Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Part One Introduction
- Part Two Representational theories of culture
- Part Three Psychological functions of culture
- Part Four Manifestations of cultural processes
- 8 Culture and Self-Enhancement
- 9 Cultural Processes Underlying Subjective Well-Being
- 10 Cultural Processes in Teams: The Development of Team Mental Models in Heterogeneous Work Teams
- 11 Harmony, Illusory Relationship Costs, and Conflict Resolution in Chinese Contexts
- Part Five Transcultural processes
- Index
- References
11 - Harmony, Illusory Relationship Costs, and Conflict Resolution in Chinese Contexts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Part One Introduction
- Part Two Representational theories of culture
- Part Three Psychological functions of culture
- Part Four Manifestations of cultural processes
- 8 Culture and Self-Enhancement
- 9 Cultural Processes Underlying Subjective Well-Being
- 10 Cultural Processes in Teams: The Development of Team Mental Models in Heterogeneous Work Teams
- 11 Harmony, Illusory Relationship Costs, and Conflict Resolution in Chinese Contexts
- Part Five Transcultural processes
- Index
- References
Summary
Management of interpersonal conflicts has attracted researchers’ interest in the fields of psychology and management. Previous studies have documented drastic cultural differences in preferred conflict management styles, with Chinese people having a greater preference for conflict avoidance (e.g., Tjosvold & Sun, 2002) and Westerners having a greater preference for direct, confrontational strategies (Friedman, Chi, & Liu, 2006; Morris et al., 1998). The need to understand this cultural difference has become more pressing than ever given the rising economic power of China and the increasing prominence of Chinese companies as global business partners or competitors in international business.
In this chapter, we will provide a cultural explanation for Chinese people's tendency to avoid conflicts. This explanation pertains to the importance that Chinese culture accords to the values of maintaining harmonious interpersonal relationships. The concern with interpersonal harmony could lead Chinese people to erroneously overestimate the relationship costs of direct confrontation, believing that using a direct approach to conflict management would evoke strong negative reactions from and hurt the relationship with the other disputant. This belief would result in a preference for conflict avoidance, which ironically could increase tension in future interactions between the disputants.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Cultural ProcessesA Social Psychological Perspective, pp. 188 - 210Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
References
1992 Discriminant validity of measures of job satisfaction, positive affectivity and negative affectivityJournal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 65 185CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2002 Conflict style differences between individualists and collectivistsCommunication Monographs 69 67CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2000 Intergroup conflict management framework for Hong Kong's manufacturing industryEngineering Management Journal 12 26CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1991 Hierarchical social relations and justice judgment among Hong Kong Chinese college studentsJournal of Social Psychology 131 885CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1991 Righteousness: The notion of justice in Chinese societiesChinese people and Chinese mind: The cultural tradition261). Taipei, TaiwanYuan-Liu Publishing CoGoogle Scholar
2004 Symbols and interactions: Application of the CCC model to culture, language, and social identityLanguage mattersHong KongCity University of Hong Kong PressGoogle Scholar
1997 Justice from a Chinese perspectiveAsian perspectives on psychology164New Delhi, IndiaSage PublicationsGoogle Scholar
1987 Conflict resolution styles in low- and high-context culturesCommunications Research Reports 4 32Google Scholar
2001 Cultural variation: Considerations and implicationsPsychological Bulletin 127 451CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2000 Complementarity theory: Why human social capacities evolved to require cultural complementsPersonality and Social Psychology Review 4 76CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2006 An expectancy model of Chinese-American differences in conflict-avoidingJournal of International Business Studies 37 76CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1974
1991 Relational orientation: An inquiry on the methodology of Chinese social psychologyChinese psychology and behavior49Taipei, TaiwanKuei-Kuan Publishing CoGoogle Scholar
2001 Metarelational analysis: An answer to “What is Asian about Asian social psychology?Journal of Psychology in Chinese Societies 2 7Google Scholar
1979 Some interpersonal effects of assertion, nonassertion and aggressionBehavioral Therapy 10 20CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1987 Face and favor: The Chinese power gameAmerican Journal of Sociology 92 944CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1979 A preliminary model of particularistic ties in Chinese political alliance: “Renqing” and “guanxi” in a rural Taiwanese TownshipChina Quarterly 78 237CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1974 Effects of covert modeling and model reinforcement on assertive behaviorJournal of Abnormal Psychology 83 240CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1982 Interpersonal reactions to assertive and unassertive styles when handling social conflict situationsJournal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 13 33CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
1997 Culture and conflict management: A theoretical frameworkInternational Journal of Conflict Management 8 338CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1987 Some determinants of reaction to procedural models for conflict resolution: A cross-national studyJournal of Personality and Social Psychology 53 898CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1997 Negotiation and reward allocations across culturesNew perspectives on international industrial organizational psychology640San FranciscoNew LexingtonGoogle Scholar
1984 The impact of cultural collectivism on reward allocationJournal of Personality and Social Psychology 47 793CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2006 1
1971 Behavior rehearsal with modeling and coaching in assertive trainingJournal of Abnormal Psychology 77 313CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1998 Conflict management style: Accounting for cross-national differencesJournal of International Business Studies 29 729CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1999 Cultural values in conflict management: Goal orientation, goal attainment, and tactics decisionJournal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 30 51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1983 A measure of styles of handling interpersonal conflictAcademy of Management Journal 26 368Google ScholarPubMed
1994 The measurement of independent and interdependent self-construalsPersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin 20 580CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1983 Measurement of interpersonal orientationJournal of Personality and Social Psychology 44 208CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1976 Support for a two-dimensional model of conflict behaviorOrganizational Behavior and Human Performance 16 142Google Scholar
1991 Culture, face maintenance, and styles of handling interpersonal conflict: A study of five culturesInternational Journal of Conflict Management 2 275CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1985 Implications of controversy research for managementJournal of Management 11 21CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2002 Understanding conflict avoidance: Relationship, motivation, actions, and consequencesInternational Journal of Conflict Management 13 142CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1995 Chinese social orientation: An integrative analysisChinese societies and mental health19Hong KongOxford University PressGoogle Scholar
2001 The effects of frequency of social interaction and relationship closeness on reward allocationJournal of Psychology 135 154CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2005
2006 Chinese conceptions of justice and reward allocationIndigenous and cultural psychology: Understanding people in context403New YorkSpringerCrossRefGoogle Scholar
2007 24
1998 Beyond distributive justice: The reasonableness norm in Chinese reward allocationAsian Journal of Social Psychology 1 253CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2001 An investigation of the concept of renqingInterpersonal relationship, trust, and affect223TaipeiYuan LiuGoogle Scholar
- 3
- Cited by