A research on the effects of psychological empowerment and emotional intelligence level on organizational conflict management strategies

Interpersonal conflict management processes in organizations have a significant potential for organizational learning and effectiveness. The conflicts, which are considered as inevitable processes in the modern management approach, contribute to the achievement of organizational goals and to the increase of creativity and innovation when effectively managed. The research data were collected through survey from 219 white-collar employees working in three different authorized sales and service points operating in the automotive sector in Istanbul province. Emotions, attitudes, and perceptions of individuals in conflict processes; shape the approaches of individuals. In this sense, it is aimed to investigate the effects of psychological empowerment perceptions and emotional intelligence levels on the strategies that individuals prefer in conflict management processes. In the analysis of the obtained data, factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were performed by using SPSS 24.0 program. According to the findings of the study, it has been found that psychological empowerment and emotional intelligence had a significant effect on conflict management strategies. Psychological empowerment has a positive effect on problem-solving and compromising strategies, whereas it has a negative effect on avoiding strategy. Emotional intelligence has a positive effect on compromising, forcing and problem-solving strategies, whereas it has been found to have a negative effect on yielding and avoiding strategies. Keywords: Conflict Management, Psychological Empowerment, Emotional Intelligence, Conflict Management Strategies, Automotive Sector