conflict management styles, team effectiveness and job satisfaction. The results suggest that Taiwanese managers prefer to use integrating and compromising styles rather than obliging, avoiding or dominating styles. Style of conflict preferred did not differ between private and public sectors. Team effectiveness was not positively related to job satisfaction and organizational sector.