CONFLICT MANAGEMENT The Psychology of conflict and conflict ...

222 RAVER AND BARLING
may be enacted as part of an ongoing exchange, whereas conflict typically
implies a process of exchanges between parties.
In sum, conflict is a broader term that encompasses workplace aggression.
In other words, workplace aggression may be construed as a particular
form of conflict at work. However, not all conflict involves aggression.
If workplace aggression is indeed a form of conflict at work, it is possible
to draw from theoretical, methodological, and practical insights from the
organizational conflict literature to inform and advance our knowledge of
workplace aggression. 2,3
Why the DisConneCt? exPlorinG the DistinCtions BetWeen
the WorKPlaCe aGGression anD ConfliCt literatures
If workplace aggression is a form of conflict at work, why has there
been so little cross-fertilization between these areas of research? Why is
there not greater representation of workplace aggression research within
journals (e.g., International Journal of Conflict Management) and professional
associations (e.g., International Association for Conflict Management;
Conflict Division of the Academy of Management) devoted to conflict? In
this section, we begin to explore some of the reasons behind the disconnect
between workplace aggression and conflict in organizations.
Nature of Outcomes
The literature on workplace aggression emerged largely in the early 1990s
in response to increasing concerns regarding employee violence and several
widely publicized incidents of workplace homicides (e.g., U.S. Postal Service).
Violence is a severe and infrequent form of workplace aggression; yet
2 Note that aggression is not the same thing as an escalated conflict. Aggression
can exist without escalation. For example, an individual might engage in an act of
aggression without any provocation or escalatory sequences (e.g., predatory aggression
rather than dispute-related aggression; Felson & Tedeschi, 1993). Escalation can
also exist without aggression. For example, a negotiation party might begin to
use more severe tactics such as threats to get what he wants (e.g., time pressure or
pursuing alternative deals), yet there may be no interpersonal ill will or intent to
harm the other party. Thus, while escalation and aggression are related, and there
are many cases where escalatory conflict spirals do result in aggression (for additional
detail, see Pruitt, chapter 8, this volume), these constructs are not identical.
3 We do not intend to imply that all studies on workplace aggression are studies
of organizational conflict. As noted by Bies and Tripp (2005), the term conflict
may be too broad of a label for the specific phenomena that scholars in this area
are investigating. We agree that it can be useful to maintain narrower construct
labels to more clearly define the construct of interest. However, we believe that
studies of workplace aggression fit within the domain of organizational conflict
and that scholars in both areas would benefit from greater attention to insights
that can be gained through greater cross-fertilization.