The management of relationship conflicts in service organizations

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to explore the relationship be- tween relationship conflict and service climate. To this end, we have studied which specific conflict management styles reduce or increase the relationship between relationship conflict and service climate at the work-unit level. Hypotheses were tested by tracking 91 work-units (397 employees) from 42 hotels and restaurants in southern Spain. Results revealed that relationship conflict is negatively related to service climate and that an inte- grating conflict management conflict style plays a moderating role in this relationship. This means that, when work-units use an integrating style to manage relationship conflict this conflict type is not related to service climate. Thus, the present study supports the idea that it is integrating and not avoiding the most effective style to manage the relationship conflict in these contexts.