INTERCULTURAL CONFLICT

AND COMMUNICATION
“Human beings draw close to one another by
their common nature, but habits and
customs keep them apart.“
Confucius

Submitted by:
Swarnim Santosh
 INTRODUCTION
 Intercultural (interaction between one or more cultures.)
 Relationships between groups of people belonging to different ethnicities and with diverse
cultural backgrounds.
 The term “intercultural,” understood as the relations that exist between culturally diverse
human groups in a given society, is a complex one currently used to refer to the relations that
exist within society between diverse majority and minority constellations defined in terms not
only of culture but also of ethnicity, language, religious denomination, and/or nationality. 
 The action, process or phenomenon by which people from a given culture integrate and
interact with people from other cultures, customs and traditions. It is essential that both the
coming and the hosting people enrich one another and get involved in the process. 
 An approach to coexistence and communication among cultures that considers this situation
to be enriching and positive for all the parties involved. 
 INTERCULTURAL CONFLICT
 Conflict is defined as an incompatibility of goals or values between two or more parties in a
relationship, combined with attempts to control each other and antagonistic feelings toward each
other.
 Conflict may arise due to cultural differences. Thus, cultural differences tend to be a matter of
proportions. The tragedy of conflict arises with miscommunication. Successful communication
plays a big role in cross-cultural relationship.
 Intercultural conflict refers to the expressed struggle between two or more people who perceive
incompatible goal.
 It refers to the implicit or explicit emotional straggle between persons of dissimilar cultures over
perceived incompatible values , norms etc.
 Causes of Intercultural Conflict
 Ethnocentrism- Ethnocentrism essentially stems from an individual’s belief that their
culture and way of doing things is the right way. There are lots of different levels of
ethnocentrism, but an extreme ethnocentric will view the world quite simply as their
experience of it.
 Differences in Cultural Values- Every culture has its own different set of values, and
beliefs as to what is right or wrong. These values drive our behaviors.
 Cultural Communication- Different cultures have their own communication rules and their
own ways of exchanging messages. In fact, it’s fair to say that the way people communicate
can vary greatly. In Asia and the Middle East for example, people rely less on words than
people in the West and instead make great use of body language, facial expressions, silence
and what is not said as opposed to what is said. There are a huge number of ways in which
poor cross-cultural communication competence can cause intercultural conflict.
 INTERCULTURAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION
 People need to understand that there are differences in conflicts and should
find some resolution ways to resolve intercultural conflicts. The conflict
resolution styles developed by Mitchell Hammer (21) are illustrated below:
A Model of Intercultural Conflict Style
Direct
Discussion Style Engagement Style

Accommodation Style Dynamic Style

Indirect
Emotional Restraint Emotional Expressiveness
 CONTINUED
  Discussion style: It involves the use of a verbally direct path: “say what you mean and
mean what you say”. People are not allowed to split up their own personal feelings.
  Engagement style: This style is confrontational and verbally direct using strong verbal
and non-verbal communication. Sincerity is judged on the basis of intensity that helps each
party to convey emotion.
  Accommodation Style: It emphasizes openness in language so that conflict doesn’t get
out of control. It believes in maintaining emotional calm for establishing interpersonal
harmony.
  Dynamic style: This style uses indirect language which is often communicated through
third party intermediaries, showing more emotion during a conflict.
 INTERCULTURE COMMUNICATION

 Communication is the two-way process of reaching mutual understanding in which participants

not only exchange information, news, ideas and feelings but also create and share means.
 Communication is the process of transferring information from one person to another person
along with meaningful value i.e. sent by sender and received by receiver via different mediums.
 Communication is the process of transmitting feelings, attitudes, facts, beliefs and ideas between
living beings.
 Intercultural communication is the effective communication between local people and people
of different cultural backgrounds. It is a communication between people with culture,
perceptions and symbol systems varying enough to alter the communication event.
 CONTINUED
 Intercultural communication is an interaction between or among people from different
cultural backgrounds. It consists of a process of exchanging, negotiating and mediating
cultural differences through language, non-verbal gestures and it shapes relationships. It
deals with a wide range of problems that naturally appear within an organization or social
context made up of individuals from different religious, social, ethnic and educational
backgrounds. It is sometimes called ‘cross cultural communication’.
 Intercultural communication is a discipline that studies communication across different
cultures and social groups or how culture affects communication.
 Absence of skills of intercultural communication, lack of effective adaptation to a new
environment, and lack of knowledge of intercultural conflict resolutions cause a lot of
difficulties in human life during migrations, abroad study, international businesses, etc.
 CONFLICT AND COMMUNICATION
 Conflict can arise over differences of opinion regarding substantive issues such as Climate
Change. On the other hand, they may derive from misunderstandings based on verbal or
nonverbal communication tied to cultural norms and values
 These can be minor – such as not performing a given greeting appropriately – or more serious
– such as perceived rudeness based on how a request has been formulated.
 Missteps in most forms of nonverbal communication can typically be easily remedied (through
observation and imitation) and normally do not pose major sources of conflict. Non-natives in
most cases will not be expected to be familiar with established rituals. 
 for example, Most Japanese, will not expect Westerners to have mastered the complexities of
bowing behavior, which relies on perceptions of power/prestige differentials unlikely for a
foreigner to perceive in the same way as native Japanese.
 CONTINUED
 An important part of how we communicate nonverbally involves paralanguage, not what is
said, but how it is said (see Chapter 5). Confusion or conflict can arrive in some cases from
differences in tone or intonation. Donal Carbaugh (2005) gives an example, based on work
done by John Gumperz:

 Example:- As East Asian workers in a cafeteria in London served English customers,

they would ask the customers if they wanted "gravy" [sauce], but asked with falling rather
than rising intonation. While this falling contour of sound signaled a question in Hindi, to
English ears it sounded like a command. The servers thus were heard by British listeners to
be rude and inappropriately bossy, when the server was simply trying to ask, albeit in a
Hindi way, a question. This source of conflict, a misperception of another person's actions
or intent, here attributing rudeness to a difference in communication style, is one of the
more common occurrences in both everyday interactions and in cross-cultural encounters.
 REDUCING CONFLICTS THROUGH :
COMMUNICATION
 Achieving clarity
 State your information clearly and precisely
 Adjust to listener’s level of understanding without being demeaning
 Explain jargon
 Use idioms carefully
 Slow down speaking
 Speak in smaller units
 Repeat key points
 Encourage listener to ask questions
 Check for understanding
 CONCLUSION
 Globalization in business, academia, and many other areas is the main cause behind the wide range
of study of intercultural communication. Miscommunication and misunderstanding in intercultural
scenario lead to conflicts. In multinational companies, international study centers, universities,
international businesses, etc. conflicts are caused because of difficulties in communication and
adaption to the new culture. To avoid and resolve such conflicts, one must give up ethnocentric
feelings and develop ethno relative attitudes. Intercultural perceptions, competence, experiences,
tolerance, habituation, reduction of feeling of anxiety, regular dialogue and cooperation, positive
attitude development, effective communication, understanding, and effective adaptation will help
in conflict resolutions of any kind in the new environment, if any part of the world
 THANKYOU

THANKS!!