Leading Through Conflict ― Into the Fray

Effective leadership requires many skills, but foremost among them is the capacity to successfully deal with conflict. Any disruption that creates a lack of alignment can trigger the conflict cycle, such as differences of opinion, competition for scarce resources and interpersonal enmity. Leading through Conflict brings together recent theory and research on interpersonal conflict and its resolution by examining the causes and consequence of conflict in groups, organizations and communities, and identifying ways that conflict can be managed and resolved. It analyzes conflict in a multi-disciplinary way, from clashes within communities to interpersonal and professional encounters.

Written in an accessible way by top scholars in the field, Leading through Conflict is a must-read for academics, graduate students, undergraduates and MBA students across leadership, organizational behavior, psychology and sociology.

Dejun (Tony) Kong is Assistant Professor at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond, USA. His research focuses on trust in various contexts (negotiation, leadership, team, and cross-cultural settings) and psychological mechanisms of leader-follower relationships, negotiation relationships, and peer relationships. His work has appeared in the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, the Journal of Positive Psychology, Personality and Individual Differences, and Small Group Research, among others. He serves on the editorial review board of the Journal of Trust Research and as a guest co-editor of the journal's special issue on trust in negotiations and repeated bargaining.

Donelson R. Forsyth is Professor at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, USA where he holds the Colonel Leo K. and Gaylee Thorsness Endowed Chair in Ethical Leadership. He studies groups, leadership, ethical thought, and the psychological and interpersonal consequences of success and failure at the group and individual level. He is the author of Group Dynamics (6th ed., 2014) and has published articles in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and the American Psychologist. His work has been featured in USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and the ABC Nightly News.