Lecture 6 Culture and Conflict Note 2 April

8/11/2019 Lecture 6 Culture and Conflict Note 2 April

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Lecture 6

Culture and conflict


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Culture and confict

Culture

A group level construct that embodies a distinctivesystem of traditions, beliefs, values, norms, rituals,symbols and meanings that is shared by a majority ofinteracting individuals in a community.

Culture refers to a set of shared values, norms andbeliefs held by the members of a group such as anation or organization (Hofstede, 199!.

"thnocentrism de#ned as $the vie% things in %hichone&s o%n group is the center of everything, and allothers are scaled and rated %ith reference to it.


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Problems Caused by Cultural Dierences

A 'ritish boss ased a ne%, young American

employee if he %ould lie to have an early lunch at11 am each day. )he employee said *+eah, that%ould be great* )he boss immediately said -iththat ind of attitude, you may as %ell forget about

lunch- )he employee and the boss %ere bothba/ed by %hat %ent %rong. 0n "ngland, saying-yeah- in that conte2t is seen as rude anddisrespectful.3

)he American employee of a 4erman company isdisturbed by all the closed doors 55 it seems cold andunfriendly.


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Some Perceptions o Americans6inland.-Americans al%ays %ant to say your name7*)hat*s a nice tie, 8io. Hi 8io, ho% are you

8io$

ndian.-Americans are al%ays in a hurry. ust %atchthe %ay they %al do%n the street.:

;enyan.-Americans are distant. )hey are not reallyclose to other people 55 even other Americans.:

Colombia.-n the


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Dierences between cultures1.Intercultural communication

ntercultural communication means sharinginformation or e2change across di@erent cultures andor social groups.

)rac light is universally accepted in manycountries but there are many other signs and symbolsthat are arbitrary across cultures. ".g., in the


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Ei@erences bet%een cultures

2.Intercultural confict

Ferceived incompatibility of values, norms,processes, or goals bet%een a minimum of t%o culturalparties over identity, relational, andor substantiveissues. ".g., conGict bet%een7

i. "astern (high conte2t! vs. estern (lo% conte2t!ii. Fo%er distanceiii. 6ace savingiv. Eirect indirect communication

v. )ime


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i. East !i"! conte#t$ %ersus &est low conte#t$"astern Cultures are often perceived as high conte2tcultures %here collectivism is important. n high conte2t

cultures people75


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ii. Power distance

"astern cultures tend to have a very hierarchical

structure, %here %estern cultures are more egalitarian.".g., n apan, younger employees are e2pected tosupport the people in higher positions and never givetheir opinion directly to the manager.

n multinational companies this is very visible,especially %hen the employer and the manager are notfrom the same culture. An Asian manager %ants theemployee to be loyal to the company and to him,

%ithout sho%ing o%n initiative, %hile a %esternemployee %ould %ant to be able to sho% his sills andto pursue personal ful#lment.


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iii. 'ace sa%in"

Freserving o%n image is something that everybody

does, but it is the %ay of doing this that di@ers fromone part of the %orld to another.

n estern cultures maintaining face means preserving

your image for other people and yourself. )o do this,you can negotiate, debate, discuss di@erences andmost of all defending your o%n opinion.

"astern people may %ant to avoid conGict as much as

possible to maintain their image. )hey also do not justtae their o%n opinion into account, but they listen to%hat their group thins."astern employees also prefer to eep their opinion to

themselves rather than losing their face.


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i%. Direct and indirect communication

8ost esterners %ill spea openly %ith honesty and are

al%ays to the point. Eirect communication is meantthat a person speas out his intention %ith %ords, he%ill say e2actly %hat he means and often used inestern (lo% conte2t cultures!.

n "astern modesty and relations are highly valued.)hey tend to use %ords to hide their true intention andsho% their real intention mostly only through nonverbalcommunication and it is visible.

"astern people also avoid saying *no*to preserve therelationship, instead of saying that something isimpossible they %ill soften their message by using the

%ord *dicult$.


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%. (ime

)he dominant groups in 4erman culture are said to be

monochronic in their approach of time. Feople %hovie% time as monochronic do not %ant to %aste time,but are eager to get to conGict resolution Duicly.8onochronic cultures lie to do just one thing at a time.

Feople %ho vie% time as polychronic may focus moreon the relationship, building trust and commitment,before moving onto resolution of the particular conGict.

Folychronic cultures lie to do multiple things at thesame time. A manager*s oce in a polychronic culturetypically has an open door, a ringing phone and ameeting all going on at the same time. Folychronic

cultures include the 6rench and the Americans.


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A !ierarc!ical )odel o Cultural understandin"

)he cultural perspectives governs one&s understanding

or de#nition of recurring social situations, activities orevents.

Iuestioning our e2pectations of others& behavior, beingadaptive to the situation, and remaining alert to %hat%e perceive the other&s e2pectations to be %ill help usto act more competently in conGict situations.


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Cultural perspecti%e*%alue systemorld vie% J is a person&s model for perceiving, relating

and interpreting culture%orld

De+nition o t!e situation*social relations!ipKne&s perception or understanding of a recurring social setting %ithparticular roles, rules, spatial arrangements, and a purpose or goal.

5 =ome rules might be applicable to certain cultures

,uman be!a%ior*communication=igni#cant behavior is learned through e2perience as %e are

positively or negatively reinforced for performing it.

6igure 1. A hierarchical 8odel of Cultural understandingSource R. S. Lulofs., & D. D. Cahn.(2003). Conict from theory toaction (2ndd.). !S"# "llyn and $acon

)his model describe the role of cultural inGuence incommunication and conGict processes.


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Cultural dierences in confict resolution

esearch on cross5cultural variations in conGict

resolution strategies has found that people of di@erentcultures use signi#cantly di@erent conGict resolutionstrategies (6isher, 19LM, )se, 6rancis, 199, )ung,19L!

6letcher and Klealns (199L!. Cultural di@erences inconGictresolution7 ndividualism and collectivism in the Asia5Faci#c egion, %orin' aer *S, 2, 151


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articipants

articipants J 1L9

ustralia (n N9O!sians (n N9P! J H;, 8sia, =pore, Qietnam and other countri

nstrument-.)homas5;ilman ConGict 8KE".)riandis SECKT.Eemographic Duestionnaire

ata %ere analyzed in a R (birthplace7 AustAsia! U

(culture7ndCol! U V ConGict resolution strategiesaccommodating, competing, compromising, avoiding andollaborating! analysis of variance.


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'i%e strate"ies or confict resolution

1.Collaboratin" style

'ased on integrating and problem solving, %ith theaim ofma2imizing joint outcomes.

2. Competin" styleJ assertive and uncooperative

eGects little concern for others& goals J standing upyourrights and trying to %in.

. Accommodatin" style J unassertive andcooperative(opposite of competing!. nvolves the sacri#ce of one&so%nconcerns to satisfy the concerns of others. =elf5lessgenerosity


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'i%e strate"ies or confict resolution

/. Compromisin" style 0 moderate in both assertive

andcooperativenessA moderate concern for one&s o%n and the otherparty&soutcomes that freDuently translates into a $split the

di@erence&approach.

. A%oidin" style J does not deal %ith conGict

)he immediate onset of conGict is avoided and theparties %aituntil there is a better time to try and overcome theconGict.


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Table 1

Average Scores on Thomas-Kilmann Conflict MODE as a function of

Individualism-Collectivism

________________________________________________________Compete Collaorate Compromise Avoid Accommodate

________________________________________________________

I!D "#$% "#$& %#&& %#'( "#)(

CO* (#+, "#$ 7.03 %#(% %#,)

____________________________________________________________________________________

!ote. Means /ith different suscripts are sig# differentAcross self-construalCollectivists have a significantlyweaker preference for competing

Collectivists have a stronger preference for compromising.

Individualist have a stronger preference for avoiding and compromising

than they do for accommodating.


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)able R"+era'e Scores on homas-ilmann Conict /*D as afunction of $irthlace

________________________________________________________Compete Collaorate Compromise Avoid Accommodate

________________________________________________________

A0ST "#%, "#$& 6.56

"#+' "#"%

ASIA!S (& "#+) 6.99 6.85 "#$,

____________________________________________________________________________________Across birthplace

Asians have a significantly weaker preference for competing than Aust.

Asians showed a stronger preference for compromising and

avoiding than for accommodating and collaborating.

Australians showed a much stronger preference for compromising


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ConGict resolution styles

________________________________________________________

Compete Collaorate Compromise Avoid Accommodate

n 123

________________________________________________________

Aust 25 (18.1) 14 (10.1) 1 !1".#$ 1% !1&.1$ 1' !1&.($

Asian 6 !%.#$ % !".($ 1 !1".#$ 16 (11.6) 1& !."$

____________________________________________________________________________________


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Amish culture ) *erman

+utterites culture ) *erman

Inuit culture ) *erman

,ennonites and -apotec

or orth America

the /iaroa of

0outh America

0emai of Asia


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Culture o peace

A culture o peace as a culture that includes

$patterns of belief, values, behavior andaccompanying institutional arrangements thatpromote mutual caring and %ell5being as %ell aseDuality that includes appreciation of di@erence andeDuitable sharing of the earth&s resources among its

members and %ith all living things ('oulding, RMMM,p.1!.

)he year 2 was declared t!e International

3ear or t!e Culture o Peace and the decade fromRMM1 to RM1M %as declared the decade for a culture ofpeace and nonviolence for children of the %orld.


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Conclusions

Culture is al%ays a factor in conGict, %hether it playsa central role or inGuences it subtly and gently.


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(utorial Discussion

hen conGict arises, do you normally loo for $personal&

causes of the conGict, or do you consider %hethercultural perspective has something to do %ith theconGict that isoccurring>

Ho% can you become more a%are of the role of culturein the various conGicts that you e2perience.

Compare your culture and the culture of a friend you

no% fairly %ell across the various values discussed inlecture about culture and conGict.

Kn %hich are you similar> hich of these values is

liely to cause conGict bet%een you and your friend>

Lecture 6 Culture and Conflict Note 2 April

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