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PurposeThis paper aims to clarify the relationship between conflict, apologies, forgiveness and willingness to cooperate after a conflict event.Design/methodology/approachThe paper used scenarios and quantitative measures to examine the connection between conflict, perceived apology sincerity, forgiveness and willingness to cooperate in 358 business undergraduates.FindingsData revealed that relationship conflict was significantly but negatively associated with forgiveness and willingness to cooperate. Additionally, attitudes toward forgiveness were directly and positively related not only to forgiveness but also to willingness to cooperate. Finally, forgiveness mediated the link between both perceived apology sincerity attitudes to forgiveness and willingness to cooperate.Research limitations/implicationsData were cross-sectional and may be subject to bias. Longitudinal studies are needed to further tease out the connection between the variables in the current study. Similarly, future research should explore the role of climate and individuals' disposition and readiness to apologize, forgive and their willingness to cooperate at work.Practical implicationsThe paper includes practical implications for managers interested in eliciting cooperation after a workplace conflict. Specifically, apology and forgiveness should be included in managers' conflict management training programs.Social implicationsOur findings indicated that apology and forgiveness are social skills that are important for conflict management and cooperation after a workplace conflict.Originality/valueBeyond reconciliation, the current study provides new insights into the important role of actual forgiveness in whether employees are willing to cooperate after conflict at work. Practical assistance is offered to managers who are interested in fostering cooperation and increased performance after conflict episodes.

Purpose
Little research has focused on the impact of organizational crisis on their internal stakeholders – the employees. This paper aims to fill this void by examining the impression management strategies used by senior managers in managing their employees during organizational crisis and the impact of these strategies on employees.


Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected qualitative data from three organizations and used multiple analytical lenses (such as thematic, content and trope) to explore patterns in senior managers' management of employees during crisis.


Findings
Emerging patterns in the data revealed that the emotional state and reactions of employees (individual and collective) during crisis include anger, fear, shame, depression and shock. Additionally, data revealed two major contradictions (tensions) in managing employees during crisis: maintaining and compromising standard and managers' wants versus employees' desire in the way organization crisis is managed. Based on these preliminary findings and using affective event theory and the theory of collective emotions as a frame, the authors built a conceptual model that depicts the relationship between organizational crisis, impression management and emotion-driven employee attitudes and behaviors.


Research limitations/implications
A major limitation in the current research is that authors' data are largely composed of text (e.g. from newspaper and websites). Nevertheless, the textual data were based on actual interviews with stakeholders and victims and have more than compensated for the limitation. Theoretically, by examining the emotional states and reactions of internal (rather than external) stakeholders to organizational crisis, the authors extend the literature in the area of organizational crisis and crisis management, while the testable propositions in this conceptual model have a potential to open up new pathways for studying organizational crisis. Practically, it is imperative for managers to have skills to identify and manage key employees' emotional states and reactions to crisis. Managers should align their words and actions during crisis management to increase employees trust. Also pre-crisis planning should include specific guidelines on how to identify and manage employees' individual and collective emotions during crisis.


Practical implications
The results show that inappropriate impression management strategies may worsen employees' emotional states and reactions (individual and collective) during crisis; therefore, it is imperative for managers to have skills in identifying key employees' emotional states and reactions to crisis and the impression management strategies appropriate in managing them. A training that sharpens managers' emotional intelligence will be helpful in managing the emotions of employees (individual and collective) during crisis. Also, pre-crisis planning should include specific guidelines on how to identify and manage employees' individual and collective emotions during crisis, while senior managers' words and actions during crisis need to be synchronized to engender employees' trust.


Originality/value
This study demonstrates that beyond emotions of employees during crisis, there are contradictions and tensions in the senior manager's management of their employees during crisis. Also, outcomes of a quantitative test of the conceptual model developed from the current study should improve the generalizability of the results and open up new pathways for future research in this area.

PurposeAlthough how leaders shape their followers' behaviors and outcomes is core to the leadership literature, empirical research exploring how followers might impact their leaders' behaviors is just emerging. Using a follower-centric approach, this study aims to examine the link between followers' conflict behaviors, transformational leadership (TL) and the quality of team member exchange (TMX). Additionally, the authors hypothesized and tested the moderating role of TMX quality in the relationship between TL and teams' work engagement.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative data were collected randomly from 261 employees in 41 teams to examine the connection between followers' conflict behaviors, TL and TMX and team engagement.FindingsUsing bottom-up/bootstrapping approach, results showed followers' problem-solving conflict behaviors were positively linked with team leaders' TL behaviors while improving TMX quality. Additionally, TL was connected with high levels of team work engagement and this connection was enhanced by TMX quality. Implications of the results are discussed.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough this conceptual model revealed followers as impacting TL and TMX, there is also a possibility that TL and TMX quality may be able to impact employees' conflict behaviors. Additionally, the current study adopted a cross-sectional research design which does not allow for an assessment of cause and effect. Therefore, caution should be taken in interpreting the results. Finally, the authors studied employees from a single national culture. Yet, they know that national culture may influence the relationship between TL and conflict at the individual and team levels. Overall, the present research showed that individual followers' conflict behaviors were associated with TL behaviors and TMX quality.Practical implicationsOn a practical note, managers would be more successful in managing conflict in teams if they would observe their followers' conflict behaviors and act as role models in displaying problem solving conflict behaviors – an approach that has been identified in this study to assist in eliciting transformational behaviors from the leader. Furthermore, training is indicated. Organizations should consider training leaders in TL given that our result shows that TL has a direct positive connection with employee's work engagement. Specifically, the followers' conflict behaviors should now be incorporated into the leadership (e.g. transformational) training programs. Finally, managers who need to boost team work engagement should consider increasing the quality of the TMX in the team.Social implicationsThe leaders behavioral style may partly be dependent on the followers' conflict management behaviors.Originality/valueThus far, research on leadership have been leader-centric, and while the authors are aware that followers have an important role in shaping the leaders' behaviors, research in this area has until recently ignored how followers might impact their leaders' style, processes and the quality of employee interactions, especially at the team level. The authors found for the first time that problem-solving conflict behaviors were connected with team leaders' TL style and TMX quality.