MANAGERIAL CONFLICT-MANAGEMENT IN 5 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES - THE IMPORTANCE OF POWER DISTANCE, UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE, AND MASCULINITY

This research deals with managerial conflict management in Denmark, Un ited Kingdom, The Netherlands, Spain, and Belgium. According to Hofste de (1991). these countries' cultures differ primarily in terms of unce rtainty avoidance, power distance, and masculinity-femininity. The dif ferences in uncertainty avoidance suggest the hypothesis that Danish m anagers should prefer constructive ways of conflict management much mo re than Belgian managers, and-as a consequence of power distance diffe rences-in particular in the case of conflict with superiors. The other three countries in our sample were predicted to take intermediate pos itions. An alternative prediction was that managers from highly femini ne nations, such as Denmark and The Netherlands would show more constr uctive behaviour in conflict with colleagues than managers from more m asculine nations. A questionnaire study among middle-managers from one large multinational firm with plants in these various countries confi rmed the power distance, and the femininity-masculinity prediction. Th e results of this study did not support the prediction that cultural d ifferences in terms of uncertainty avoidance influence managers' prefe rences for conflict management.