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New Manager Socialization and Conflict Management in China: Effects of Relationship and Open Conflict Values 1
Author(s) -
Chen Nancy Yifeng,
Tjosvold Dean,
Huang Xu,
Xu Da
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00716.x
Subject(s) - socialization , psychology , china , social psychology , conflict management , affect (linguistics) , quality (philosophy) , public relations , sociology , political science , social science , philosophy , communication , epistemology , law
How newcomers interact with experienced employees has been thought to affect their socialization and performance. This study complements previous newcomer research by examining the role of organizational values on this interaction. Middle managers newly recruited into a large telecom company in China were randomly assigned to discuss a conflict with an existing employee where the organization either valued relationships or not, and either valued open discussion of diverse ideas or not. As expected, valuing relationship and open discussion, compared to not valuing relationship and avoiding discussion, facilitated new managers' socialization and helped them develop cooperative goals and quality leader–member exchange. Results were interpreted that by embracing values of relationships and open discussion, organizations can more effectively socialize newcomers.