Research Note: Integrative Ties as an Approach to Managing Organizational Conflict

• Author: Michelle I. Gawerc
• Date: 01 December 2013
• Published date: 01 December 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21083

Research Note: Integrative Ties as an Approach to

Managing Organizational Con ict

Michelle I. Gawerc

 is research note highlights the importance of integrative bonds as a

means of managing organizational confl ict. Drawing on Gamson and

Modigliani’s (1963) theory on integrative ties, the author argues for

this approach to be considered in the future as an alternative but com-

plementary approach to managing confl ict in organizations.

We must ask not only about forces of disintegration (disagreements

or con icts) but about integrative bonds … A disagreement of

given severity is less dangerous for a relationship in which there

are strong integrative ties … than it is for one in which there are

weak ties.

Gamson and Modigliani (1963)

In 1963, refl ecting on Cold War dynamics, Gamson and Modigliani

argued that while “the severity of explicit disagreements between

nations … seems to be an essential element [for tension] … it is not suffi -

cient” (37–39). To illustrate, they argued that the United States and Great

Britain had severe disagreements when it came to the invasion of the Suez

Canal and the Skybolt missile—and France and Great Britain had critical

disagreements over the latter’s entry into the European Common Market—

and that objectively, these disagreements were comparable in terms of

severity to disagreements between the United States and the Soviet Union.

In all three cases, the fundamental goals of the parties were involved. Yet as

they note, “in terms of distance to a breakdown in the relationship between

C R Q, vol. 31, no. 2, Winter 2013 219

© Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the Association for Confl ict Resolution

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/crq.21083

I would like to acknowledge William A. Gamson and the editor and reviewers of CRQ, all of whom

graciously read and provided helpful thoughts and comments on earlier drafts of this research note.