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Université de Montréal Conflict Management Behaviors in a Management Meeting: A Conversation Analytic Study par Luiza Bogateanu Département de communication Faculté des arts et des sciences Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de Maître es sciences (M.Sc.) en sciences de la communication Août, 2008 © Bogateanu Luiza, 2008 11 Université de Montréal Faculté des études supérieures Ce mémoire intitulé: Conflict Management Behaviors in a Management Meeting: A Conversation Analytic Study Présenté par: Bogateanu Luiza a été évalué par un jury composé des personnes suivantes: Dr. Loma Heaton Président-rapporteur Dr. Boris Brurnmans Directeur de recherche Dr. François Cooren Membre du jury III Résumé Dans ce projet, j'ai examiné des interactions organisationnelles afm de comprendre comment les membres d'une organisation gèrent les situations conflictuelles quotidiennes. De manière plus précise, j'ai analysé un enregistrement vidéo d'une réunion de directeurs présentée dans le documentaire After Mr. Sam, produit par l'Office National du Film du Canada. Basée sur le cadre théorique de l'ethnométhodologie (EM) et de l'analyse de la conversation (CA), cette étude analyse les données dans une perspective de dispute et au même temps prend en considération les outils précédents de la communication organisationnelle pour mesurer des conflits. Avec une telle approche l'étude offre une perspective plus communicative et dynamique de l'étude du conflit et contribue à la littérature sur la gestion des conflits organisationnels. En conséquence, l'analyse met en lumière la dynamique du processus de la dispute et les comportements de gestion des conflits que les participants mettent en acte par leurs conversations dans la réunion de directeurs analysée. Les conclusions de cette étude suggèrent que le conflit organisationnel est un processus dynamique, faisant partie des processus d'organisation quotidiennes, et que, plus fréquent les membres des organisations gèrent les conflits de manière moins évidente et informelle. Mots clés: Ethnométhodologie, Analyse de la conversation, Comportements de gestion des conflits, Processus de la dispute. lV Abstract In this thesis, 1 investigated organizational interactions to understand how organizational members deal with daily conflict situations. Specifically, 1 analyzed a video-recorded management meeting presented in the documentary After Mr. Sam, produced by the National Board Film of Canada. Based on a theoretical framework consisting of ethnomethodology (EM) and conversation analysis (CA), this study takes a disputing perspective and considers previous organizational communication conflict instruments to analyze these data. By taking this approach, this study offers a dynamic and more communicative perspective to the study of conflict, thus making a contribution to the literature on organizational conflict management. Accordingly, the analysis illustrates the dynamics of the disputing process and the conflict management behaviors that participants in the analyzed management meeting conversationally enacted. In turn, this study' s fmdings suggest that organizational conflict is a dynamic process, that it is part of daily organizing processes, and that organizational members often deal with conflict phenomena in covert and informal ways. Key words: Ethnomethodology, Conversation analysis, Conflict management behaviors, Disputing process. v Table of contents List of abbreviations vii Acknowledgments viii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: A Review of Literature on Organizational Contlict and Organizational Contlict Management Behaviors 3 Organizational Contlict 3 Concepts and Definitions 3 Overview ofPrevious Research 4 Traditiona/ Approaches to the Study ofConflict Management Behaviors 6 Conflict Managementfrom a (More) Communicative PointofView 11 Chapter 3: Theoretical Framework 17 CA and Contlict Management Behaviors 17 Overview of EM 20 EM's Origins and Assumptions 20 Overview of CA 27 CA 's Origins and Assumptions 27 The Re/ationship between CA and EM 30 The Study of Disputing from a Conversation Analytic Point of View 32 Research Questions 33 Chapter 4: Case Description and Research Method 34 Data: The Case of After Mr. Sam 34 Overview ofthe Case 35 The Characters in After Mr. Sam 37 VI Key Moments in After Mr. Sam 38 Method: Conversation Analysis 42 Transcription Conventions 42 Conc/uding Remarks on the Method Used in this Study 50 Chapter 5: Analysis 52 AfteF MF. Sam: The Dispute over Family Organization 53 Transcript (lines 766 - 1027) 53 Chapter 6: Discussion 96 Research Questions and Implications of this Study 96 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research 105 Endnotes 108 References 110 Appendix 1 vu List of abbreviatioDs EM - ethnomethodology CA - conversation analysis Vlll Acknowledgements 1 would like to express my deepest gratitude to my research advisor, Dr. Boris Brummans, whose shared wisdom, generous help and contÏnuous support made the writing of this thesis a wonderfullearning experience. This study would not have been possible without his valuable guidance and comments. 1 am also grateful to Dr. Francois Cooren and Dr. Loma Heaton for evaluating the first proposaI of this thesis, for their helpful suggestions, and for accepting to evaluate this thesis. My sincere appreciation goes also to the Département de communication, an excellent place to study, and to all the teachers who contributed to my education during this Master' s program. Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to all my family, and especially to my husband Dan, for providing a positive and supportive environment which has enabled me to complete this study. 1 Chapter 1 Introduction Many studies explore conflict phenomena. They try to find out the fundamental principles that make conflict productive, and what people should do to obtain positive outcomes from conflict situations. Generally, conflict research is based on the premise that healthy and harmonious relationships-and, implicitly, social order-can be accompli shed through acknowledging and productively managing conflicting situations. Thus, although conflict used to be perceived as a harmful phenomenon, scholars nowadays admit that conflict is inevitable, and try to study the beneficial outcomes of good conflict management. In light of this more optimistic approach to the study of conflict, organizational conflict research shows a growing interest in investigating conflict management behaviors. Based on these same grounds, the current study aimed to gain more insight into the phenomenon of organizational conflict management by taking an expressly communicative point ofview. In other words, 1 observed a conflict by focusing on how participants involved in resolving this conflict conversationally enacted and managed it. Specifically, this study presents an analysis of data provided through the documentary After Mr. Sam, a video-recording of a few management meetings at Steinberg's Ltd, a well-known Canadian company. 1 used micro-analytic tools to describe and analyze one ofthese meetings. Therefore, this study integrates two analytical approaches (ethnomethodology - referred to as "EM", and conversation analysis - referred to as "CA"). In so doing, this study allowed me to explore the dynamic features of organizational conflict. 2 As 1 will show in the chapter 2, the existing literature still requires studies that take the perspective 1 have taken in this investigation. But perhaps a more important contribution ofthis study is that it provides a careful analysis of conflict management behaviors to understand organizational interactions, something which conflict researchers seldom do. To begin, 1