ASSESSMENT ITEM 2:

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF 3
ARTICLES

Subject Lecturer: Robert Godby

Subject Code: LB5205
Submitted by: Pema
Student ID number: 14337962
Introduction

This report depicts analysis of three selected articles which includes articles titled “Leadership
styles: relationship with conflict management styles”, “Workplace diversity and inclusivity” and
“Mindfulness as a cognitive–emotional segmentation strategy: An intervention promoting work–
life balance” and captures its relationship with the theories and models that are included in
LB5205. Of the three articles, two are research papers while one is a column published in the
Alert collector. The report goes on to compare and contrast these articles and link the insights
gained from those in my professional life.

Summary

The article titled “Leadership styles: relationship with conflict management styles” is research
conducted by Saeed et.al., seeks to explore the relationship between leadership styles and
conflict management styles amongst managers by distributing survey questionnaires to 150 mid-
level managers associated to various private manufacturing companies. The five dimensions of
organizational conflict management inventory was employed to understand the conflict
management styles of the subject managers. Saeed et.al., found that transformational leadership
is closely related to integrating and obliging style of conflict management while transactional
leadership is inclined towards compromising style of conflict management, and on the flipside,
managers exhibiting laissez-faire leadership are known to practice avoiding style of conflict
management (Saeed, Almas, Anis-ul-Haq, & Niazi, 2014).

Workplace diversity and inclusion related article is in fact Andrew R. Grissom’s column on the
topics encompassing workplace diversity and inclusion which contains the list of reference
books, books, scholarly journals, magazines and organizations that are related to the
aforementioned topic and it is intended support research needs, raise awareness and prepare
young professionals to mitigate issues relating to workplace diversity and inclusion. The article
is published in the backdrop of forecast done by US Bureau of Labor Statistics that the labor
force will become racially and ethnically more diverse as time advances and such trend will
come with its own share of issues stemming from workplace diversity.

The third article chosen for the purpose of this assessment is a research article portraying the
works of Alexandra, Christine and Miriam which reflects mindfulness as a cognitive-emotional
segmentation strategy. The study involved 246 employees who took part in pre and posttest, and
191 employees who partook in the follow-up. The objective of the study was to assess the effect
of three week online self-training intervention which was administered to the subjects. The study
concluded that mindfulness has helped employees maintain work-life balance (Michel, Bosch, &
Rexroth, 2014).

Critical comparison and contrast of the three articles

All the articles are research paper except for the articles titled “Workplace diversity and
inclusion” which is an Alert Collector column written by Andre R. Grissom, an Associate
Librarian, Catalyst Information Center, New York. Making all the three articles different, they
govern around varying topics, whilst one emphasizes on relationship between leadership styles
and conflict management, one stresses on the role of mindfulness as an intervention to promote
work-life balance; and the other concentrates on workplace diversity and inclusion.

The publication relating to Leadership style and its relationship with conflict management, and
mindfulness as a cognitive emotional strategy looks reliable and credible for both the articles are
peer reviewed article published in renowned journal which include the journal of occupational
and organizational psychology, and international journal of conflict management respectively. In
addition, the research paper titled “Leadership styles: relationship with conflict management
styles” is cited 266 times whilst the other titled “Mindfulness as a cognitive–emotional
segmentation strategy: An intervention promoting work–life balance” is cited 327 on google
scholar. However, information on peer review is missing for the article linked to workplace
diversity and inclusion, and it is cited for 50 times only in google scholar database. In addition,
both the research papers were published in 2014 while the article related to workplace diversity
was published in 2018.

Of the two research papers, the one linked to leadership style and conflict management consisted
of 150 participants who are managers of private manufacturing firms who are sampled using
random sampling method and they are all administered with questionnaires with due care as
regards confidentiality of information. For the purpose of the study, the organizational inventory
management inventory and multifactor leadership questionnaire was utilized to assess manager’s
conflict management style and leadership style respectively. Finally, data analysis is conducted
using correlation, inferential statistics and multiple regression analysis (Saeed, Almas, Anis-ul-
Haq, & Niazi, 2014). On the contrary, the study associated with mindfulness and its role in work-
life balance included a pre and posttest which enabled comparison of experimental and control
group. Data collection was categorized into three phases which included collection of self-
reported data before the participant took part in the three-week mindfulness-based intervention;
another right after the experimental group finishes the intervention; and the last one after two
weeks of the intervention. It involved 412 participants who successfully completed first phase of
data collection and they are further divided into experimental (n=208) and control group (204) by
random sampling. And from the experimental group, 113 managed to complete phase two of data
collection and only 76 completed the phase three of data collection. Mindfulness was evaluated
using cognitive and affective mindfulness scale-revised and similarly emotional recovery from
work related stress is gauged by using 4 item recovery experience subscale (Michel, Bosch, &
Rexroth, 2014). Moreover, both the researches carry some limitations. For the study conducted to
assess relationship between leadership styles and conflict management, the limitation of the
research includes study results being founded on the self-report and the scope of the study is
confined to private manufacturing firms only thus extending opportunity for future research in
public and other private sectors. Similarly, the study conducted to evaluate the impact of
mindfulness on work-life balance also has numerous limitations which governs around unequal
distribution of subjects between experimental and control groups chiefly owing to varying
dropout rates. This is intensified by potential sampling bias introduced by use of snowball
sampling in the recruitment.

Finally, pertaining to the result associated with the three subject articles, while the article relating
to workplace diversity and inclusion provides a list of reading suggestions including books,
academic journals, magazines and organizations whose roles governs working towards
improving workplace diversity and inclusivity, and it provides cue for the future researchers to
devise a solution to mitigate such issues in the light of increasing trends of workplace diversity.
The study conducted by Saeed et.al., resulted in the findings that leadership style is closely
related with the conflict management being adopted by managers. The authors concluded that
transformational leadership have strong positive correlation with constructive management
styles, integrating style and obliging style and the study also revealed negative correlation
between transformational leadership and dominating style of conflict management. In addition,
the authors also concluded that transactional leaders are likely to support or practice
compromising style of conflict management by virtue of the attributes of transactional stye of
leadership. Furthermore, they also inferred that a positive relationship exists between liassez-fair
leadership and avoidance style of conflict management. Saeed et.al., juxtaposed their study result
with previous researches and found their result consistent with already existing studies (Saeed,
Almas, Anis-ul-Haq, & Niazi, 2014). Likewise, Michel et.al., concluded from their study that
mindfulness has a positive impact on promoting work-life balance. While no comparison of their
result was done with the earlier researches to confirm its consistency, they based their findings
on boundary theory which proposes that individuals should determine their ideal strategy to
segment and maintain equilibrium of professional and personal life. All in all, the result of their
study could have been made more significant by capitalizing on the sampling bias that was
associated with their study design (Michel, Bosch, & Rexroth, 2014).

Leadership styles: relationship with conflict management styles

This article superimposes perfectly with the modules related to leadership and conflict
management. And pertaining to leadership, the research paper strongly supports the behavioral
leadership theory which suggests that leaders are made and not born and it declares that success
of leaders are founded on the behavior they exhibit which are imitable (Behrendt, Matz, &
Goritz, 2017). In that, the leadership styles used for the purpose of their study concurs with the
various leadership styles included in the module which includes two-dimensional leadership
style, the leadership grid; transformational, charismatic, transactional, servant, stewardship,
authentic and LMX leadership styles. In addition, the findings of the study also touches upon
contingency leadership theory as the leadership style adopted by managers may be driven by the
nature and quantum of the conflict, moreover, their study have not accounted the organizational
climate and culture which have the potential to affect the leadership style (Roya & Karen, 2010).
Furthermore, the conflict management styles presented in the study include integrating, obliging,
compromising, dominating and avoiding approaches which are based on the conceptual model
developed by Blake and Mouton, wherein in the compromising approach both the counterparts
concur to give in to reach a middle path consensus despite competing differences; and avoiding
approach of interpersonal conflict management involves deliberate act of ignoring the conflict
with the intention that conflict will be resolved on its own with time. Whilst obliging approach
emphasizes on accommodating the needs and expectations of all the counterparts; integrating
approach involves devising a solution to the conflict which ensures realization of needs and
interest of all the parties concerned (Labrague & McEnroe, 2017).

This article has provided a profound eye-opening insight that is linked to leadership style and
management of conflict in an organization. The relationship between the differing leadership
styles and conflict management styles will guide me further in determining what is best for the
given situation in my future professions. Of all, the highlight of this articles remains that unless
the situation compels, I will always strive to practice transformational leadership while inclining
myself to accommodating, compromising and collaborative approach of conflict management in
my workplace chiefly to yield a win-win situation. Moreover, it also helped me to widen the
knowledge on appropriateness of use of the various conflict management styles as per the
demand of the situation. The compromising approach should be used when the parties involved
are equal in all aspects and their goals are completely different, while avoidance approach is best
when the conflict resolution could potentially lead to confrontation or when the outcome of the
conflict resolution is trivial. Similarly, I will be using integrating style of conflict management
only when there is luxury of time and the conflict is so complex while the trust between the
counterparts is substantial.

The following section portrays the linkage of these articles with the theories and models of
LB5205 and integration of these insights into my profession:

Mindfulness as a cognitive–emotional segmentation strategy: An intervention promoting work–

life balance

This research paper assessing the relationship between mindfulness and work-life balance
touches upon various topics of LB5205 which includes human relations in organizations in that it
encompasses motivating performance and self-disclosure. Evidently, the research supports a
theory referred to as boundary theory which states that employees have to find their ideal way to
maintain work-life balance. And from the theories included in LB5205, this article supports
content theory of motivation which emphasizes on finding needs of the people to comprehend
clearly their motivation factor. The research paper also intends to find a strategy that will
improve the work-life balance and indirectly motivate them to perform better to realize
organizational goals. In addition, the findings of the article is also implicitly relatable to
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory which suggests that five basic needs of human determine the
behavior of an individual, this includes physical needs, safety, social needs, self-esteem and self-
actualization. Taking reference to this theory, it can be concluded that work-life balance cuts
across all these five primary needs and is essential factor to motivate an employee. Wherein
mindfulness can help maintain work-life balance, thus fostering improved motivation to
employees.

This article helped me to realize the importance of professional and personal life and its impact
on the productivity of employee and the organization at large. It also deepened my understanding
on the concept of mindfulness which is an essential Buddhism practice to tame one’s mind. In
the light of importance of mindfulness highlighted in the research paper, I am inspired more than
ever to incorporate mindfulness session in my daily routine. And also considering the
relationship between mindfulness and work-life balance, I will share this findings with my
family and friend who are having a tough time maintaining this fine balance between work life
and personal life, and this would benefit them find their balance and efficiency in both work and
personal life.

Workplace diversity and inclusion

Right at the outset, the author acknowledges the increasing trend of workplace diversity across
the labor market and calls for action to mitigate issues ensuing from workplace diversity and
inclusion. This article concurs with the course module linked to human relations and
organization and particularly, valuing diversity and inclusion globally which stresses on various
factor leading to issues that are linked to workplace diversity and inclusion, importance of
workplace diversity and inclusion across all organizations and society at large, cross cultural
diversity and ways to manage diversity. Although, the article does not explicitly support any of
the theories or modules originating from LB5205 lectures, it implicitly makes linkage to
Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory which illustrates the impact of culture that is linked to a
particular society on the values and behavior of the members of that particular society
(Dumciuviene, 2017). The link to this theory can be made from the content of the article that
opens its way to working in place that introduces cultural differences, and initiatives established
to develop and promote workplace diversity in the workplaces. Similarly, the article also
mentions about the role of leadership that is required to manage a workplace that is diverse in
various aspects of race, gender, religion, culture etc.. and this again relates to the behavioral
leadership theory and contingency leadership theory that is presented above.

Diversity can be a real asset to any organization as collaborative effort of individuals with
varying ethnic, cultural, religion, gender and genes are known to foster better innovation and
organizational productivity. This article deepened my understanding on the issues governing
diversity and inclusivity in workplace and the urgency to devise actions to embrace and leverage
workplace diversity in response to the global trend of increased workplace diversity. Moreover,
the article proved to be beneficial to me in identifying the areas that are prone to workplace
discrimination which includes recruitment and selection, compensation or renumeration,
promotion or reward, and evaluation of employees. This will help me in readying myself to
promote workplace diversity as these areas can be the control points to foster inclusivity in the
workplace. As the article stresses on the existing researches in the field of diversity and
inclusivity in workplace, it will also help me to prepare myself for future researches in these
domains. All in all, it has helped me to realize that workplace diversity and inclusivity is a global
challenge which can be turned into a competitive edge for a company if well managed thereby
compelling me to do further reading on the ways to leverage and mange diverse workplace and
make the workplace inclusive for all.

Conclusion:

Of the three articles, two are research papers with defined study design and results substantiated
by statistical analysis such as regression analysis and inferential analysis. While the other one is
a column written in the Alert collector which provides list of readings related to workplace
diversity and inclusivity. The content of all the three articles completely concurs with the overall
course content of LB5205 and it would be beneficial to inculcate these insights into my
subsequent profession which includes strategies to promote workplace diversity and inclusivity,
leadership styles that needs to be adopted corresponding to various conflict management style,
and practicing mindfulness to maintain work-life balance.

Bibliography
Saeed, T., Almas, S., Anis-ul-Haq, M., & Niazi, G. (2014). Leadership styles: relationship with
conflict management styles. International Journal of Conflict Management, 214-225.
Michel, A., Bosch, C., & Rexroth, M. (2014). Mindfulness as a cognitive–emotional
segmentation strategy: An intervention promoting work–life balance. Journal of
occupatinal and organisational psychology, 733-754.
Behrendt, P., Matz, S., & Goritz, A. S. (2017). An integrative model of leadership bahavior. The
Leadership Quarterly, 229-244.
Roya, A., & Karen, K. (2010). Leadership: Why gender and culture matter. . American
Pyschological Association, 157-170.
Labrague, L. J., & McEnroe, D. M. (2017). An integrative review on conflict management styles
among nursing students: Implications for nurse education. Nurse Education Today, 45-52.
Dumciuviene, D. (2017). Hofstede's cultural dimensions and national innovation level.
Dubrovnik International Economic Meeting, 189-205.