An investigation of cognitive style and preferred conflict handling mode of cataloging and reference librarians in academic libraries

The presence of conflict in the life of organizations has been widely observed and analyzed. The problematic aspects and consequences of such conflict have been largely responsible for this interest. Several studies of conflict in academic libraries have addressed organizational conflict from an anecdotal perspective. The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of selected individual differences as possible factors contributing to the development of conflict. More specifically, the question of individual or personality based characteristics of cataloging and reference librarians were assessed to determine if these might account for individual modes of handling conflict in academic libraries.;Subjects were two hundred fifty cataloging and reference librarians working in 31 randomly selected academic libraries from three western states. The subjects completed the Group Embedded Figures Test, the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument and a demographic questionnaire.;No significant differences were found in the cognitive style or the preferred conflict handling modes of cataloging or reference librarians. However, librarians were found to prefer the avoiding and compromising modes over the competing, collaborating and accommodating modes. Significant differences in these modes were found when librarians were compared to two other occupational groups. Strong perceptions of in-group and out-group cooperation were also found. No correlation was found between field dependence and preferred conflict handling mode.;The research questions examined included: (1) whether academic librarians working in the functional areas of cataloging and reference demonstrate differences in cognitive style (field dependence/field independence), (2) whether the cognitive style of cataloging and reference librarians correlate with basic job satisfaction and tenure in their respective functional work area in libraries, (3) whether academic librarians demonstrated consistent and characteristically preferred modes of handling conflict, and (4) whether preferred modes of handling conflict correlated with cognitive style.