Conflict and Interpersonal Communication
Read this section to define interpersonal conflict, compare and contrast the five styles of interpersonal conflict management, explain how perception and culture influence interpersonal conflict, and list strategies for effectively managing conflict. For the time being, skip the "Culture and Conflict" section, which we will cover in Unit 6.
Culture and Conflict
Culture
is an important context to consider when studying conflict, and recent
research has called into question some of the assumptions of the five
conflict management styles discussed so far, which were formulated with a
Western bias. For example, while the avoiding style of conflict has
been cast as negative, with a low concern for self and other or as a
lose/lose outcome, this research found that participants in the United
States, Germany, China, and Japan all viewed avoiding strategies as
demonstrating a concern for the other. While there are some
generalizations we can make about culture and conflict, it is better to
look at more specific patterns of how interpersonal communication and
conflict management are related. We can better understand some of the
cultural differences in conflict management by further examining the
concept of face.
What
does it mean to "save face?" This saying generally refers to preventing
embarrassment or preserving our reputation or image, which is similar
to the concept of face in interpersonal and intercultural communication.
Our face is the projected self we desire to put into the world, and
facework refers to the communicative strategies we employ to project,
maintain, or repair our face or maintain, repair, or challenge another's
face. Face negotiation theory argues that people in all cultures
negotiate face through communication encounters, and that cultural
factors influence how we engage in facework, especially in conflict
situations. These
cultural factors influence whether we are more concerned with self-face
or other-face and what types of conflict management strategies we may
use. One key cultural influence on face negotiation is the distinction
between individualistic and collectivistic cultures.
The
distinction between individualistic and collectivistic cultures is an
important dimension across which all cultures vary. Individualistic
cultures like the United States and most of Europe emphasize individual
identity over group identity and encourage competition and
self-reliance. Collectivistic cultures like Taiwan, Colombia, China,
Japan, Vietnam, and Peru value in-group identity over individual
identity and value conformity to social norms of the in-group. However, within the larger cultures,
individuals will vary in the degree to which they view themselves as
part of a group or as a separate individual, which is called
self-construal. Independent self-construal indicates a perception of the
self as an individual with unique feelings, thoughts, and motivations.
Interdependent self-construal indicates a perception of the self as
interrelated with others. Not surprisingly, people from individualistic cultures are more
likely to have higher levels of independent self-construal, and people
from collectivistic cultures are more likely to have higher levels of
interdependent self-construal. Self-construal and individualistic or
collectivistic cultural orientations affect how people engage in
facework and the conflict management styles they employ.
Self-construal
alone does not have a direct effect on conflict style, but it does
affect face concerns, with independent self-construal favoring self-face
concerns and interdependent self-construal favoring other-face
concerns. There are specific facework strategies for different conflict
management styles, and these strategies correspond to self-face concerns
or other-face concerns.
- Accommodating. Giving in (self-face concern).
- Avoiding. Pretending conflict does not exist (other-face concern).
- Competing. Defending your position, persuading (self-face concern).
-
Collaborating. Apologizing, having a private discussion, remaining
calm (other-face concern).
Research
done on college students in Germany, Japan, China, and the United
States found that those with independent self-construal were more likely
to engage in competing, and those with interdependent self-construal
were more likely to engage in avoiding or collaborating. And in general, this
research found that members of collectivistic cultures were more likely
to use the avoiding style of conflict management and less likely to use
the integrating or competing styles of conflict management than were
members of individualistic cultures. The following examples bring
together facework strategies, cultural orientations, and conflict
management style: Someone from an individualistic culture may be more
likely to engage in competing as a conflict management strategy if they
are directly confronted, which may be an attempt to defend their
reputation (self-face concern). Someone in a collectivistic culture may
be more likely to engage in avoiding or accommodating in order not to
embarrass or anger the person confronting them (other-face concern) or
out of concern that their reaction could reflect negatively on their
family or cultural group (other-face concern). While these distinctions
are useful for categorizing large-scale cultural patterns, it is
important not to essentialize or arbitrarily group countries together,
because there are measurable differences within cultures. For example,
expressing one's emotions was seen as demonstrating a low concern for
other-face in Japan, but this was not so in China, which shows there is
variety between similarly collectivistic cultures. Culture always adds
layers of complexity to any communication phenomenon, but experiencing
and learning from other cultures also enriches our lives and makes us
more competent communicators.