Going beyond ‘I’ vs ‘you’- effectiveness and mechanism of yoga based practices in management education to mitigate interpersonal conflict

Abstract

While collaborative functioning can yield rich dividends, aimless conflicts are detrimental to organizations. Herein, management education would be instrumental in imparting ways to effectively manage interpersonal conflicts (IPC) among management students, the future business leaders. The spiritual discipline of yoga offers a promising line of inquiry. We propose that yoga-based practice (YBP) can curtail IPC by enhancing pro-social behaviors (PSB) and positive emotions (PE) and reducing wandering mind (WM). To test the hypotheses, two studies were conducted. In Study 1 (n = 113), a survey design, we performed confirmatory factor analysis that supported the measurement model. Study 2 employed a randomized controlled experimental design to investigate the impact of YBP and mediation process. The results from analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated that, compared to the control group (n = 56), YBP reduced IPC and WM while enhancing PE and PSB in the experiment group (n = 57). Path analysis indicated that only WM mediated the impact of YBP on PSB and the impact of YBP on IPC was mediated by PSB. This research expands the literature on conflict management and contemplative practices in management education, noting yoga's practical value in developing conflict management skills and positive social behaviors.