Navigating departmental and organizational conflict is an essential function and responsibility of an academic unit leader (dean, associate dean, director, or chair) in higher education institutions (HEIs). During periods of organizational change, conflict tends to increase in complexity and difficulty--in part due to resistance to change--making…

What happens when management consultants enter the academic arena and offer their services to universities? In the following article, we examine this question by drawing on findings from a qualitative study based on a series of 30 interviews with senior management consultants and academic managers in Germany. The aim of this explorative study is,…

Investigates the extent to which actor-partner points of view influence the outcomes of conflict messages on perceptions of communicator appropriateness, effectiveness, and global competence. Finds support for the attributional approach used to explain actor-observer judgments of actors' communicative competence. (MG)

Thirty undergraduate students discussed a moral issue with a confederate who held either the same or the opposing opinion. Subjects in the controversy condition indicated more accurate understanding of the confederate's reasoning than their counterparts; however, noncontroversy subjects erroneously believed they understood the confederate's…