The Development of Tools for Studying Group and Microgroup Conflicts in Groups of Employees

Abstract

This study was supported by the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation grant “Contradictions, conflicts and effectiveness of small groups in organizations and enterprises” (research project no. 16-36-00006) The paper analyses the existing methods and techniques (questionnaires, basically) for the study of conflict in small groups of employees. The authors provide the data on methods of studying conflicts and features of their application. A conceptual platform,
containing understanding of the nature of conflict and model of its manifestation in small groups, formed the basis for the development of an inventory. The paper describes the developed inventory for the study of types of group and microgroup conflicts. The inventory consisted of two parts for studying the levels of group and microgroup conflicts, and also had two subscales for measuring two types of conflict (activity-oriented and subject-oriented) on each of these levels. The inventory contained eight items (four in each subscale). The members of the group evaluated items on a seven-point Likert-type scale. The study involved 18 small groups of employees (N = 200 employees) that represented the primary structural units in organizations. The examination involved three psychologists and 25 persons from groups of employees selected at random. The authors evaluated (a) construct, convergent, and discriminant validity, (b) reliability-consistency of the subscales of the inventory, and (c) the empirical distribution. The study proved the appropriateness
of distinguishing two subscales in the presented inventory. The inventory was valid and reliable for all the analyzed characteristics. The developed inventory can be readily used in practice, as well as in research work. The paper presents the main findings and suggests possible applications of the inventory for the study of types
of group and microgroup conflicts.