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Intercultural Spr2006 Sess22

Index Card Assignment Due today

Attend one or more of the Communication Department Presentations at Quest Day on Wednesday, April 17. Most of these presentations are located in Lanigan 104 and run from 8:30am to 2:00pm. Additional presentations are in Lanigan 107a at 3:15 and 3:30. Check the Quest brochure, which is currently available outside the CELT center in the library, but which should be generally available in Lanigan Hall and other places around campus on Wednesday, for details of what presentations are at what time. On one side of an index card indicate which presentation you attended and what you found interesting about it. The lecture of most interest to this class are John Kares Smith's talk about Hiroshima, in Lanigan 104 at 1:45.

Conflict, Dialogue, and Mediation

IC In Context, c. 11; Readings In IC, c. 35 & 36

• Conflict is a given in society
  • We compete for scarce resources
  • We disagree about the right way to deal with problems
  • We stereotype and misrepresent each other
  • We let small problems go out of proportion by putting our ego or "face" in front of good sense
  • We even attempt to force our views on others
• Where is conflict on the struggle spectrum (Keltner)
  1. Mild difference
  2. Disagreement
  3. Displute
  4. Campaign
  5. Litigation
  6. Fight
• Where does conflict come from
  • Conflicting Goals
  • Incommensurate experience
    • Life Scripts
    • Values
• What is conflict about?
  • Getting our way
  • Winning
  • Discovering our assumptions so we can understand and deal with them.
    • Assumptions
    • Attributions
    • Valuations
  • Chemical reactions that sometimes spill over into other things
    • Emotion
• Conflict can be viewed as an opportunity or a problem
  • Conflict as Opportunity
    • It gives us a view of our differences
    • It provides an opportunity to reexamine what we believe
    • It provides the creative challenge of finding resolutions to our differences
    • And gives us an opportunity to evolve and renew our relationships
    • But none of this is possible if either party is unwilling to listen, have an open mind, negotiate, or change their mind.
  • Conflict as Destructive
    • It disturbs the peace
    • It elevates the individual over the collective
    • It wastes time, destroys relationships, and is ineffective
    • It reflects a lack of discipline on the part of the individual
• Our orientation to conflict reflects cultural values and is reflected in cultural behavior
  • The view that conflict is constructive (or at least inevitable) is a common western view
    • An individualist orientation is consistent with a pro-conflict orientation
  • The view that conflict is destructive is a common eastern view
    • One shared by some Western religions
    • A collectivist orientation is consistent with an anti-conflict orientation.
• Interpersonal Approaches to Conflict
  • Types of Conflict
    • Affective
      • Divergent Levels of Affection
    • of Interest
      • Disagreement over appropriate courses of action
    • Value
      • Different ideologies
      • Expressed as divergent decisions under the same circumstances
    • Cognitive
      • Differences in perception of a situation
    • Goal
      • Different preferred outcomes
• Styles of Managing Conflict
  • Dominating
    • A win-lose orientation in which the individual favors the self over the other
  • Obliging
    • Putting the relationship in front of the issue.
  • Avoiding
    • Withdrawing from, sidestepping, or bypassing conflict.
  • Compromising
    • A win-win/lose-lose orientation in which each party gives something up and gains.
  • Integrating
    • A win-win orientation in which high levels of concern are expressed for both self and other
• Critical Approaches
  • Social Conflict
    • Social Movements
    • International Conflict
• Sources of conflict
  • Social Class
  • Economics
  • History
  • Politics
• Managing Intercultural Conflict
  • Productive/Destructive
  • Cooperation/Competition
    • Competition breeds distrust, duspicion, deception, rigidity, and even coercion
    • Cooerative atmospheres breed flexibility, open communication, perceived similarity, and even trust
  • Dealing with Conflict
    • Establish and recognize the importance of context to conflict
    • Understand your own style
    • Recognize and respect differences in style
    • Stay in contact. Silence breeds suspicion.
    • Avoid polarizing actions.
    • Be creative
    • Be ready to forgive
  • Mediation
    • Bring a neutral set of eys to the dispute
    • The hard part is trusting their neutrality
      • and being willing to let someone else decide

• Listening
• Empathy
• Negotiation
• Implicature