An Institutional Work Approach to Conflict Management ACase Study of a Swedish Vehicle Manufacturer

摘要

In this paper, we investigate workplace conflicts at a Swedish vehicle manufacturer. The aimof the study is therefore to provide a deeper understanding for conflict management in theworkplace. The data was collected through internal documents and by conducting 16interviews with employees, managers and HR-representatives from the organisation, resultingin forty-eight unique conflict situations. The data collected laid the foundations for an analysisdriven by the lens of new institutionalism and institutional work, supplementing existingconflict management literature. This paper shows that in the organisation studied, there is ageneral approach towards managing conflict situations, regardless of the conflict type thatexists, in this paper referred to as the conflict management escalation process. The origins,motives, and processes of this well-established conflict management procedure are in thispaper explored and discussed in depth, contributing to previous literature in the domain oforganisational conflict research.