Organizational Conflict and Religion
The growing body of research on religion and organizational dissent demonstrates how religion relates to organizational conflict. There is a vast array of areas under the umbrella of organizational conflict that could still benefit from the inclusion of religion as a variable of study.
Two such areas of expansion are in the study of virtual teams and conflict manage- ment/resolution. First, as organizations move more toward virtual teams, such teams are increasingly becoming intercultural in nature. Furthermore, as groups increasingly turn to the virtual world for meetings, social presence and information richness are lost, which can both lead to increased conflict within groups (Daft & Lengel, 1976; Lira, Ripoll, Peiro, & Orengo, 2008; Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976). Adding in demographic differences such as religious disparity will only increase the potential for conflict, as intergroup differences are likely to increase. When such differences increase, individuals may perceive symbolic threats or intergroup anxiety (Stephan & Stephan, 1996) in the teams and thus halt effective communication.Second, while many organizations have policies in place to manage disagreements/con- flicts, what impact (if any) does religion have on such policies and disagreements/conflicts? Would or should a religious conflict alter conflict management/resolution policies in an organization? Since individuals from different religious backgrounds are known to approach conflicts in different ways (Croucher, 2011a; Croucher & Cronn-Mills, 2011; Oetzel et al., 2006), conflict management/resolution strategies within organizations should reflect this knowledge.