抄録
The present study aimed at enhancing the understanding of the settlement
process through which customer representatives deal with inter-business
conflicts as boundary spanners. The study analyzed the actual actions taken
by the customer representatives for resolving conflicts that occurred in the
process of developing external relationships in order to accomplish their own
business objectives. Data were collected from 13 customer representatives from
8 organizations who adopted the boundary spanning roles of interacting with
individuals and groups outside the organization for resolving the inter-business
conflicts. The data were analyzed via the use of the Modified-Grounded
Theory Approach （M-GTA） with a series of semi-structured interviews. The
results indicated that the boundary spanners who perceived the conflicts as an
organizational issue to be resolved tended to be motivated to contribute toward
mutually beneficial and constructive development of the relationship between
two parties. Also found was that in order to fulfill their boundary spanning
roles, both parties tended to make modifications of their original objectives in
ways that were acceptable for the parties.performance.
