An Exploratory Study of Conflict Resolution Strategies Employed by Project Managers.

摘要

This research effort was an exploratory study of conflict situations and conflict resolution strategies as they appear in small conceptual phase projects or study tasks. Personal discussion with the project managers in the Aeronautical Systems Division Development Planning Directorate (ASD/XR), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, was the technique used to acquire the data for the research. The research resulted in the identification of five conflict situations and five conflict resolution strategies. The five conflict situations were conflict over: administrative procedures, project commitment, overload, technical opinions and performance trade-offs, and personal conflict. The five conflict resolution strategies were cooperating, accepting, persuading, transferring, and reordering. The conflict situations and conflict resolution strategies identified in this research, with the exception of conflict over administrative procedures and technical opinions, are different from those found in the literature. A spinoff from the research was the development of a validation device, which could be developed into a questionnaire by future researchers. (Author)