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Conflict understandings of lay people mirror society in miniature. Although lay people and their conflict understandings in society may shape the course of an ongoing conflict, little scholarly attention is so far given to the understandings of everyday discourse in Turkey’s ongoing Kurdish conflict. The present research aims to examine the views of lay Kurds and Turks in two politically polarized cities in Turkey, Mersin and Diyarbakır.

To examine these views, the authors used focus group discussions and open-ended questionnaires with a total of 64 lay people from Mersin and Diyarbakır.

Qualitative content analysis revealed more conflict understandings than presented in the existing academic literature. Furthermore, multiple correspondence analysis suggested that both ethnic identity and the city in which people live are important factors influencing how people perceive the conflict.

The meaning of novel themes, differences and similarities within and between ethnic groups and two cities, and the usefulness of qualitative methods to examine lay people’s viewpoints are discussed.

Exploring the understandings of conflict held by Members of Parliament (MPs) provides a meaningful picture of a conflict in a particular society. The aim of the study is to explore the Kurdish conflict understandings among MPs in Turkey.

The current research used Q methodology, which is a suitable method to identify socially shared perspectives and to identify intra- and inter-group differences, and Entman’s (1993) frame analysis to explore subjective understandings of the Kurdish conflict. Data were collected from 23 MPs from four political parties.

The analysis revealed four qualitatively distinct viewpoints: Turkish Nationalist view, Social Democratic view, Conservative-Religious view and Pro-Kurdish view.

This study contributes to the understanding of political parties’ perspectives on the Kurdish conflict in Turkey by representing each political party’s priorities and concerns. The meaning of these priorities and concerns, implications for conflict resolution and the usefulness of the Q methodology for exploring conflict understandings are also discussed.

This paper aims to examine the occurrence and management of conflict in Chinese organizations, from an emic perspective. The authors provide an in-depth understanding of Chinese working adults’ lived experiences regarding workplace conflicts.

The study is a qualitative one, consisting of open-ended questionnaires administered to 55 Chinese nationals who worked in governmental, public or international organizations in China. A thematic analysis of the answers was conducted.

Chinese participants adopted a normative mental model that defined their preferred “way of doing” things. A skillful balance was expected in conflict management that incorporated integrated open communication and strategic silence. Chinese working adults emphasized maturity in the workplace and the recognition of shared goals.

The online questionnaire format may have constrained participants’ responses. Also, the data were collected from various organizational contexts, but there were not enough participants from each type of organization so that comparisons between institutions could be made.

The results could help expatriate populations better prepare their lives abroad in China. Also, the findings could aid organizational or management consultants who work closely with Chinese partners.

The findings enhance our understanding of how Chinese working adults deal with workplace conflicts and the circumstances in which conflicts arise in the workplace, which also reflected the social and cultural contexts of the Chinese workplace experience.

This study provides an alternative interpretation of workplace conflicts and their management in China that is anchored in the unique organizational and national cultural context. They constitute the base for future development of culture-based explanations of Chinese organizational conflict behaviors.

This paper attempts to connect the literature on conflict and that of emotions. The argument presented is that emotions have until recently been understudied in conflict literature and vice versa. On the basis of the review of literature on both conflict and emotions, the paper points to new areas of exploration for researchers in both domains.

A literature review of two separate sub‐fields of study, namely conflict and emotions is provided with the intent of pointing towards gaps in connecting the two streams of research and towards a more holistic understanding of the role of emotions in conflict.

It is observed that the link between emotions and conflict has received little attention both in the literature on conflict and that of emotions. Insights into the role of emotions at the time of conflict and towards its subsequent resolution are provided. Future directions for study and potential linkages between the two streams are offered.

Connects two different streams of research and offers potential areas of exploration.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview on the state of the field in intercultural dynamics on competition and cooperation at the individual, team, and organizational levels. The authors integrate previous studies from multiple disciplines to articulate the contextual importance of intercultural dynamics. The authors also suggest three overarching themes to expand the field of research on intercultural dynamics.

The authors use an integrative literature review to articulate the importance of intercultural dynamics, provide an introduction to the new contributions in this special issue, and propose new directions for future research.

Intercultural dynamics research has the potential to expand in three overarching areas: constructive controversy, collaborative communication, and global competency and identity at multiple levels.

Intercultural dynamics is still a nascent field emerging from cross-cultural and strategic management. The authors hope the review lays the groundwork for more studies on intercultural dynamics at the interpersonal, team, organizational, and mixed levels of analysis in both theory building and empirical works.

Understanding intercultural dynamics in competition and cooperation can help individuals and managers in multinationals and born global organizations navigate cultural complexity and foster cooperation.

The authors hope the ideas on intercultural dynamics can facilitate collaboration and reduce conflict in intercultural encounters at the individual, organization, and societal levels.

This paper offers an overview on the state of the field and lays groundwork for more systematic inquiries on intercultural dynamics in competition and cooperation.

Capacity building in fragile and post‐conflict situations is specially challenging for policy makers in that it represents a situation that needs to be carefully managed. Understanding the dynamic link between capacity building and conflict requires understanding the nature and determinants of conflicts, their duration, intensity and the modalities for their cessation and post‐conflict reconstruction. This study attempted to do that from systemic or theoretical perspective. A major common theme that runs across the literature is that post‐conflict recovery and sustainable development and the associated capacity building exercise in Africa need to have the following four feature: (1) first a broad development planning framework with a fairly long‐time horizon and an overarching objective of poverty reduction; (2) second, social policy‐making in such countries is expected to be distinct from non‐conflict countries. This signals the need to articulate country specific policies and (3) third, intervention in such states requires a high volume of aid flows and (4) forth it need to be preceded by deeper understanding of African societies by donors. This study by outlining such basic issues from theoretical perspective resorted to an outline of three core areas of capacity building that are needed in post‐conflict and fragile states: capacity building to address immediate needs of post‐conflict states, capacity building to address the core economic and political causes of conflict, as well as, capacity building to address issues of finance and financial sector reconstruction. Each of these aspects is discussed in detail in the study. The study underscores the need to view and understand capacity building exercise as part and parcel of a broad developmental problem which requires broader developmental solutions.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamics of social positioning and interpersonal conflicts in management teams. This paper utilizes positioning theory to analyze team conflicts by combining microlevel interaction analysis and explicit, meso-level team research in the context of managerial work.

This research is based on an analysis of 34 conflict episodes that occurred during management board meetings conducted by two Finnish public research institutions. By analyzing naturally occurring interactions and video material, this paper presents a discursive analysis of conflict from the perspective of positioning theory, focusing on local moral orders, social positions and the construction of dialogue.

This study’s findings illuminate how team conflicts may be understood in terms of positioning theory, as well as how positioning is connected to managing conflicts and constructing either degenerative or generative dialogue in teams. The present study indicates possibilities for applying positioning theory as a methodological tool when studying team interactions and dialogue.

The study offers practical implications regarding team conflict management. By developing an understanding of the positioning dynamics of managers and other team members, one can help create constructive and generative dialogue in teams.

From a methodological perspective, this paper presents a novel approach to the study of team conflicts and outlines several suggestions regarding the theoretical approach in the analysis of team interaction and dynamics.

Past research on team conflict has often conceptualized it as a collective phenomenon whereby members of the same team perceive similar levels of conflict. However, similarity in perspectives can more often be the exception than the norm. As such, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of relationship conflict (RC) asymmetry on information elaboration and team performance. Additionally, I introduce a new construct: perception of team RC asymmetry and propose that it strengthens the positive effects of RC asymmetry.

A total of 181 MBA students comprising 52 teams participated in the research. Students worked together for the duration of the semester to complete a team project that comprised 45% of their final grade. Surveys were administered at three points in time with performance measured at the end and other focal variables measured at the midpoint. Regression analyses and the PROCESS macro were used to examine a first stage moderated mediation model.

Results showed that RC asymmetry increased elaboration, which, in turn, improved team performance. The link between RC asymmetry and elaboration was moderated by the perception of team RC asymmetry.

The present research shows that to have a fuller understanding of RC one must consider the level of dispersion experienced by team members. Taking this approach has uncovered a way in which RC can actually benefit teams instead of lead to destructive outcomes.

This study sets out to examine conflict style preferences in India and the predictive effects of various demographic variables on conflict style preference.

Data were gathered in India (n=827) among Muslims and Hindus. Conflict was measured using Oetzel's Conflict Style Measure. To answer the research questions, repeated measures ANOVA and multiple regressions were conducted.

The findings reveal that conflict style preference among Hindus in India differs significantly and that Hindus prefer the integrating and dominating styles, whilst showing the least inclination towards the avoiding and obliging styles. Muslims prefer the integrating and compromising styles and least prefer the dominating and avoiding styles. Analyses of the demographic variables' predictive influence reveal that age and sex are significant predictors for all five conflict styles for both Muslims and Hindus. Education has a mixed predictive influence on conflict style among Hindus and Muslims.

Use of self‐report instruments and the majority of the participants coming from middle‐class backgrounds could limit the generalizability of the study.

The study calls for conflict mediators to consider the influence of group membership and educational level on conflict management/resolution. The research also discusses national/international conflict intervention.

This paper informs individuals regarding the way in which two large religious and cultural groups differ in their approaches to conflict. For a nation that has experienced a history of conflict between these two cultural/religious groups, this paper can help shed light on how to bridge the conflict between them.

There are no studies directly comparing the conflict styles of Muslims and Hindus.

This study seeks to examine the influence of national and religious identification on conflict styles among Christians and Muslims in Western Europe.

Data were gathered in France, Germany and the UK (n=909) in 2008. Conflict was measured using Oetzel's Conflict Style Measure. To test the hypothesis and answer the research questions, multiple regression models were constructed.

National and religious identification had a significant influence on conflict style preference. Muslims prefer more compromising and obliging conflict styles, while Christians prefer the dominating style. France is more dominating than Germany or the UK. Significant interactions revealed how individuals' religion and national identification influence conflict styles.

The use of self‐report instruments is the primary limitation.

Individuals' lived experiences have a significant influence on their conflict preference. The results in France, Germany and the UK point to varied ethnic and religious lived experiences.

The primary social impact of this paper is that it informs individuals and governments of the effects of religion on individuals' management of conflict. In the wake of the bombings of September 11, the 2005 French riots, and the 2005 London bombings, understanding the potential influence of religion on the management and conceptualization of conflict offers vast societal impacts for society at large.

There are few studies in conflict that examine the influence of religion and/or national identification. Moreover, this is one of the few studies to examine how Muslims manage conflict.