TY - JOUR AU - Mihaylova, Ivanka PY - 2020/10/08 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - WELL PREPARED FOR CONFLICT IN ORGANIZATIONS? A MANAGERS’ SELF-ASSESSMENT OF THEIR CONFLICT MANAGEMENT KNOWLEDGE JF - KNOWLEDGE - International Journal JA - kij VL - 42 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - UR - https://ikm.mk/ojs/index.php/kij/article/view/533 SP - 121 - 127 AB - <p>Managers often assume third-party roles to help employees resolve their disputes. A prerequisite for effective managerial intervention in employees’ conflict is the possession of substantial knowledge of conflict and its main characteristics in organizational context.<br>The purpose of the paper is to present the results from a study on managers’ self-assessment of their conflict management knowledge. The survey was carried out in Bulgaria and it questioned 300 managers from different organizations. For the purpose of the survey ten key aspects of conflict knowledge are defined. We consider that the presence of substantial knowledge in these areas would provide qualified managerial intervention in conflicts between employees. Respondents were asked to assess their knowledge in each of the ten aspects on a five-point scale (1 – to a small extent or not at all, 2 – to some extent, 3 – to ? moderate extent, 4 - to a great extent, 5 - to a very great extent). Additionally, the complex self-assessment of the possessed knowledge was calculated for each respondent. The value of the new variable in each case equaled the sum of the values of respondent’s answers to each of the ten aspects of conflict knowledge. We assumed that a respondent has profound knowledge of conflict if the value of the complex self-assessment is greater than or equal to 40.<br>Findings show that managers evaluate their conflict knowledge above the average level in each of the ten key aspects. The highest self-assessments are related to the sources of conflict, the individual behaviour in conflict situations, the outcomes of conflict for the unit or the organization, the analysis and the diagnosis of a conflict and the analysis of the post-conflict situation. Average assessments prevail in three aspects - the nature of conflict, the structure and the dynamics of conflict and the conflict management strategies. The greatest gaps in knowledge are associated with the types of conflicts and their forecasting and prevention. Significant differences were found across some personal characteristics of respondents and characteristics of organizations. The distribution of the self-assessments after the calculation of the complex variable is as follows: 87,7% of respondents have a low value of the complex self-assessment (&lt;40) and 12,3% of them - a high value (?40). Based on these results, we conclude that most managers questioned do not possess thorough knowledge of conflict in organizations. Although managers feel prepared from a moderate to a great extent in the ten key aspects, findings suggest that there are still some gaps in their knowledge.<br>The implication for organizations is to develop managers’ conflict management competencies with special emphasis on the areas with the greatest insufficiency of knowledge and skills. The implication for managers is not to hesitate to find ways to acquire knowledge and develop their conflict management skills whenever they feel insecure or not at ease while dealing with conflict.<br>The present study contributes to the literature of conflict in organizations in two way. First, the study outlines the framework of conflict management knowledge by defining its key aspects. Second, the proposed scale for measuring the self-assessment of conflict knowledge can be used in further research in the field.</p> ER -