The relationship between nurse managers' personality traits and their conflict management strategy preferences

Aim To investigate the relationship between nurse managers' personality traits and conflict management strategies. Background Despite the important role of personality traits in conflict management strategy preferences, no study to date has addressed the relationship between personality traits and conflict management in nurse managers. Methods A descriptive and cross-sectional design was applied. The study sample consisted of 114 nurse managers from six hospitals, and 111 participants completed forms for a total response rate of 97.36%. Results The main findings revealed that the conflict management strategies used by nurse managers participating were as follows: integrating (39.21, range = 29-45), avoiding (38.39, range = 23-65), compromising (31.51, range = 24-40), dominating (20.05, range = 12-28 ) and obliging (19.42, range = 14-25). It was seen that managers whose personality traits were extraverted, agreeable or conscientious chose the integration strategy to manage conflict, whereas managers with emotional inconsistency in personality traits preferred the avoiding strategy. Conclusions Nurse managers are important to effectively managing conflicts in the clinical environment. Personality trait may be linked to the successful management of conflict. Implications for Nursing Management Revealing the relationship between nurse managers' personality traits and associated conflict management strategies can help senior management organise useful training programmes to improve the conflict management capabilities.