Business Strategy Series

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate relationships between organizational justice and conflict management.

Design/methodology/approach – Two vignettes are described that illustrate: a manager who is highly sensitive to organizational justice issues; and a manager who disregards organizational justice issues. We describe likely conflict management styles adopted by these two managers, and the effects these styles might have on organizations and the employees.

Findings – A manager who is sensitive to organizational justice issues is more likely aware of potential conflicts that might arise during an encounter with an employee. The most likely and beneficial approach to addressing conflict for this manager is collaboration. In contrast, the insensitive manager tends to be more concerned with procedure than with the fairness or openness of processes. During a potentially high conflict situation, the manager who is not concerned with organizational justice tends to resort to conflict resolution styles that impose a competitive or dominating resolution tactic.

Research limitations/implications – Because this article is theoretical and conceptual in nature, the findings must be confirmed with additional empirical evidence.

Practical implications – Recent changes in globalization suggest that we need to learn to survive in less hierarchical environments and rely more heavily on teams. Careful attention to organizational justice will ensure that we deliver a workforce that is able to meet the new demands with fewer distracting conflicts.

Originality/value – Resolving conflict and working together in just and fair systems is important in today's global playing field. This article systematically integrates, for the first time, the literature on organizational justice and conflict management.