Exploring Preferences for Holistic Relational Conflict Management Among Indigenous Employees

Abstract: Conflict is ubiquitous in organizations, and how Indigenous employees experience everyday conflict and prefer to manage it is of paramount concern for organizations on the path towards reconciliation. In the present research, we examine Indigenous worldviews that are reflected in Indigenous conflict management practices. We consider Western literature on restorative justice, forgiveness, and relational repair. We surveyed and spoke with Indigenous employees to understand their preferences for workplace conflict management and present both quantitative and qualitative data analyzed with both Western and Indigenous scientific methods by a mixed Indigenous and non-Indigenous research team. We discuss how Indigenous relationality, specifically the web of human and non-human beings, parties’ motivations and obligations to culture and community, and temporal considerations well into the future, could expand the scope of Western conflict management theory and the reservoir of Western conflict management practices.

Keywords: Indigenous conflict management practices in the workplace, restorative justice, forgiveness, relational repair