CONFLICT MANAGEMENT The Psychology of conflict and conflict ...

102 OLEKALNS, PUTNAM, WEINGART, AND METCALF
As an emerging area, the study of communication technology and conflict
management needs to move away from comparing different types
of media. Media per se extend beyond the physical features of particular
technologies into the ways that negotiators determine appropriate options
and interpret the strategies that bargainers use (DeSanctis & Poole, 1994).
The negotiation process literature suggests potential avenues for investigation.
For example, researchers might track the sequences, patterns, and
phases of bargaining when using communication technologies. Specifically,
several threads of conversation can run concurrently in the use of
instant messaging and this written, synchronous medium may affect patterns
of communication in conflict management. Researchers also need to
investigate the ways that bargainers combine different media in negotiations,
as scholars have done with trade negotiations that employ telephone,
computer-mediated, and face-to-face interactions and discussions (Firth,
1995). Finally, future research on negotiation support systems needs to
move beyond design and explore the conditions under which the software
systems would be an asset or a hindrance to effective negotiations.
ConClusion
In general, scholars have gained numerous insights about the role of
communication in conflict management and negotiation. Yet, there is still
much to be done. The inherent difficulties in studying communication processes
act as a barrier to the rapid growth of knowledge in this field (Weingart,
1997; Weingart, Olekalns, & Smith, 2004). Yet, as this review shows,
understanding the complex relationships between antecedent factors and
the choice of conflict styles and negotiation tactics is central to improving
dispute resolution and reaching effective negotiated agreements.
There are many opportunities for expanding theory and knowledge in
this field. Despite the increase in the number of studies that examine antecedent
factors, research on the types and ways that context shapes negotiated
behaviors is limited. Although researchers incorporate a range of
antecedent conditions (e.g., face concerns, power, culture, outcome goals,
emotion), scholars have not developed a systematic approach to the study
of contextual factors. That is, scholars include a wide array of different
context variables that might influence conflict management, but they do
not build on a theoretical model of their interrelationships. Consequently,
researchers cannot draw any broad conclusions about the ways that external
factors affect behavioral choices. The absence of a theoretical framework
that identifies and unifies context variables contributes to this problem.
This issue explains why seemingly identical variables exert different
effects on the same behavior and outcomes. In particular, identical goals
(to maximize own or joint outcomes) have different effects on negotiation
behaviors and outcomes. For example, when researchers manipulate
goals explicitly through instructions, they influence both behavior and