Conflict Management

3. Measurement of Conflict
Dr. Javed Mahmud

September 2022
Measurement of Conflict
 Two instruments have been designed by Prof. Afzalur Rahim PhD
for measuring the amount of conflict
 The Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory–I (ROCI–I) is designed to
measure three independent dimensions of organizational conflict:
 intrapersonal
 intragroup and
 intergroup
 The Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory–II (ROCI–II) is designed to measure
five independent dimensions of the styles of handling interpersonal conflict
(integrating, obliging, dominating, avoiding, and compromising) with
 superior
 subordinates and
 peers
Rahim Organizational Conflict
Inventory-I
 The ROCI–I is a 21-item survey instrument designed to measure three
independent dimensions of organizational conflict: intrapersonal, intragroup,
and intergroup
 It measures the three types of conflict with 7, 8, and 6 statements,
respectively
 An organizational member responds to each statement on a 5–point Likert
scale (5 = Strongly Agree . . . 1 = Strongly Disagree)
 A subscale is created by averaging responses to its items and a higher score
represents greater intensity of one type of conflict
Development of ROCI–I
 Rahim created the ROCI-I in 1983
 Initially an instrument was prepared with 39 items
 Each item was cast on a five-point Likert scale; a higher value representing a
greater amount of conflict
 As the first step in the development and testing of the instrument 60 MBA
and undergraduate students filled out the questionnaire
 The findings were then analysed and items were dropped, revised or added
 The instrument was then subjected to three more factor analyses from
students (N = 95, 189, 35)
 Development of ROCI–I
 The revised instrument containing 24 statements was then sent to 4,000
executives, representing 25 industries
 Usable responses were received from 1,188 executives
 The data on the 24 conflict items were again factor analysed
 The analysis extracted four factors
 The first three factors, containing 21 items, were selected as they satisfied the
required criteria
 The three factors were labelled Intrapersonal, Intragroup, and Intergroup conflicts
 ROCI-I was tested for reliability and validity with favourable results
Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory-
II
 The Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory–II (ROCI–II) is designed to
measure the five independent dimensions of the styles of handling
interpersonal conflict
 integrating  obliging
 dominating  avoiding
 compromising
 The instrument uses self-reports for measuring the styles of handling
interpersonal conflict of an organizational member with his or her
 supervisor(s) (Form A)
 subordinates (Form B) and
 peers (Form C)
Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory-
II
 The five styles of handling conflict are measured by seven, six, five, six, and four
statements, respectively
 An organizational member responds to each statement on a 5-point Likert scale
 A higher score represents greater use of a conflict style
 Scores from the ROCI–II can be utilized to construct the integrative and
distributive dimensions as follows
Integrative Dimension (ID) = Integrating Style - Avoiding Style
Distributive Dimension (DD) = Dominating Style - Obliging Style
 Since the ROCI–II measures the five styles with a 5-point scale, the scale for
ID and DD dimensions ranges between +4 and -4
Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory-
II
 A positive value for the ID indicates a party’s perception of the extent to which the
concerns of both parties are satisfied, while negative value indicates a party’s
perception of the extent to which the satisfaction of concerns of both the parties
are reduced
 A score of +4 represents maximum satisfaction of concerns received by both
parties, a -4 score represents no satisfaction of concerns received by both parties
as a result of the resolution of their conflict
 A value in the DD indicates a party’s perception of the ratio of satisfaction of
concerns received by self and the other party
 A value of +4 indicates maximum satisfaction of concerns received by self and no
satisfaction of concerns received by the other party, while a value of -4 indicates
no satisfaction of concerns received by self and maximum satisfaction of concerns
received by the other party
Development of ROCI–II
 Initially, an instrument was designed and filled out by 60 MBA and undergraduate
students and 38 managers
 After the subjects filled out the questionnaire, it was assessed and some items were
dropped, revised or added
 Six factor analyses were performed to select items for the instrument from the
following:
 184 students
 351 students
 133 students
 380 teachers and principals
 185 hospital management personnel and
 1,219 managers
Development of ROCI–II
 8 factors were extracted on the basis of a factor analysis of ratings of 35 items from
the national sample of 1,219 managers
 Based on this, the first five factors with 28 items were selected for the final
instrument
 Factors I through V, which supported the five independent dimensions of conflict
styles, were named as integrating, avoiding, dominating, obliging, and compromising
styles, respectively
 The instrument was tested for validities and reliabilities and to check whether the
subscales were free from social desirability and response distortion bias
Sample Questions
1.* Explain how ROCI I was developed
2.* Explain how ROCI II was developed
Q &A