Abstract
The effects of a leader's management objectives, along with task difficulty on the leader's use of conflict resolution strategies toward their subordinates were examined through an experiment. Participants were 72 undergraduate students. They were assigned into decision making task groups consisting of one leader and two subordinates. Task difficulty was varied as "easy," and "difficult," and leaders were given "task-oriented" objectives, or "relation-oriented." In all conditions, leaders used cooperative strategy the most, and they perceived its effectiveness highest. In the difficult task, task-oriented leaders used competitive and accommodative strategies more, while relation-oriented leaders used accommodative strategy less. The effectiveness of the competitive strategy was perceived lowest in all conditions. In particular, the effectiveness of the accommodative strategy was perceived low in the difficult task. The relation between use of conflict resolution strategies and perception of their effectiveness was not clear, but it was suggested that the leader's management objectives, specifically in when the task is difficult, influences the use of conflict resolution strategies.
