| THE PROBLEM. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it empirically explored the relationship between leadership styles and constructive conflict behaviors. It hypothesized that authentic leadership would be positively correlated with active constructive conflict behaviors. It is also hypothesized that the leader's organizational culture, which has a more constructive cultural style, and that conflict management styles moderated this relationship. Second, a meta-theoretical purpose of this research was to to further investigate the conceptual development of this relationship.;METHOD. The research design chosen for this study was survey methodology. The respondents of the study included 65 participants who serve in leadership roles within their respective organizations and can assess the organizational culture and work environment where they have witnessed conflict. This study used correlational and multiple regression analyses to test the hypotheses. Post hoc statistical analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between the domains of leadership styles, active constructive conflict behaviors, and the domains of the moderators.;RESULTS. The results supported the hypotheses that were tested in that a statistically significant relationship was found between authentic leadership, as measured by the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ), active constructive conflict behaviors, as measured by Thomas-Kilmann Instrument (TKI), conflict management styles as measured by the Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory (ROCI-II), and leaders' organizational culture as measured by the Denison Organizational Culture Survey (DOCS) instruments.;IMPLICATIONS. This knowledge can be used for strategic leadership development of an organization's most prized human capital and conflict management efficacy within organizations. Taken farther, authentic leaders should embrace cross-cultural diversity and leverage active constructive conflict behaviors to spark organizational creativity and self-sustaining innovations on a global level to deliver ever-increasing value. |
