Conflict management styles: Responses to ethical dilemmas by Hong Kong business executives

Abstract

Snell's research on Hong Kong companies' response to ethical challenges found that, when staff were requested by a boss or superior authority to do something regarded as ethically wrong, they expressed feelings of contractual or interpersonally based obligation to obey. The paper reports on a study of Hong Kong executives using the Critical Incident Technique to understand their perceptions and subsequent decisions when they encounter an ethical issue. Thomas's conceptual framework of conflict management styles is used to classify their responses to the request of a boss or superior authority to do something regarded as ethically wrong. The study found that while competitive, accommodative, sharing and avoidant conflict management styles were all utilized, the collaborative style was absent...