SAGE Journal Articles

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Journal Article 1: Winter, J. K., Neal, J. C., & Waner, K. K. (2001). How male, female, and mixed-gender groups regard interaction and leadership differences in the business communication course. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 64, 43-58.

Abstract: Research on leadership and teams suggests that men and women exhibit different leadership and interpersonal communication styles. A review of literature and a survey of students in upper-level business communication courses at Central Missouri State University provide evidence for five strategies to assist students in dealing with team-interaction situations:

1. Instruct students in techniques to avoid groupthink and to promote and handle competition

2. Offer students ideas on and methods for reaching agreement in a timely manner

3. Vary the subject of group writing assignments to allow each student to be perceived as an expert

4. Encourage all students to be active participants in the group process

5. Emphasize the importance of good writing skills to both males and females

Finally, further research is needed regarding the “natural leader” role, the role of competition in groups, and the effect of perceptions of tasks as either “feminine” or “masculine.”

Journal Article 2: Madlock, P. E. (2008). The link between leadership style, communicator competence, and employee satisfaction. International Journal of Business Communication, 45, 61-78.

Abstract: The current study examined the influence of supervisor communicator competence and leadership style on employee job and communication satisfaction. Participants were 220 individuals (116 men and 104 women) working full-time for a variety of companies in the Midwest. The findings indicated a strong relationship between supervisors' communicator competence and their task and relational leadership styles, with supervisor communicator competence being a stronger predictor of employee job and communication satisfaction. More specifically, the findings indicated that supervisor communicator competence accounted for 68% of the variance in subordinate communication satisfaction and nearly 18% of the variance in subordinate job satisfaction. More important, these findings provide an association between communication, leadership, and employee job and communication satisfaction.

Journal Article 3: Baillien, E., Notelaers, G., De Witte, H., & Berge Matthiesen, S. (2011). The relationship between the work unit’s conflict management styles and bullying at work: Moderation by conflict frequency. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 32, 401-419.

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between the work unit’s conflict management styles and bullying at work. Inspired by the Dual Concern framework, the authors assume a positive relationship between avoiding, forcing and yielding and bullying and a negative relationship between problem-solving and bullying. Moreover, they expected these relationships to be intensified by conflict frequency. The results (N = 5062) reveal an unsatisfactory fit when not taking into account conflict frequency as a moderator. A multigroup SEM accounting for the moderating role of conflict frequency (five groups) does yield an acceptable fit: the ‘very rarely’ and ‘yearly’ group, and the ‘monthly’ and ‘weekly’ group show equal path coefficients. The ‘daily’ conflict group has its own parameters. Forcing and avoiding associate positively and problem-solving associates negatively with bullying; and these relationships intensify as a function of conflict frequency. There is no relationship between yielding and bullying at work within the various conflict frequency groups.