Understanding Intercultural

Communication Second Edition

Chapter 9

How Can We Manage Intercultural Conflict

Flexibly?

Stella Ting-Toomey & Leeva C. Chung

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

PowerPoint Slides Designed by Alex Flecky and Noorie Baig

 TODAY’S MENU

I. Intercultural Conflict: Cultural

Background Factors
II. Intercultural Conflict Process Factors
III. Flexible Intercultural Conflict Skills
IV. Intercultural Reality Check: Do-
Ables
What culture they belong to?
I. Intercultural Conflict: Cultural
Background Factors

Intercultural conflict:
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.
 I. Intercultural Conflict: Cultural
Background Factors
A. Culture-Based Conflict Lenses
Independent-self conflict Interdependent-self conflict
lens lens

Content conflict goal lens Relational process lens

Win-lose conflict approach Win-win relational approach

“Doing” angle “Being” angle

Outcome-driven mode Long-term compromising

negotiation mode
Find out your conflict lens… then think of the pros & cons of
each conflict style.
I. Intercultural Conflict: Cultural
Background Factors
B. Intercultural Workplace Conflict Grid
• Uses two value dimensions
(individualism-collectivism and power
distance) to form grid with four
approaches.
I. Intercultural Conflict: Cultural
Background Factors
B. Intercultural Workplace Conflict Grid
Which conflict approach applied in
each situation?
 If an interpersonal conflict arises between a manager and an employee, the
manager has the responsibility to deal with the conflict in an objective,
upfront, and decisive manner. The employee is sometimes invited to
provide feedback and reactions to the fact-finding process. He or she can
also ask for clear justifications and evidence from the manager.
 Managers think of themselves as individuals with interlocking connections
with others and as members of a hierarchical network
 Employees often feel that they have the freedom to voice directly their
complaints about their managers in the workplace. At the same time, they
do not expect their managers to change much because they are their bosses
and thus, by virtue of their titles, hold certain rights and power resources.
 Authentic interdependent connection to others and genuine equality via
respectful communication exchanges at all levels are applied in this culture.
I. Intercultural Conflict: Cultural
Background Factors
C. Intercultural Conflict Perceptions: Three
primary perception features of intercultural
conflict:
1. Conflict involves intercultural perceptions,
filtered through lenses of ethnocentrism and
stereotypes.
2. Ethnocentric perceptions add biases and prejudice
to conflict attribution process.
3. Attribution process further compounded by
different culture-based verbal and nonverbal
conflict styles.
What are their conflict styles?
I. Intercultural Conflict: Cultural
Background Factors
D. Intercultural Conflict Goal Issues
1. Content goals – practical issues people face
2. Relational conflict goals - how individuals define
the relationship
3. Identity-based goals - face saving and face
hornoring
E. Perceived Scarce Resources
1. Conflict resources – tangible/intangible resources
2. Tangible resources
3. Intangible resources
II. Intercultural Conflict Process Factors
A. Defining Conflict Styles:

Three approaches to studying conflict styles:

• Dispositional approach – individual have
predominant style
• Situational approach – conflict style varies with
context/situation
• Systems approach – integration both dispositional
and situational
GENERAL CONFLICT STYLE ASSESSMENT
II. Intercultural Conflict Process Factors
Five-style conflict grid
II. Intercultural Conflict Process Factors
Activity: Draw an animal that depicts your
prototypical conflict style
 Turtle
 Teddy Bear
 Shark
 Fox
 Owl

Now assess your specific conflict style

• Discuss your style with a partner.
• Think of the pros & cons of each conflict style
II. Intercultural Conflict Process Factors
B. Cross-Cultural Conflict Styles
• Face: Socially approved self-image and
other-image consideration issues.

• Facework: Verbal and nonverbal

strategies used to maintain, defend, or
upgrade our social self-image and attack
or defend (“save”) social images of
others.
II. Intercultural Conflict Process Factors
B. Cross-Cultural Conflict Styles
Face-negotiation theory helps explain how
individualism-collectivism value patterns influence
use of diverse conflict styles in different
situations.
C. Cross-Ethnic Conflict Styles and Facework
Can you guess the different kinds of conflict styles used by
African Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans,
Latino/a Americans, and Native Americans on a general
patterned level?
III. Flexible Intercultural Conflict Skills
A. Facework Management
• Self-oriented face-saving behaviors:
Attempts to regain or defend one’s image after
threats to face or face loss.
• Other-oriented face-giving behaviors:
Attempts to support others’ face claims and
work with them to prevent further face loss or
help them restore face constructively. Giving
face means not humiliating others in public.
III. Flexible Intercultural Conflict Skills
B. Mindful Listening
• A face-validation and power-sharing skill;
listening with focused attentiveness to
cultural and personal assumptions expressed.
• Involves learning to listen responsively, or
ting (Chinese: “attending mindfully with our
ears, eyes, and a focused heart”).
III. Flexible Intercultural Conflict Skills
B. Mindful Listening
III. Flexible Intercultural Conflict Skills

Mindless Listening Mindful Listening

Ethnocentric lens
Reactive approach
Selective hearing
Defensive posture
“Struggle against”
Judgmental attitude
Emotional outbursts
Coercive power
Positional differences
Fixed objectives
Win-lose/lose-lose outcome
Ethnorelative lens
Proactive/choice approach
Attentive listening
Supportive posture
“Struggle with”
Mindful reframing
Vulnerability shared
Shared power
Common interests
Creative options
Win-win synergy
III. Flexible Intercultural Conflict Skills
C. Cultural Empathy
Perspective-take accurately the self-experiences
of others and convey your understanding
responsively.
D. Mindful Reframing
How you “frame” conflict via neutrally-toned
language may soften conflict defensiveness.
E. Adaptive Code-Switching
Purposefully modifying one’s verbal and
nonverbal behaviors in conflict interaction.
Mindful reframing
The following are some specific suggestions for
mindful reframing:
(1)restate conflict positions into common-interest
terms,
(2)change complaint statements into requests,
(3)move from blaming statements to mutual-
focused, problem-solving statements,
(4)help those in conflict recognize the benefits of a
win–win synergistic approach, and (5) help
conflict parties understand the “big picture.
IV. Intercultural Reality Check: Do-Ables
To deal with conflict in a collectivistic
culture, individualists need to do the
following:
1. Be mindful of mutual face-saving premises,
especially delicate balance of humiliation and pride,
respect and disrespect, and shame and honor issues.
2. Practice patient, mindful observation and limit
“why?” questions.
3. Practice mindful listening skills, attend to others’
identity and relational expectation issues.
Remember listen can become silent and vice versa
by rearranging the letters.
IV. Intercultural Reality Check: Do-
Ables
In conflict situations in an individualistic
culture, collectivists need to do the
following:
1. Use assertive conflict behavior and state a clear
thesis, then systematically develop key points.
2. Use “I” statements and more “why?” questions.
3. Engage in active listening skills (rephrasing and
perception checking); do not rely solely on
nonverbal signals or count on other people to gauge
đo personal reactions.
Discussion
To deal with conflict in a high power
distance culture, low power distance culture
people need to do what things?
Actively listen + give respect to them
To deal with conflict in a low power
distance culture, high power distance
culture people need to do what things?
 Parting Thoughts…

Conflict = Chaos = Danger + Opportunity

Learn to listen to the identity stories, yearnings,

and nuances behind the fighting words.

~ Stella Ting-Toomey