An empirical investigation of Middle East conflict management styles

Abstract

This study investigates preferred conflict management styles in order to explore how conflict is dealt with in a particular cultural/geographical context (i.e. the Middle East), as culture is one of the factors, which affects management style, whether in a conflict situation or any other situations. Upon researching the literature in the area of conflict management styles in the Middle East it has been found that there is no published research for the region and specifically on the cultural issues. Therefore, this research study has taken a step forward in exploring how and in what ways, the conflict management styles of those individuals (e.g. employees) in Kuwait (a culture/context within the Middle East) may or may not be similar or different to those described in studies carried out in other cultures/contexts. The research explores the different conflict management styles used in Kuwait, which is approached by simulating the application of different conflict situations in Kuwaiti business context and explores the negotiation and application of conflict management styles applied. The use of the Thomas Kilmann Conflict mode Instrument (TKI) to gather research data helped in understanding the different conflict management styles used. The TKI is an extensively validated instrument used in the field to highlight the different ways of how people handle disputes and its effects on the dynamics of individuals and teams. This study attempts to make its contribution to knowledge in the field of conflict management styles in that (a) it assesses Kuwaiti conflict management styles, and (b) It studies the effects of the process of the different conflict management styles and its outcomes in resolving these conflicts in the Kuwaiti Business culture.