What Makes a Conversation Difficult?: Investigating the Role of Content and Interpersonal Relationships in Managerial Conversations
(2021) MGTN59 20211Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Dealing with difficult conversations is recognised as being one of the most challenging aspects of the managerial role. Scholarly research within this field is primarily normative in its nature where difficult conversations are still poorly understood from managers’ point of view. This thesis aimed to explore and analyse how middle managers perceive difficult one-on-one conversations in terms of their content and the interpersonal relationship between them and their employees. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten Swedish middle managers who come from various backgrounds and represent a variety of job roles, sectors, industries, genders and work experiences. Thematic analysis was utilised to investigate recurring themes in... (More)
- Dealing with difficult conversations is recognised as being one of the most challenging aspects of the managerial role. Scholarly research within this field is primarily normative in its nature where difficult conversations are still poorly understood from managers’ point of view. This thesis aimed to explore and analyse how middle managers perceive difficult one-on-one conversations in terms of their content and the interpersonal relationship between them and their employees. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten Swedish middle managers who come from various backgrounds and represent a variety of job roles, sectors, industries, genders and work experiences. Thematic analysis was utilised to investigate recurring themes in their answers.
The results indicate that it is not only the content and the interpersonal relationships that can make a conversation be viewed as difficult but also various other factors along with the interplay between them. In regards to the content of the conversations, it was found that content is not the most influential factor regarding how managers perceive difficult conversations. In essence, it is other factors involved with the content that decide how challenging people regard it. In addition, the study found that interpersonal relationships play a bigger role than the content. The managers expressed that having a balance between formal and close relationships is the most preferable when engaging in challenging conversations with an employee. Lastly, it needs to be acknowledged that difficult conversations are a complex phenomenon and how one perceives them is highly subjective. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9061741
- author
- Varga, Lili Agnes LU and Wirgin, Rebecca LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MGTN59 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- difficult conversations, management, content, interpersonal relationships, middle managers
- language
- English
- id
- 9061741
- date added to LUP
- 2021-07-20 12:54:07
- date last changed
- 2021-07-20 12:54:07
@misc{9061741, abstract = {{Dealing with difficult conversations is recognised as being one of the most challenging aspects of the managerial role. Scholarly research within this field is primarily normative in its nature where difficult conversations are still poorly understood from managers’ point of view. This thesis aimed to explore and analyse how middle managers perceive difficult one-on-one conversations in terms of their content and the interpersonal relationship between them and their employees. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten Swedish middle managers who come from various backgrounds and represent a variety of job roles, sectors, industries, genders and work experiences. Thematic analysis was utilised to investigate recurring themes in their answers. The results indicate that it is not only the content and the interpersonal relationships that can make a conversation be viewed as difficult but also various other factors along with the interplay between them. In regards to the content of the conversations, it was found that content is not the most influential factor regarding how managers perceive difficult conversations. In essence, it is other factors involved with the content that decide how challenging people regard it. In addition, the study found that interpersonal relationships play a bigger role than the content. The managers expressed that having a balance between formal and close relationships is the most preferable when engaging in challenging conversations with an employee. Lastly, it needs to be acknowledged that difficult conversations are a complex phenomenon and how one perceives them is highly subjective.}}, author = {{Varga, Lili Agnes and Wirgin, Rebecca}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{What Makes a Conversation Difficult?: Investigating the Role of Content and Interpersonal Relationships in Managerial Conversations}}, year = {{2021}}, }