What goes around comes around: The impact of personal conflict style on work conflict and stress

Conflict styles are typically seen as a response to particular situations. By contrast, we argue that individual conflict styles may shape an employee 's social environment, affecting the level of ongoing conflict and thus his or her experience of stress. Using data from a hospital-affiliated clinica l department, eve find that those who use a more integrative style experien ce lower levels of task conflict reducing relationship conflict, which redu ces stress. Those who use a more dominating or avoiding style experience hi gher levels of task conflict, increasing relationship conflict and stress. We conclude that an employee's work environment is, in part, of his or her own making.