Proceedings of World Business, Finance and Management Conference
14 - 15 December 2015, Rendezvous Grand Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand
ISBN: 978-1-922069-91-7
Conflict Management Styles by Owners of Chinese and
Indian SMEs in New Zealand
Ravi Bhat, Poonam Khirsariya and Pieter Nel
Leaders from individualist and collectivist societies have different behavioural
intentions while facing conflict and prefer different conflict management styles.
Individuals from a similar culture share common meaning and are likely to interpret
and evaluate management practices in similar ways.This paper explores the impact
of acculturation in managing conflict in the SMEs owned by immigrant Chinese and
Indians in New Zealand. A qualitative approach with interpretive paradigm was used
in order to understand how the respondents interpret the environment, themselves,
and how they are shaped by the culture in which they live. Non-probability sampling
was used to select Chinese/Indian SME owners from the immigrant population settled
in the Auckland metropolitan region.
A majority of the participants reflected positively about their experience in New
Zealand. This possibly turned out to be one of the strong drivers behind the
acculturation process they underwent. Most participants felt accepted in New Zealand
and preferred a bi-cultural approach, identifying themselves as Chinese/Indian Kiwis,
following the best of their own and Kiwi culture. Integration was the most commonly
preferred acculturation strategy.
A majority of SME owners preferred using the collaborative conflict management style
with staff, customers and suppliers. In cases where collaboration did not work, an
accommodating and compromising conflict management styles were implemented.
Participants claimed to be open to hire staff from any cultural background depending
on their business needs. However, they acknowledged that it was easier to deal with
staff from similar cultures to reduce the possibility of disagreement with staff.
The findings show that most SME owners interviewed appointed staff from their own
cultural background. This is consistent with Cain & Spoonley’s (2013) claim of social
or relational connectivity being important for Chinese and Indians business owners
while hiring staff to work in the business. Asian born migrants rely on co-ethnic
relational network and familiar networks to maintain their business operations.
Kew Words: SMEs, individualist and collectivist societies, acculturation, conflict
management
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__________________________________________________________________
Ravi Bhat, (Presenter), Department of Management & Marketing, Unitec, Auckland,
Email: rbhat@unitec.ac.nz
Poonam Khirsariya, Business Studies, Ntec, Auckland, Email: poonam@ntec.ac.nz
Professor Pieter Nel, Department of Management & Marketing, Unitec, Auckland,
Email: pnel@unitec.ac.nz
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