Introduction

Conflict management is an important part of any organization and this come from the fact that conflict in the organizational context is inevitable. Bercovitch (2012) extends the perspective that conflict is an endemic aspect of all social life and its inevitability stems from its relation to situations of power relations, scarce resources, role differentiation, and the division of functions. All these factors related to conflict are present within an organization’s context thus implying that conflict is an endemic part of organizational relations. The effects of conflicts are often negative and this is because there is an effect on equilibrium and stability in the organization as a result of its association to violence, inefficiency, destruction, and irrationality (McGarth, 2013). From a wider perspective, conflict in the organization affects relations and the ability of an employee and the organization to achieve maximum productivity. In line with this, it becomes an important function for managers and leaders to ensure the application of effective conflict management strategies and this is so as to ensure the achievement of organizational goals through efficiency.

Effective management of conflict does not just seek to deal with the superficial elements of this conflict but rather the endemic problems that are highly linked to individual behavior. Such implies that conflict management has to consider the type of conflict and its associated antecedent. Some of the seminal papers on conflict management note that conflict management begins first by distinguishing the different types of conflicts (Fink, 1968; Pondy, 1967). According to Fink (1968), conflict is usually in several dimensions that include the antagonistic-psychological relations and the antagonistic behavior. On the other hand, Pondy (1967) observes that conflict comes about from antecedent conditions, behavioral conditions, cognitive conditions, and affective conditions. Such means that conflict management needs to go beyond the overt behavior and consider the cognitive and emotional aspects that bring about conflict. Depending on the aspects driving the conflict within the organizational setting, this implies that effective conflict management approaches differ.

Empathy is one of the conflict management strategies that entrepreneurs pursue and this relates to the ability to understand the emotional and cognitive aspects that influence conflicting behavior in an employee. According to the Center for Empathy in International Affairs (CEIA) (2016), empathy can be defined as the ability to imagine or grasp the feelings, thoughts, and perceptions of others. The notion of empathy thus relates to the need to consider the feelings of others and this involves finding something in one’s character that resonates with the other persons in conflict (CEIA, 2016). Gassels et al (2010) notes that empathy plays an important role in an individual’s socio-emotional health  and this is due to the fact that the capability to perceive other people’s feelings and their emotional states extends the ability for effective response to social situations. Gassels continue to extend the notion that having a high level of trait empathy has the ability to extend positive outcomes that includes the ability for better relationship and emotion management with others and an increased valuation of their wellbeing and welfare. From these considerations of what the essence of empathy implies, its application within conflict management can be viewed as having a linkage to understanding the feelings and the situation of others and thus understanding the emotional and cognitive aspects informing their actions.

Effectively, the ability of the individual to understand the feelings of others and their perceptions relates to the essence of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence and its function is conflict management has been viewed as being more important than technical skills (Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee, 2002; Goleman, 1998). In an experiment conducted by Goleman (1998) on the importance of emotional intelligence, outcomes from his study showed that top performers in the organization had a higher level of emotional intelligence than other people and this was more important than cognitive abilities. On its ability to inform conflict management, emotional intelligence involves having control of one’s emotional world and state while being able to use this to feel, think, and act (McGarth, 2013). Such relates to the individual’s ability to control their emotional states so that it becomes an asset rather than a liability. In line with this, there is a better understanding of self and others in what informs the management of factors likely to drive conflict.

McGarth (2013) extends the notion that there are a variety of skills that define emotional intelligence. One of these skills is self-awareness and this relates to the ability to read emotion and recognize the impact that it has in guiding decision making. Such a skill in conflict management is relevant since it helps in maintaining rationality in decision making. The other skill is self-management and this relates to the ability to control one’s impulses and emotions while also adapting them to different situations. Being mindful of others is another skill that McGarth (2013) views as the ability to understand, sense, and also react to other people’s emotion and having a comprehension of their social networks. From this skill, emotional intelligence becomes a factor that is essential in dealing with oneself as well as dealing with others. The fourth skill is relationship management and this refers to the ability to influence others in the management of conflict. Such implies that the individual has the skills for the management of conflict while ensuring that interpersonal connections are not put in danger. Importantly, the four skills defined by McGarth helps view the influence of emotional intelligence in conflict management and this relates to the ability to understand one’s feelings and those of others while handling conflict.

The study that follows seeks to analyze how different types of empathy relate to employee conflict management. The study is informed by the notion that empathy as part of emotional intelligence plays a vital role in conflict management by extending the ability to understand the feelings of others. Scientific research in this area has largely focused on the influence of empathy in leadership (Giardini and Frese, 2006; Huang et al., 2010; Kotsou et al, 2011) and the influence of emotional intelligence in employee distress (Arora et al., 2011; Bar-on et al., 2000; Bhuliar et al., 2012). As such, this study will seek to increase literature as regards the use of empathy in conflict management from an entrepreneur’s perspective. Importantly, the paper will consider the different type of empathy as defined by Goleman (2011) to be cognitive empathy, emotional empathy, and compassionate empathy.

The main objectives of this study include; to investigate how different types of empathy relate to conflict management, to investigate whether empathy is an effective tool for conflict management in the workplace, to determine how entrepreneurs use empathy in conflict management, and to investigate the impacts of using empathy in conflict management. The hypothesis for this paper is therefore that the different types of empathy are effective tools for entrepreneurs in employee conflict management.

Literature review

Conflict and conflict management in organizations

Conflict is an inevitable part of an individual’s social life and the view on conflict varies depending on the situation and the effect that it has on the individual. Omisore (2014) extends the perspective that conflict may be viewed by some as a negative effect that should be avoided, others view it as an aspect that necessitates management, while other individuals view conflict as an opportunity for advancing their personal growth. In understanding conflict, different theories have been extended and they include the functional, interactive, and situational theories of conflict.

The functional view of conflict is such that it falls within social functions. George Simmel is one of the functionalist view representatives and he defined the concept of conflict as being designed to deal with divergent dualism (Omisore, 2014). The view by Simmel is that conflict is an approach to attaining unity even though this may involve the elimination of one of the parties involved in the conflict. Such a projection by Simmel builds on the notion that conflict is an inevitable part of human interaction and furthers this by extending the perspective that it eventually results in unity that may come with the annihilation of one of the parties. Simmel also projects some of the approaches to conflict management that include compromise, conciliation, or victory for one party (Omisore, 2014). Although Simmel does not refer to the notion of empathy or emotional intelligence, the three approaches he projects relates to the need for emotional intelligence in dealing with conflict. Coser (1967) as one of the proponents of this theory defines conflict as the coming about from the clash of interests and values. Coser does not entirely view conflict as a negative aspect since he notes that it serves the function of pushing society and results in the formation of new institutions, economic systems, and technology. In line with this, Coser extends the notion that dealing with conflict will depend on the functional and dysfunctional role that it plays. Essentially, this leads to the conclusion that dysfunctional conflict is one that requires management due to its negative implications in society.

Different from the functional theory on conflict, the situation theory projects conflict as an expression that is dependent on the particular situation (Omisore, 2014).  Bercovitch (1984) is one of the proponents of this school of thought and he projects the conception that conflict is a situation that brings about incorruptible values or goals in different individuals. The view by Bercovitch is that conflict is situational dependent and has influences from different conditions. In addressing conflict, this implies that an individual has to consider the various factors driving conflict and address them individually. The interactive conflict theory views conflict as an interactive aspect that emerges following the confluence of different factors. Folger (1993) as a proponent of this school of thought views conflict as the interaction taking place between interdependent individuals who experience incompatibility and associate the non-achievement of their goals to the other person. From this conception, perception is an important aspect since it drives the assumption that one individual is inhibiting another’s achievement of their goals and hence brings about conflict. The different theoretical conceptualization of conflict extend the notion that it emerges from different aspects and attributes of the individual and hence the need to understand the driver of this conflict during management. Despite the view that individuals may have regarding conflict, no one expects conflict to be a constant part of the organizational interaction. As such, entrepreneurs face the task of dealing with conflict before it becomes unmanageable and hence inhibit the achievement of the organization’s goals.

Causes of conflict

In influencing conflict management, understanding the causes of conflict becomes a principle aspect. One of the root causes of conflict in the organization as mentioned by Omisare (2014) is specialization. According to the author, this is a structural factor that relates to the notion that increased specialization leads to conflicts since there is a lack of understanding of the job responsibilities of other employees. Another cause of conflict that also falls within structural factors is the competition for scarce resources in the company. Omisare (2014) notes that when resources are scarce in the organization, there is a greater chance for conflict and this is because each employee who needs that particular resource undermines the other person’s needs or the equal importance of their goals. McShare and Glinow (2008) also share this perspective by noting that competition for resources is what forms the basis of most conflicts within the organization. An organization may be incapable of providing optimal resources at all times and this come from the fact that even when optimal resources are available, they go through depletion that results in scarcity. Essentially, this drives conflict between employees in the workplace.

Goal difference is another source of conflict in the workplace. Runde and Flanagan (2007) argue that there is a substantial increase in conflict when different areas of the organization have incompatible goals. Such a view is shared by Omisare (2014) and McShare and Glinow (2008) who note that employees and even departments have different goals that they seek to achieve and when there is an incompatibility with other individual goals, conflict emerges. The contribution of goal difference in conflict also has linkage to interdependence and this is due to the fact that people are dependent upon each other in the completion of their tasks and this makes it easier to heave blame on a coworker when issues arise. Such also relates to the interactive conflict theory that associates the emergence of conflict to interdependency within the organization.

The existence of different causes of conflict in the workplace implies that there is no one effective approach that can deal with all types of conflicts. Rather, entrepreneurs have the task of understanding the cause of the conflict and applying the intervention necessary to deal with the conflict. In line with this, emotional intelligence becomes an important aspect that helps the entrepreneur in understanding the feelings and perceptions of others in effectively dealing with the conflict.

The emergence of EI and Empathy:

What is EI?

EI (Emotional Intelligence) or EQ (Emotion Quotient) is the management of emotions of self and others. It is now considered as important to an individual’s success at work and in other social contexts as general cognitive intelligence (Cross and Travaglione, 2003). Salovey and Mayer (1990) have defined EI by expanding it into 5 important areas. EI is “knowing one’s emotions” (self-awareness – understanding a feeling as it happens), “managing emotions” (handling feelings so as to build more self awareness), “motivating oneself” (marshaling emotions so as to achieve a desired result or goal), “recognizing emotions in others” (Empathy) and “handling relationships” (this helps to bolster leadership, popularity and interpersonal differences) (Salovey and Mayer, 1990). In extending a definition of emotional intelligence, Salovey and Grewal (2005) note that this refers to the individual difference defined as competencies that relate to the identification, processing, and emotional information management. Such a view of emotional intelligence is one held by different authors including Salovey and Mayer (1990), Goleman (1995), and Cross and Travaglione (2003).

The emergence of the concept of emotional intelligence can be traced back to the theory of multiple intelligences by Gardner (Gardner and Hatch, 1989). From the theory, the authors also define different types of emotional intelligence that include interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence. On interpersonal intelligence, this refers to the individual’s capacity to differentiate and respond effectively to other people’s temperaments, moods, desires, and motivations. On intrapersonal intelligence, this refers to the ability to access one’s feelings while also being able to use them to guide behavior (Gardner and Hatch, 1989). Intrapersonal emotional intelligence alludes to the individual’s ability to understand their intelligences, desires, strengths, and also weaknesses. Both intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence are relevant aspects of emotional intelligence and conflict management, and this emanates from the fact that they inform and guide behavior, moods, and motivations.

2.2.1 What is Empathy?

Empathy is an area of EI and means one’s ability to understand others’ feelings, emotions, and needs and help others to manage their emotions so as to help them to achieve their own goals (Holt, 2012). The simplest way to have empathy for others is to be just like them. Harley Davidson is an excellent example of an empathetic company. It all starts from the parking lot. At Harley Davidson’s Headquarters in Milwaukee, a signpost is put in the motorcycle slang saying, “No cage, only motorcycle parking”. This means that only bikes are allowed to park here and whichever car you have, will be parked at the back. The company has also created its office as a shrine for the motorcycle culture. The floors are named after the types of engines such as V-Twin and Evolution, there are posters and pictures of bikes and painted gas tanks on the walls of each floor. The company has really imbibed the biker’s sentiments in their day-to-day operations (Patnaik, 2009).

Similar to the conceptualization of the term empathy by Holt (2012), Hein (2008) notes that empathy begins following an awareness of the other person’s feelings. Hein further notes that this awareness of other people’s feelings comes about from communication that results in the externalization of thoughts by both leaders as well as employees. From this externalization (Hein, 2008) notes that people who are emotionally expressive are the easiest to understand because their eyes and faces let other people in on their feelings. Such implies that an understanding of what others are feeling can also come about from reading the non-verbal cues. Silard (2009) views empathy from the perspective of leadership and extends the fact that effective leadership relates to self management that comes about from self-awareness. In line with this, empathetic leaders have to first know what they are feeling and once they accept themselves they will become honest with others and have an essence of empathy. Silard (2009) is extending the notion that for one to extend empathy to others, they must first be empathetic to themselves. Self-awareness with regards to empathy relates to the aspect of intrapersonal intelligence in emotional intelligence.

2.2.2 Empathy via Design Thinking:

According to Tim Brown (June 2008), Design Thinking is a methodology that inspires the full spectrum of innovation activities with a human-centered design ethos. It means that innovation is powered by complete understanding through direct or indirect observation, of what people need and want in their lives and what they like or dislike about the way particular products are manufactured, packaged, sold and supported. Design Thinking Authors believe that 3 types of knowledge characterize design: knowledge about the user needs, technological knowledge, and knowledge about the product language (which signs could be used to deliver a message to the user and the cultural context in which the user will give meaning to those signs). Empathy is also a part of the Design Thinking Process (apart from Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test) and this process can be seen as an attempt to utilize empathy methods from the realm of design in order to generate empathic perspective towards the team members and the users. From this, it could be deducted that empathy could be divided into two parts: External empathy (towards customers) and Internal mpathy (towards own employees) (Meinel et. all, 2015).

2.2.3 Is empathy teachable?

There are often arguments that teaching empathy takes a lot of time. Others argue that developing empathy should not go under training skills but under therapy. Yet, there is a growing acknowledgment that empathy should be a prerequisite leadership skill. A study conducted by University College London (UCL) states that the medical prefrontal cortex (a part of the brain) is associated with higher-level thinking, guilt, empathy and understanding other people’s motivations. Though empathy rises with age and maturity, there are other ways through which decision making sensitivity can be increased. “Participant Observation” technique can be used. In this, individuals are more likely to comprehend and have an emotional impact on the personally involved experiences than the second-hand incidents. For example, new administrators and interns at Longbeach Memorial Hospital (California) understood the patients more properly by going incognito and playing the role of patients. They lived through the interface of admissions personnel, physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals. Another strategy that can be used is “More Feeling Scenarios”. After acknowledging their own feelings, trainees are asked to understand the feelings that are associated with the decision making and also recognize the feelings of all the stakeholders to whom the decision will be affecting. An example of this is Role Playing. Customer Service trainees take turns playing the role of an employee who has to deal with irate customers or act in a scenario where they are being fired or reprimanded (Holt, 2012; Martin, 1993).

2.2.4 Types of Empathy:

According to Daniel Goleman (2007), empathy can be divided into 3 parts. They are:

Cognitive Empathy: Also known as “perspective taking,” it states that this type tries to understand how the other person is feeling and what they might be thinking. It enables the empathizer to put themselves in the empathized person’s shoes without necessarily engaging with their emotions. A study at the University of Birmingham found that managers who are good Cognitive empathy could really move their workers to give their best. People possessing this empathy are good at negotiations. But the dark side of this type is that the “Dark Triad” – Machiavellians, Narcissists, and Sociopaths fall under this category. People of this type have less or no sympathy towards their empathized person.
Emotional Empathy: Also known as “personal distress” or “emotional contagion”, states that the empathizer feels physically for the empathized person, as though his or her emotions were contagious. According to social neuroscience, the emotional contagion depends in large part on the mirror neuron system. This type is vital in caring professions such as medicine. Doctors and nurses can respond to their patients more efficiently. But the downside of this empathy is that people could become overload with empathy and later not respond appropriately. People will lack the ability to handle their own emotions, which will lead to psychological exhaustion and later burnout. Empathizers would need to work on their self-control so as to avoid this burnout.
Compassionate Empathy: Also known as “empathetic concern”, states that this kind of empathy not only understands a person’s problems but also feels with them and later spontaneously moves to act and help, if needed. This type is a mixture of both Cognitive and Emotional Empathies and tries to give the best possible scenario for the empathizer. An example of this is a nurse, who not only understands when her patients lose their loved ones but also recommends how to arrange the funeral and deal with this traumatic situation (Goleman, 2007; “Types of Empathy”, n.d.).

2.2.5 Empathy in Businesses:

But does empathy really make sense for businesses and entrepreneurs? According to Mill Chalmers (2010), it does. He states that there is a positive correlation between the hard and soft skills. The faster the workplace, the more important it is for the leadership to be inspirational. This could be done by increasing the emotional intelligence and showing empathy to the development and needs of their staff. Taylor (2010) reviews the outlook of possessive individualism that has become identical with democracy and consumer capitalism. He draws the conclusion that the 21st century has presented everyone with a challenge of the “individualistic based mindset for autonomy” and asks everyone to follow the direction of “empathic universalism”, in which we “have a relationship with our reactions rather than being captive for them.” Dev Patnaik (2009) claims that lack of empathy leads to employees struggling in making intuitive decisions and they often get fooled into believing that they understand the business because of their reliance on the quantitative data. He points at Harley Davidson and Nike as the prime examples of empathic companies and claims that these institutions see new opportunities more quickly, adapt to changes more easily and create workplaces that offer a greater sense of mission to their employees

In the applicability of empathy in business, its use in conflict management is one of its primary uses in the organization. In a research conducted by Feher (2016) on the influence that self-compassion, emotional intelligence, and compassion for others had in conflict resolution, outcomes indicated that a high level of compassionate behavior has a linkage to problem solving. The study by Feher (2016) investigated how compassion affects problem solving and according to the outcomes of the study, high compassionate behavior implied an increased concern for others and hence the need to search for conflict resolution strategies. De Wied et al (2007) while building on this view between compassion and problem solving notes that problem solving is a constructive strategy in conflict resolution. Being a constructive approach, having compassion for others brings about better conflict resolution strategies. From the perspective of Crocker and Canevello (2008), high levels of compassion for others relate to the need to avoid things likely to be harmful to other people. Self-compassion and compassion for others as a type of empathy relates positively to conflict management by spurring the need to seek effective conflict resolution strategies or avoiding acts that may be offensive to others.

Shanthi (2015) in his article on the role that emotional intelligence has in the organization notes that it has an important role for employees in an organization. He notes that the HR department has a greater responsibility in understanding how to handle emotion in all employees as this helps in increasing the commitment to the organization, increased efficiency, improved productivity, a motivation of employees, and retaining of the best talent. Although the paper does not direct allude to the role that emotional intelligence plays in conflict management, it refers to some aspects of better relations within the organization such as valuing of all employees and appreciating their differences. Shanthi (2015) further notes that emotional intelligence advances the aspects of better adaptability, group rapport, leadership qualities, participative management, employee empathy, and understanding among employees. Essentially, these aspects minimize the likelihood of conflict emergence in the workplace and thus have a linkage to conflict management in the organization. A further aspect extended by Shanthi (2015) is that organizations are taking emotionally intelligent employees only since they can easily deal with issues arising from the workplace and thus increase organizational productivity. In this regard, emotional intelligence in the organization is not only relevant for conflict management but also for increased productivity in the workplace.

From the literature review conducted, several deductions can be made as regards the linkage between empathy and conflict management. One of the deductions is that empathy is part of emotional intelligence and it alludes to the increased need to understand one’s feelings and those of others. In this regard, there is better understanding of the individual and the application of conflict avoidance strategies. Further, self-compassion which is part of compassionate empathy affects conflict management by ensuring conflict avoidance while also taking the appropriate steps in dealing with conflict. Other forms of empathy are cognitive and emotional empathy that are all part of emotional intelligence and play a significant role in influencing conflict management since there is an increased understanding of other individuals in the workplace.

Research Design:

Thesis Structure:

It is always prudent to choose a research design that matches your research idea. Since this thesis is trying to constitute compelling arguments about how things work in different contexts and its mission is to produce “the general picture” of how things work, this study will have the structure of qualitative research. As qualitative research, this study will have the habit of connecting context with an explanation, i.e. this research will have cross-contextual generality, rather than aspiring to be a de-contextual version. It means that the types of empathies will be connected to the entrepreneurial studies and a basic pattern in regards the influence in conflict management will be analyzed

After finalizing that this thesis will fall under the qualitative research, the next step is to find the right research design. There are six major research designs in qualitative research: Phenomenological Studies, Ethnographic Studies, Grounded Theory Studies, Historical Studies, Case Studies and Action Research Studies. This theory is closely related to Grounded Theory as it tries to gather the data in its naturalistic settings. Data would be collected by interviews conducted on entrepreneurs in the host country as well as employees from top firms. Since grounded theory has a process called “constant comparison”, it could be used in this thesis. The data that would be collected while conducting interviews would be analyzed and later cross-verified with previous theories linked to conflict management. Also in this form of research design, the researcher is allowed to have an open mind and can also use his or her intuitive process (inductive reasoning) while interpreting the data. So while the background data of EI and empathy has deduced that empathy acts as a positive force for business leaders and entrepreneurs (when these business people use it on their own teams and employees), it would be interesting to induce how different types of empathy affect conflict resolution (Meinel et. all, 2015).

One final deduction is needed to place this thesis into its intended research design. From grounded theory, this thesis will be placed into its subsection called the exploratory research. The qualities of this kind of research are similar to those of grounded theory. It starts from few resources (in this case, theories on empathy and entrepreneurship) and later tries to predict an outcome (in this case, influence of types of empathies on the motivation of employees). If this thesis is persuaded in this design, it will help in segregating and defining types of empathy more appropriately and also seeing which type of empathy can affect conflict management. (University of Southern California Libraries, 2016; Humphrey, 2013).

Data Collection:

This thesis will utilize primary and secondary data. Primary data would be collected by interviews. Entrepreneurs would be given few scenarios and would be asked to select the best option (as per their thinking) and later open-ended questions would be asked so that they can solidify their choice. This will segregate the entrepreneurs into which type of empathy they use. Later the employees of these entrepreneurs would be interviewed and their conflict management capabilities could be recorded by asking them open-ended questions. This interview will understand the enthusiasm level of these employees and how much are they liking their jobs and their heads (entrepreneurs). Questions such as how are they motivated and what techniques do they like and dislike the most about their entrepreneurs could also be asked. Data from both the interviews would give solid traits to each type of empathy.

Secondary data would be collected from online articles and ebooks. Another way of collecting it would be through the data that is stored in universities. The secondary data would consist of all the relevant theories of empathy and conflict management by entrepreneurs, empathy and a causal link between these two phenomena. Based on these theories, a more detailed introduction and literature review could be written and a better inductive reasoning could be achieved before conducting the interviews.

Sampling:

A list of entrepreneurs could be made by collecting the data from ECE (Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship) or by contacting this thesis’ supervisor’s previously researched entrepreneurs or by contacting the personal connections of this thesis’ writer. A sample of 15 people with a ratio 1:3 (entrepreneur: employee) would be taken for interviews. All the entrepreneurs would have the similar amount of work experience and would belong to similar industries (yet to be decided). All employees would also be selected on the basis of work experience and position they have under their respective entrepreneurs. To avoid any bias or irregularities, the employees would be chosen randomly.

Method:

Prior consent for conducting and recording the interviews would be taken. The interviews would be conducted on one on one basis (entrepreneur and the thesis writer) and each interview would last for 30 – 45 minutes. At least 15 in-depth interviews would be conducted (including entrepreneurs and employees), so as to understand the particular details of conflict management through various types of empathies.

After collecting the data from the interviews with entrepreneurs and employees, it would be analyzed. Since this is a qualitative research, software such as Atlas Ti and Microsoft could be used. The data would be analyzed by:

Firstly by conducting the interviews and then making detailed transcripts
Later these transcripts will be inserted in the Atlas Ti software and all the data would be codified (First-order data is formed)
After codifying all the information, similar codes would be clubbed together and fewer headings would be formed (Second-order data is formed)
With the second order data, interview outcomes are obtained and the relationships could be clearly formed (Organizational Research Methods 16(1) pp. 15-31)

The main purpose of this software is to create a conceptual framework as per Gioia Model and place the First Order Concepts into Second Order Themes and later create an Aggregate Dimension. This Aggregate Dimension will justify the research questions outlined in the introduction.

Conclusion

The research proposal above seeks to engage in a study that investigates how different types of empathy relate to employee conflict management. The need for this study stems from the gaps in literature as regards how empathy relates to conflict management in the workplace. From the literature review conducted, several deductions have been made as regards the linkage between empathy and conflict management. One of the deductions is that empathy is part of emotional intelligence and it alludes to the increased need to understand one’s feelings and those of others. In this regard, there is better understanding of the individual and the application of conflict avoidance strategies. Further, self-compassion which is part of compassionate empathy affects conflict management by ensuring conflict avoidance while also taking the appropriate steps in dealing with conflict. Other forms of empathy are cognitive and emotional empathy that are all part of emotional intelligence and play a significant role in influencing conflict management since there is an increased understanding of other individuals in the workplace. From these aspects, the research part of the paper will seek to confirm of negate the hypothesis related to this proposal while also answering the research questions. The outcomes of this research will be highly relevant in organizational management and conflict management.

 

 

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