Throughout extant literature, there is a great deal of research on organizational
change and organizational conflict; however, the two have rarely been studied together.
Even less frequently studied is the existence and impact of hidden conflict during an
organizational change.
This study seeks to explore the meeting of these bodies of literature through the
use of qualitative methods. Fifteen interviews were triangulated with artifact data and
participant observation to examine hidden conflict during an organizational change in a
student organization of a large, southern university.
The organization studied had a long history of grassroots student leadership.
However, per a directive of university administration, this pattern shifted. In order to
comply with the new directive, the student leadership Council of the organization
begrudgingly changed their structure. Many organizational members challenged the
process taken to implement this change, not only because of the structural alteration it
represented, but also for the lack of student input in developing the change plans. This study revealed that throughout the change process, organizational members
used hidden conflict strategies extensively. These individuals aimed their hidden
conflict behaviors at other organizational members in protest of others’ opinions of the
change initiative. The use of hidden conflict behaviors had a significant impact on the
change process and the efficacy of the organization as a whole. Most of the hidden
conflict behaviors displayed are already identified in extant literature; however, this
study also revealed new expressions of hidden conflict. In addition, this research
explored the implications of emotion during an organizational change and the link
between hidden conflict and resistance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-3283 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Siepel, Jennifer Lynn |
| Contributors | Conrad, Charles, Putnam, Linda L |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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