Understanding and Managing
Intercultural Conflicts
Major topics
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Defining intercultural conflicts
Causes of intercultural conflicts
Communication conflict styles
Managing intercultural conflicts
Practical suggestions
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Intercultural conflict is the implicit or explicit
emotional struggle or frustration between persons
of different cultures over perceived incompatible
values, norms, face orientations, goals, scarce
resources, processes, and/or outcomes in a
communication situation. (Ting-Toomey and Oetzel, 2001)
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Conflict is indeed a cultural challenge and,
simultaneously, an opportunity for us to learn
about diverse approaches in framing a conflict
situation and in honing our constructive conflict
management skills. (Ting-Toomey and Oetzel, 2001)
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The study of intercultural conflict is about the
study of conflict that evolves, at least in part,
because of cultural group membership differences.
It is about acquiring the necessary knowledge and
skills to manage such differences constructively
and creatively.
Causes of Intercultural Conflicts
跨文化冲突的原因
1. Culture-based conflict lenses
Independent-self conflict lens views conflict from a(n):
a. Content conflict goal lens (tangible conflict issues)
b. Clear win-lose conflict approach
c. "Doing" angle (something broken needs fixing)
d. Outcome-driven mode (clear resolution needed)
 Interdependent-self conflict lens views conflict from a:
a. Relational process lens (relationship and feeling issues)
b. Win-win relational approach (feelings, "faces" both saved)
c. "Being" angle (repair relational trust)
d. Long-term compromise negotiation mode (no "winner"/"loser")
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Individualistic conflict lens
Collectivistic conflict lens
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• Process-focused
• Relational goal-oriented
• Being-centered
• Use communal norms
• Other-face concern
• High-context conflict styles
• Avoiding/obliging behaviors
Conflict appropriateness
Outcome-focused
Content-goal-oriented
Doing-centered
Use personal equity norms
Self-face concern
Low-context conflict style
Competitive/dominating
behaviors
• Conflict effectiveness
2. Intercultural conflict perceptions
There are three primary perception features of
intercultural conflict:
 Involves intercultural perceptions (i.e.,
ethnocentrism, stereotypes)
 Ethnocentric perceptions add biases to conflict
attribution process
 Attribution process compounded by different
conflict styles
3. Intercultural conflict goal issues
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Content goals: practical issues external to individuals
involved
Relational conflict goals: relational definition, desire in
interaction
Identity-based goals: face-saving and face-honoring issues
a. Cultural identity: how person defines self culturally,
ethnically, linguistically, religiously
b. Social identity: profession, age, social class, and gender
c. Personal identity: personal self-esteem, self-respect issues
4. Perceived scarce resources
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Conflict resources: tangible rewards that people strive for in
conflict
Tangible resources: items, time, scarce commodities, etc.
Intangible resources: desires or emotional needs (security, etc.)
Three techniques to negotiate scarce resources:
a. Differentiation: acknowledge different perspectives and
divide up the large puzzle into different pieces
b. Expansion: search for alternative paths or creative solutions
c. Compensation: offer exchanges or concessions for conflict
issues each values differently
Face and Facework
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Face refers to a person’s sense of favorable selfworth or self-image experienced during
communicative situations. It is an emotional
extension of the self-concept.
Self-face, other-face and mutual-face
One’s face can be threatened, enhanced,
undermined, and bargained over both emotionally
and cognitively.
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Facework refers to the various ways people deal
with conflict and face. It refers to the
communicative strategies employed to manage
one’s own face or to support or challenge
another’s face.
Face work can be employed to initiate, manage or
terminate conflict.
Conflict Communication Style
Defining conflict styles
1. Face: socially approved self-image and other-image issues
2. Facework: verbal and nonverbal strategies to maintain, defend,
or upgrade our social image (or attack or defend others')
3. Conflict communication style: patterned responses to conflict
4. Three approaches to studying conflict styles:
a. Dispositional: conflict style due to socialization, disposition
b. Situational: conflict topic and situation shapes styles
c. Systems: integrates a and b. People have predominant styles
but modify based on situation, etc.
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Five-style conflict grid conceptualizes five
conflict style tendencies
a. Dominating (or competitive/controlling): push for one‘s
own position above others’ conflict interest
b. Avoiding: dodge conflict topic, party, or situation
c. Obliging (or accommodating): concern for
others‘ conflict interest above one’s own conflict position
d. Compromising: give-and-take concession to reach midpoint
e. Integrating (or collaborative): concern for both oneself
and others‘ interest
Cross-cultural conflict styles
1. Face-negotiation theory: how individualism-collectivism
value patterns influence use of diverse face concerns and
conflict styles in different cultures
2. Individualists: self-face oriented, direct, low-context style
3. Collectivists: other-/mutual-face oriented, indirect, highcontext style
4. Independent-self individuals: competitive/dominating
conflict styles
5. Interdependent-self individuals: avoiding, obliging,
integrating, and compromising styles
Cross-ethnic conflict styles and facework
1. African American conflict styles: energetic, nonverbally
animated, emotionally expressive
2. Asian American conflict styles: Confucianism influence
(roles, status, collective face-saving), avoiding, obliging,
sometimes "silence"
3. Latino/a American conflict styles: tactfulness important,
avoidance sometimes preferred over head-on
confrontation
4. Native American conflict styles: verbal restraint, otherand mutual-face sensitivity, deliberate silence, ask elder
for wisdom
Competent Intercultural Conflict Skills
1. Facework management
 Core issues of protecting our communication identity
during conflict and dealing with others' communication
identity
 Self-oriented face-saving behaviors: to regain or defend
one's image after threats to face or face loss
 Other-oriented face-giving behaviors: to support others'
face claims and help prevent further face loss or restore
face
 Giving face: not humiliating others' communication
identity in public
2. Mindful listening
 Mindful listening: learning to listen responsively or ting
(a Chinese word that means "attending mindfully with our
ears, eyes, focused heart")
 Creating new categories: learn to apply culture-sensitive
concepts to interpret conflict variation behaviors
 Paraphrasing skills involve:
a. verbally summarizing content meaning of the message
b. nonverbally echoing your interpretation of emotional
meaning
3. Cultural empathy: learned ability to understand
others' self-experiences, convey understanding
effectively
4. Mindful reframing
 Highly creative, mutual-face honoring skill
 Mindful process of using language to change how
a person defines or thinks about experiences and
views the conflict situation
Face Negotiation Theory
(1) people in all cultures try to maintain and
negotiate face in all communication situations;
(2) the concept of face is especially problematic in
emotionally threatening or identity-vulnerable
situations when the situated identities of the
communicators are called into question;
(3) the cultural value spectrums of individualism-collectivism
and small/large power distance shape facework concerns and
styles;
(4) individualism and collectivism value patterns shape
members’ preferences for self-oriented face concern (i.e.,
verbal direct tendency) versus other-oriented or mutualoriented face concern (verbal
indirect-accommodating tendency);
(5) small and large power distance value patterns shape
members’ preferences for horizontal-based
facework (i.e., informal interaction) versus vertical-based
facework (i.e., formal interaction);
(6) the value dimensions, in conjunction with individual,
relational, topical, and situational factors
influence the use of particular facework behaviors in
particular cultural conflict scenes; and
(7) intercultural facework competence refers to the optimal
integration of culture-sensitive knowledge,
mindfulness, and flexible communication skills in
managing vulnerable identity-based conflict situations
appropriately, effectively, and adaptively.
Case Study
Who gets the job?
Intercultural Conflict Competence
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ICC refers to applying the intercultural
knowledge we have learned in a skillful manner.
There are 4 criteria to be a competent
communicator:
Appropriateness
Effectiveness
Satisfaction
Productivity
Practical Suggestions
A. To deal constructively with conflict in a collectivistic
culture, individualists need to do the following:
1.
Be mindful of mutual face-saving premises
2. Practice patient, mindful observation and limit why
questions
3. Mindful listening skills, attend to others‘ identities and
relational expectations
B. In encountering a conflict situation in an
individualistic culture, collectivists need to do the
following:
1. Assertive conflict behavior, state a clear thesis
then develop key points
2. Use “I” statements and more content-clarification
questions
3. Use active listening skills; do not rely solely on
nonverbal signals.