CONFLICT MANAGEMENT The Psychology of conflict and conflict ...

13. SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION IN INTERGROUP MERGERS 391
nization) could be described as possessing eight different characteristics.
Preliminary discussions with healthcare workers indicated that three of
the dimensions were status-relevant: (a) high prestige in the community,
(b) challenging job opportunities, and (c) high variety in patient type. In
general, the other five dimensions were regarded as being peripheral to
the basis of the status differential between hospitals. These dimensions
included (a) little industrial unrest, (b) good relations between staff, (c)
good communication by management, (d) relaxed work environment, and
(e) modern patient accommodation.
It was proposed that the employees of the low-status hospital would,
overall, engage in more in-group bias than the employees of the highstatus
hospital, particularly on the status-irrelevant dimensions. On the
status-relevant dimensions, it was expected that the employees of the highstatus
hospital would engage in more in-group bias than the employees
of the low-status hospital. As expected, employees of the low-status hospital
did engage in more in-group bias, overall, than the employees of the
high-status hospital. This result was qualified by a significant interaction
between status and the type of dimension (status-relevant or irrelevant).
As shown in Figure 13.1, in-group bias among the low-status employees
was evident only on the status-irrelevant dimensions. In contrast, on
the status-relevant dimensions, they acknowledged the superiority of the
high-status hospital. The opposite pattern of results was obtained for the
Ingroup Bias (mean item score)
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
–0.5
–1
–1.5
Status-relevant
Dimensions
Low status
High status
Status-irrelevant
Dimensions
fiGure 13.1. in-group bias on the status-relevant and status-irrelevant dimensions
for employees of the low-status and high-status organizations.