Leadership and Conflict Management Styles

Leaders, research shows, inevitably face conflict in their organizations and spend a large portion of their days resolving conflict. Different leaders resolve conflict in different manners. Following previous research that examined personality type and conflict management styles, this dissertation study explored the relationship between leadership styles Transactional, Transformational, and Laissez-faire and conflict management styles Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding, and Accommodating. This study found many positive correlations between leadership styles and conflict management styles. For example, Transactional Leadership and the Competing conflict management style were positively correlated, as were Transformational Leadership and the Collaborating conflict management style. Additional insight regarding leadership styles and conflict management styles may help leaders of organizations more efficiently and more effectively resolve conflict. Whereas this study is important, future researchers should explore the implications of the current study to corroborate any implied relationships that may exist between leadership styles and conflict management styles.