Managing Intercultural Conflicts Effectively

1
Managing Intercultural Conflicts Effectively
2
1. Cultural Variability Perspective

• Cultures differ from one another on a continuum
  of variations in accordance with some basic
  dimensions or core value characteristics.
• One of these is individualism-collectivism value
  tendencies.

3
1.1 Definition of individualism and collectivism

• Individualism a culture emphasizing the
  importance of
• individual identity over group identity
• individual rights over group rights
• Individual needs over group needs
• Example Australia, Canada, the U.S
• Collectivism a culture emphasizing the
  importance of
• The We identity over the I identity
• Group obligations over individual rights
• In-group oriented needs over individual wants and
  desires
• Example China, Korea, Japan, Mexico

4
1.2 In-group and out-group

• In-group
• A group whose values, norms, and rules are deemed
  as salient to the effective functioning of the
  group in society, and these norms serve as the
  guiding criteria for everyday behaviors.
• Out-group
• A group whose values, norms, and rules are viewed
  as inconsistent with those of the in-group, and
  these norms are assigned a low priority from the
  in-group standard.

5
1.3 Factors shaping individualist and
collectivistic values

• Influencing Factors
• Ecology
• Affluence
• Social and geographic mobility
• Migration
• Cultural background of parents
• Socialization
• Rural or urban environment
• Mass media exposure
• Education
• Social changes

6
1.4 Independent and interdependent construal of
self

• Independent construal of self
• Found in individualistic cultures
• Seeing oneself as an agent, a producer of ones
  actions.
• Being in control
• Free to express ones own thoughts, feelings, and
  actions of others.
• Acts of standing out form an important basis of
  self-esteem

7

• Interdependent construal of self
• Found in collectivist cultures
• Attentiveness and responsiveness to others
• Group belonging
• Other-focused
• Tend to use group norms ,group interests, and
  group responsibilities to interpret and evaluate
  others conflict behaviors.

8
2. Low- and High-context Cultures

• High-context cultures (collectivism)
• Pre-programmed info in the receiver and in the
  setting
• Minimal info in the transmitted message
• Communication patterns
• spiral logic interaction
• indirect verbal negotiation mode
• subtle nonverbal nuances
• Responsive intention inference
• Interpreter-sensitive value

9

• Low-context cultures
• Most of the info in the transmitted message
• Communication patterns
• Linear logic interaction approach
• Direct verbal interaction style
• Overt intention expressions
• Sender-oriented value

10
2.1 Bargaining resources in conflict

• For LC
• individual pride and self-esteem
• Individual ego-based emotions
• Individual sense of autonomy and power
• For HC
• Relational face maintenance and group harmony
• Group-oriented status and self-esteem
• Face-related emotions
• Reciprocal sense of favors and obligations

11
2.2 Face

• In collectivist cultures
• Highly sensitive to the effect of what they say
  on others.
• Language is both a social instrument, a device
  for preserving and promoting social interests,
  and a means for transmitting information
• Communicators weigh their words carefully
• Face-to-face conversations contain many emollient
  expressions of respect and courtesy along-side a
  substantive element rich in meaning and low in
  redundancy.
• Directness and especially contradiction are much
  disliked, blunt NOs are hard to be found.

12
3. M-time and P-time

• 3.1 M-time
• Monochronic time schedule
• Predominant in individualistic, low context
  cultures
• Time is viewed as something that canbe possessed,
  drained, and wasted.
• Conflict can be contained, controlled, and
  managed effectively within certain frames or
  within certain preset schedules

13
3.2 P-time

• polychronic time schedule
• Predominant in group-based, high-text cultures
• People from P-time cultures
• Tend to hold more fluid attitudes toward time
  schedules
• Integrate task-oriented activity with
  socio-emotional activity.
• More past and present conscious.

14
4. Violations of conflict expectations

• Individualistic/LC communicators Problem-solving
  model
• Conflict is potentially functional, personally
  liberating, and an open forum for struggling
  against or struggling with one another in
  wrestling with the conflict issues at hand.
• Conflict is an expressed struggle to air out
  major differences and problems
• Conflict can be both dysfunctional and functional
• Conflict is dysfunctional when it is represed and
  not directly confronted
• Conflict can be functional when it provides an
  open opportunity for solving problematic issues
• Substantive and relational issues in conflict
  should be handled separtely
• Conflict should be dealt with openly and directly
• Effective management of conflict can be viewed as
  a win-win problem solving game.

15
4.1 cultural conflict assumptions

• Collectivistic/HC interactants face maintenance
  model
• Conflict is primarily dysfunctional,
  interpersonally embarrassing and distressing, and
  a forum for potential group-related face loss and
  face humiliation.
• Conflict is viewed as damaging to social face and
  relational harmony and should be avoided as much
  as possible
• Conflict is dysfunctional
• Conflict signals a lack of self-discipline and
  self-censorship of emotional outbursts and a sign
  of emotional immaturity
• Conflict provides a testing ground for a skillful
  facework negotiation process
• Substantive conflict and relational face issues
  are always intertwined
• Conflict should be dealt with discreetly and
  subtly
• Effective management of conflict can be viewed as
  a win-win face negotiation game

16
4.2 Conflict issues and process violations

• Every conflict entails both substantive and
  relational issues
• Individualistic conflict negotiators typically
  attend to the objective, substantive issues more
  than the relational, socio-emotional issues.
• Problem-oriented, definition of the problem,
  clarification of alternative solutions
• Collectivistic conflict negotiators, attune to
  the relational, affective dimension as the key
  issue in resolving task-related or
  procedural-related conflict.
• Relationship-oriented, negotiation is less about
  solving problems than about attending a
  relationship.

17

• In LC cultures, control of ones autonomy,
  freedom, territory, and individual boundary is of
  paramount importance to ones sense of
  self-respect and ego
• Conflicts arise through the violation of
  autonomous space, privacy, individual power, and
  sense of individual fairness and equity.
• Conflict management emphasizing a win-win goal
  orientation and the importance of tangible
  outcome action plan.
• In HC cultures, being accepted by ones in-group
  members and being approved by ones superiors,
  peers, and/or family members is critical to the
  development of ones sense of self-respect.
• Conflicts revolve around the violation of
  in-group or out-group boundaries, norms of group
  loyalty and commitment, and reciprocal
  obligations and trust.
• Time and energy are invested in negotiating face
  loss, face gain, and face protection issues
  throughout the various developmental phases of
  conflict. Relational or facework process of
  conflict resolution.

18
4.3 Use of third-party

• Collectivists tend to display a stronger
  preference for informal third-party conflict
  mediation procedure than individualists.
• Key differences between eastern and western
  cultures in the use of third party
• In western cultures, seeking help of an impartial
  third-party mediator.
• In many Asian cultures, conflict parties
  typically seek the help of an older person
  (perceived to be wiser) who is related to both
  parties.
• Conflicts will arise if
• LC cultures sending an impartial third party to
  arbitrate an international conflict with no prior
  relationship building sessions.
• Or sending an intermediary who is of lower
  ranking or lower status than the representative
  negotiators of the collectivistic culture.

19
4.4 Concept of power

• In individualist culture power means tangible
  resources of rewards and punishments that one
  conflict party has over another.
• In collectivistic culture, power refers to
  tangible resources such as face loss and face
  gain, losing prestige or gaining reputation, and
  petty-mindedness versus benevolent generosity.

20
4.5 Interpretation of conflict-resolution rhythm

• For individualistic, M-time people
• A sense of timeline and closure-orientation
• Conflict resolution processes should follow a
  clear agenda of opening, expressing conflicting
  interests, negotiating, and closing sequences.
• Agenda setting, objective criteria, immediate and
  future oriented goals.
• For collectivist, P-time people
• A sense of relational commitment and synchronized
  relational rhythm signal the beginning stage of a
  long-term, conflict-bargaining process.
• Conflict facework processes have no clear
  beginning and no clear end.
• Take time to engage in small talk, to delve into
  family or personal affairs, bring in the
  historical past to shed light on the present
  conflict situation.

21
5. Cross-cultural Conflict Interaction Styles

• For individualists
• Direct requests, direct verbal justifications,
  upfront clarifications to defend ones action or
  decision.
• Silence is viewed as an admission of guilt or
  incompetence.
• Open emotional expression is a signal of caring.
• For collectivists
• Use of qualifiers (perhaps), tag questions,
  tangential responses (Lets not ), and indirect
  requests.
• It is up to the interpreter of the message to
  pick up the hidden meaning or intention of the
  ressage and to respond either indirectly or
  equivocally (ambiguously).
• Silence demands immense self-discipline in a
  collectivistic conflict situation.
• Proper emotional composure and emotional
  self-restraint are seen as signals of a mature,
  self-disciplined person.
• In individualistic cultures, conflict-management
  process relies heavily on verbal offense and
  defense to justify ones position, to clarify
  ones opinion, to build up ones credibility, to
  articulate ones emotions, and to raise
  objections.
• In collectivist cultures, ambiguous, indirect
  verbal messages often are used with the intention
  of saving mutual face, saving group face, or
  protecting someone elses face. Subtle nonverbal
  gestures or nonverbal silence are used to signal
  a sense of cautionary restraint toward the
  conflict situation.

22

• In individualistic, LC cultures The I identity
• Preference for a direct conflict style, the use
  of the equity norm (self-deservingness), direct
  settlement of disputes.
• A certain degree of conflict in a system is
  functional and productive.
• In collectivist, HC cultures The WE identity
• Preference for an indirect conflict style, for
  the use of equality norm (equal distribution),
  the use of informal mediation procedures.
• Group harmony and consultative decision making
  are prized, overt expressions of interpersonal
  conflict are highly avoided and suppressed.
• Nonverbal responsiveness, indirect verbal
  strategies, the use of informal intermediaries,
  and the use of cautionary silence are some of the
  typical collectivistic ways of dealing with
  interpersonal conflict.

23
6. Effective Conflict Management

• For individualists
• Be mindful of the face-maintenance assumptions of
  conflict situations.
• Skills of managing the delicate interaction
  balance of humiliation and pride, and shame and
  honor.
• The use of same status negotiators
• Be proactive in dealing with low-grade conflict
  situations before they escalate into runaway,
  irrevocable mutual face-loss episodes.
• Face is a bilateral concept in the group based
  collectivistic culture.

24

• Giving face and try not to push their opponents
  back against the wall without any room for
  maneuvering face loss or face recovery.
• Learn to let their opponent find a gracious way
  out of the conflict situation with out violating
  the basic spirit of fundamental human rights.
• Learn self-restraint and try not to humiliate
  their opponent in the public arena or slight her
  or his public reputation.
• Bilateral face giving and face saving ensures a
  continuous, interdependent networking process of
  favor-giving and favor concessions.
• Be sensitive to the importance of quiet, mindful
  observation.
• Be mindful of the historical past that bears
  relevance to the present conflict situation.
• Learn to experience and manage the conflict
  process on the implicit, nonverbal pacing level.
• Use deep level silence, deliberate pauses, and
  patient conversational turn taking in conflict
  interaction processes with collectivists.

25

• Practice attentive listening skills and feel the
  co-presence of the other person.
• Listening means opening the door to the ears,
  attending to the sounds, movements, and feelings
  of the other person.
• Discard the western-based model of effective
  communication skills in dealing with conflict
  situations.
• Learn to use qualifiers, disclaimers, tag
  questions, and tentative statements to convey
  their point of view.
• Use situational or self-effacing (self-exclusion)
  accounts, counter-questions, or conditional
  statements to convey the implicit sense of
  refusal.

26

• Let go of a conflict situation if the conflict
  party does not want to deal with it directly.
• A cooling period may help to mend a broken
  relationship, and the substantive issue may be
  diluted over a period of time.
• Avoidance does not necessarily mean that
  collectivists do not care to resolve the
  conflict. But rather strategically used to avert
  face-threatening interaction and is meant to
  maintain face harmony and mutual face dignity.

27

• For collectivists
• Be mindful of the problem-solving assumptions.
• Relationship is separated from problem in
  individualistic cultures.
• Focus on resolving the substantive issues of the
  conflict, and learn to openly express opinions or
  points of view.
• Dont take the conflict issue to the personal
  level, and learn to maintain distance between the
  person and conflict problem.
• Try not to be offended by the upfront,
  individualistic style of managing conflict.
• Learn to emphasize tangible outcomes and develop
  concrete action plans inimplementing the
  conflict-decision proposal.

28

• Engage in an assertive, leveling style of
  conflict behavior.
• Learn to open a conflict dialogue with an upfront
  thesis statement, and then develop the key point
  systematically.
• Be ready to accept criticisms, counter-proposals,
  and suggestions for modification as part of the
  ongoing, group dialogue.
• Own individual responsibility for the conflict
  decision-making process.
• Owning responsibility and using I statements.
• Learn to verbally explain a situation more fully
  and learn not to expect others to infer their
  points of view.
• Assume a sender-based approach
• Ask more why questions and probe for explanations
  and details.

29

• Provide verbal feedback and engage in active
  listening skills.
• Collectivists have to engage in active verbal
  perception checking and ensure that the other
  person is interpreting points accurately.
• Use verbal paraphrases, summary statements, and
  interpretive messages to acknowledge and verify
  the storyline of the conflict situation.
• Learn to occasionally self-disclose feelings and
  emotions, not relying solely on non-verbal,
  intuitive understanding.
• Use direct, integrative verbal messages that
  clearly convey their concern over both the
  relational and and substantive issues of a
  conflict situation.
• Dont wait patiently for clear turn-taking pauses
  in the conflict interaction. Overlap talks,
  simultaneous messages, and floor-grabbing
  behavior are allowed in individualistic cultures.
• Dont engage in too many deliberate silent
  moments.

30

• Commit to working out the conflict situation with
  the conflict party.
• Learn to use task-oriented integrative strategies
  and try to work out a collaborative, mutual goal
  dialogue.
• Learn to build up trust on the one-to-one level
  of interaction.
• Confirm the conflict person through explicit
  relationship reminders and meta-communication
  talks.
• Resolve the conflict substantive issues,
  responsibly and constructively.