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Conflict management through communication: introduction
Conflict management through communication: introduction
Conflict resolution techniques collaboration, compromise, competition, avoidance, accommodation
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Differences between High Context and Low Context Societies
Context is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as either being “the words that are used with a certain word or phrase and that help to explain its meaning” or “the situation in which something happens: the group of conditions that exist where and when something happens” (Merriam-Webster). These definitions refer to the way a word or phrase is said or to the place in which an action or group of actions occur which help define something and give it meaning to others. Edward T. Hall in his book Beyond Culture then used these definitions to formulate a theory for developing a basis upon which others could use to describe different cultures and features of those within (Hall, 1976). High context cultures are those in which the population tends to use many subtle actions and the environment to convey messages to others whilst low context cultures depend mainly on written and verbal communication that is explicitly stated. Much of the meaning is thought to be associated with the relationships that the people have who are in contact with one another. The stronger the bond, the easier it is to develop a relationship where context can be used to relate ideas, thoughts or meanings without a word being said. Take for example when friends talk to each other. Not everything has to be explicitly stated because prior experiences between the two or more allows for subtleness to be used. In comparison, when two strangers are discussing an issue they are a lot more prone to use explicit ways in which they can both convey and understand each other. Imagine this example on a large scale. Here we have the development of high and low context cultures. This idea is especially apparent when...
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...lectivist culture can also influence the decision making process of the parties involved. Once a mutual understanding is achieved between parties and a respect for both cultures initiated, trade can occur.
Works Cited
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Lewicki, J. R., Barry, B., & Saunders, M. D. (2010). Negotiation: Readings, exercises and cases
Turman, P. (October 25, 2000f). Group Cohesiveness and Conflict: Group Communication [Lecture] Cedar Falls, IA. University of Northern Iowa, Communication Studies Department.
Lewicki, J. R., Barry, B., & Saunders, M. D. (2011). Essentials of negotiation (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. ISBN-13: 9780073530369
Pruitt, Dean G, and Sung Hee Kim. Social Conflict: Escalation, Stalemate, and Settlement. 3rd ed. 2004. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2004.
Lewicki, R. J., Saunders, D. M., & Barry, B. (2010). Negotiation Readings, Exercises and Cases (6th ed.). New York, NY, US: McGraw-Hill.
O’Rourke, J. & Collins, S. (2008). Managing Conflict and Workplace Relationships. New York: Cengage Learning.
...tract, some cultures view the negotiation process as being about building a relationship, not getting a signed contract. In this type of negotiations the culture who is more concerned about a contract must work at building a relationship, rather than just stating the positive facts of the contract for both companies. Such misunderstandings could result in the negotiations leading to the loss of a contract. If business people do not know more than just the cultural tendencies of the people they are negotiating with, then they will have a much harder time to relate, connect, and ultimately to get a contract. Not knowing more than just cultural tendencies of people that you are working with can create frustrations and misunderstandings for others and yourself, and worst of all, it can lead to a breakdown in communication and the relationship between two companies.
Abigail, R. A., & Cahn, D. D. (2011). Managing conflict through communication. 4th Ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Lewicki, J. R., Barry, B., & Saunders, M. D. (2006). Negotiation: Readings, Exercises and Cases (5th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
Negotiating styles are grouped into five types; Competing, Collaborating, Comprising, Avoidance, and Accommodating (Colburn, 2010). Even though it is possible to exhibit different parts of the five types of negation styles in different situations, can see that my tendencies seem to default to, Compromise and Accommodating. In reviewing the course work and reviewing my answers for Questionnaire 1 and 5, I find that the data reflects the same assumption. The accommodating profile is one where relationship perseveration is everything and giving what the other side wants is the route to winning people over. Accommodators are well liked by their colleagues and opposite party negotiators (Colburn, 2010). When analyzing my accommodating tenancy in negations, I find often it is easier to give into the demands when they are within a reasonable range. I often consider it the part of providing a high level of customer service. It has been my experience that continued delaying and not coming to an agreement in a topic will only shorten the window in which you will have to meet the request since. The cons to this style are by accommodating highly competitive styles the accommodator can give up to much ground in the process. “Giving away value too easily too early can signal to your negotiation counterpart that you've very deep pockets, and your gift is just a taster of bigger and better gifts to come”. The other negations type I default to is compromising. Compromising “often involves splitting the difference; usually resulting in an end position of about half way between both parties’ opening positions” (Colburn, 2010). In the absence of a good rationale or balanced exchanged concessions, half way betwee...
Culture is the clothing each of us dawn every day that give people around us a general sense of who we are. The language around a culture is the code in which we communicate with one another in our own culture. When two of the same cultures are interacting, nothing is lost in translation, nothing is misunderstood, and above all they have had relatively the same personal experiences and see things in the same way. It is when you leave one culture and go to another culture that the code in which we use to communicate is misunderstood and things are lost in translation. Even the the cloths of our culture which identifies us in our identity wardrobe are called into question in the interaction of foreign cultures. It is important for us to know
Zhang, Jian-Dong; Liu, Leigh Anne; Liu, Wu. “Trust and Decption in Negotiation: Culturally Divergent Effects.” Management and Organization Review, [early view].
Any negotiation challenges the parties involved in a variety of ways, but parties with conflicting interests face important additional difficulties when attempting to negotiate an agreement across culture lines. Not only will the difficulties arising from the known similarities and differences of opinion be more pronounced, but also unsuspected factors could easily enter the picture and condition perceptions of the situation. In cross-cultural negotiations, a reasonable second acknowledgment should be that the hidden factors that are always at work are more likely to interfere with reaching an agreement. It is especially important that this acknowledgment be understood to apply not only to the dynamics of interactions across the table, but those of individuals on the same side of the table. [At times, it may be tempting to attribute the outcomes of negotiations to a single variable (such as the culture or the relative power of a country).] The term culture has taken on many different meanings but basically it reflects the shared values. Culture affects negotiations in different ways. In this paper, we are going to discuss the American and Jap...
Culture and society, while important terms to the field of anthropology, are often misunderstood or misused by new students. They are frequently used in daily life, but with a somewhat different context and meaning than those used in anthropological discussions, hence the misunderstanding. They refer to concepts which act as foundations of this field, and it is difficult to make sense of both old and new studies or ideas without them.
Ya’akub, A. N. (2014). Negotiation. [PowerPoint slides]. Faculty of Social Sciences. University of Malaysia Sarawak.