An analysis of the relationships among face concerns and facework behaviors in perceived conflict situations

Emerald - Tập 19 Số 4 - Trang 382-403 - 2008
JohnOetzel1, Adolfo J.Garcia2, StellaTing‐Toomey3
1Department of Communication and Journalism, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
2University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
3California State University, Fullerton, California, USA

Tóm tắt

PurposePrior research demonstrates the importance of face in conflict situations. However, the direct relationship of face concerns to facework behaviors has limited empirical support. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among self‐, other‐, and mutual‐face concern and 11 facework strategies within Chinese, Japanese, German, and USA national cultures in recalled conflict situations.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted by administering a survey to 768 participants from China, Japan, Germany, and the USA who recalled a conflict situation. Participants completed a self‐report questionnaire about their attitudes and conflict behaviors during a recalled conflict. Regression analysis and comparisons of correlations were utilized to examine relationships between face concerns and facework across the four cultures.FindingsThe major findings are: other‐face is associated with remain calm, apologize, private discussion, giving in and pretend positively and express emotion negatively; self‐face is associated with defend positively; mutual‐face is associated with aggression negatively; associations among face concern and facework strategies have some cultural differences, but are largely consistent for the pan‐cultural relationships among face and facework.Research limitations/implicationsProvides evidence that many of the face/facework relationships are consistent across cultures; uses self‐report questionnaires to operationalize attitudes and behaviors about conflict which are subject to self‐serving bias.Practical implicationsThe findings are useful for scholars and practitioners interested in intercultural communication, negotiation, and conflict. The findings suggest that training participants about face concerns and facework may be fruitful for improving conflict management. Such training needs to consider cultural differences.Originality/valueThe research endeavor directly identifies what relationships exist between face concern and facework. The link was assumed but has limited empirical support and none cross‐culturally.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Baxter, L. (1984), “An investigation of compliance‐gaining as politeness”, Human Communication Research, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 427‐56.

Brett, J.M., Olekalns, M., Friedman, R., Goates, N., Anderson, C. and Lisco, C.C. (2007), “Sticks and stones: language, face, and online dispute resolution”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 50 No. 1, pp. 85‐99.

Brown, P. and Levinson, S. (1987), Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Cai, D.A. and Fink, E.L. (2002), “Conflict style differences between individualists and collectivists”, Communication Monographs, Vol. 69 No. 1, pp. 67‐87.

Clackworthy, D. (1996), “Training Germans and Americans in conflict management”, in Berger, M. (Ed.), Cross‐cultural Team Building: Guidelines for more Effective Communication and Negotiation, McGraw‐Hill, London, pp. 91‐100.

Condon, J. (1984), With Respect to the Japanese: A Guide for Americans, Intercultural Press, Yarmouth, ME.

Domenici, K. and Littlejohn, S.W. (2006), Facework: Bridging Theory and Practice, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Fisher, R. and Ury, W. (1981), Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA.

Friedman, R., Liu, W., Chen, C.C. and Chi, S.C.S. (2007), “Causal attribution for interfirm contract violation: a comparative study of Chinese and American commercial arbitrators”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 92 No. 3, pp. 856‐64.

Gao, G. and Ting‐Toomey, S. (1998), Communicating Effectively with the Chinese, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Gelfand, M.J. and Cai, D.A. (2004), “Cultural structuring of the social context of negotiation”, in Gelfand, M.J. and Brett, J. (Eds), The Handbook of Negotiation and Identity, Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, CA, pp. 238‐357.

Gelfand, M.J. and Knight, A.P. (2005), Cross‐cultural Perspectives on Work‐family Conflict, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.

Gelfand, M.J., Nishii, L.H., Holcombe, K.M., Dyer, N., Ohbuchi, K. and Fukuno, M. (2001), “Cultural influences on cognitive representations of conflict interpretations of conflict episodes in the United States and Japan”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 86 No. 6, pp. 1059‐74.

Goffman, E. (1959), The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Doubleday, Garden City, NJ.

Gudykunst, W. and Nishida, T. (1994), Bridging Japanese/North American Differences, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Hu, H.C. (1944), “The Chinese concepts of ‘face’”, American Anthropologist, Vol. 46, pp. 45‐64.

Imahori, T.T. and Cupach, W.R. (2005), “Identity management theory: facework in intercultural relationships”, in Gudykunst, W.B. (Ed.), Theorizing about Intercultural Communication, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 195‐210.

Kashima, Y. (1989), “Conceptions of person: implications in individualism/collectivism research”, in Kagitcibasi, C. (Ed.), Growth and Progress in Cross‐cultural Psychology, Swets & Zeitlinger, Amsterdam, pp. 104‐12.

Kim, M‐S. and Leung, T. (2000), “A multicultural view of conflict management styles: review and critical synthesis”, in Roloff, M.E. (Ed.), Communication Yearbook 23, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 227‐69.

Kim, M‐S., Lee, H‐R., Kim, I.D. and Hunter, J.E. (2004), “A test of a cultural model of conflict styles”, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 197‐222.

Martin, J.N. (1993), “Intercultural communication competence: a review”, in Wiseman, R.L. and Koester, J. (Eds), Intercultural Communication Competence, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 16‐29.

Moore, C.W. (1996), The Mediation Process: Practical Strategies for Resolving Conflict, Jossey‐Bass, San Francisco, CA.

Morisaki, S. and Gudykunst, W.B. (1994), “Face in Japan and the United States”, in Ting‐Toomey, S. (Ed.), The Challenge of Facework, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, pp. 47‐93.

Oetzel, J.G. (1998), “The effects of self‐construal and ethnicity on self‐reported conflict styles”, Communication Reports, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 133‐44.

Oetzel, J.G. (1999), “The influence of situational features on perceived conflict styles and self‐construals in work groups”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 679‐95.

Oetzel, J.G. and Garcia, A.J. (2007), “Managing intercultural conflict: applying the conflict based situational model”, in Hinner, M.B. (Ed.), Freiberger Beitrage: A Forum for General and Intercultural Business Communication, Vol. 4, Peter Lang, Bern, pp. 157‐84.

Oetzel, J.G. and Ting‐Toomey, S. (2003), “Face concerns in interpersonal conflict: a cross‐cultural empirical test of the face negotiation theory”, Communication Research, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 599‐624.

Oetzel, J.G. and Ting‐Toomey, S. (Eds) (2006), The Sage Handbook of Conflict Communication, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Oetzel, J.G., Myers, K.K., Meares, M.M. and Lara, E. (2003a), “Interpersonal conflict in organizations: explaining conflict styles via face‐negotiation theory”, Communication Research Reports, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 106‐15.

Oetzel, J.G., Ting‐Toomey, S., Yokochi, Y., Masumoto, T. and Takai, J. (2000), “A typology of facework behaviors in conflicts with best friends and relative strangers”, Communication Quarterly, Vol. 48 No. 4, pp. 397‐419.

Oetzel, J.G., Ting‐Toomey, S., Chew‐Sanches, M.I., Harris, R., Wilcox, R. and Stumpf, S. (2003b), “Face and facework in conflict with parents and siblings: a cross‐cultural comparison of Germans, Japanese, Mexicans, and US Americans”, Journal of Family Communication, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 67‐93.

Oetzel, J.G., Ting‐Toomey, S., Masumoto, T., Yokochi, Y., Pan, X., Takai, J. and Wilcox, R. (2001), “Face and facework in conflict: a cross‐cultural comparison of China, Germany, Japan, and the United States”, Communication Monographs, Vol. 68 No. 3, pp. 235‐58.

Ohbuchi, K., Fukushima, O. and Tedeschi, J.T. (1999), “Cultural values in conflict management: goal orientation, goal attainment, and tactical decision”, Journal of Cross‐cultural Psychology, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 51‐71.

Putnam, L.L. and Wilson, C. (1983), “Communication strategies in organizational conflict: reliability and validity of a measurement”, in Burgoon, M. (Ed.), Communication Yearbook 6, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA, pp. 629‐52.

Rahim, M.A. (2001), Managing Conflict in Organizations, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.

Rencher, A.C. (2002), Methods of Multivariate Analysis, Wiley, New York, NY.

Rogan, R.G. and Hammer, M.R. (1994), “Crisis negotiations: a preliminary investigation of facework in naturalistic conflict discourse”, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 216‐31.

Sillars, A.L., Coletti, S.F., Parry, D. and Rogers, M.A. (1982), “Coding verbal conflict tactics: nonverbal and perceptual correlates of the ‘avoidance‐distributive‐integrative’ distinction”, Human Communication Research, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 83‐95.

Singelis, T. and Brown, W. (1995), “Culture, self, and collectivist communication: linking culture to individual behavior”, Human Communication Research, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 354‐89.

Spitzberg, B.H. (1989), “Issues in the development of a theory of interpersonal competence in the intercultural context”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 241‐68.

Ting‐Toomey, S. (1988), “Intercultural conflict styles: a face negotiation theory”, in Kim, Y.Y. and Gudykunst, W.B. (Eds), Theories in Intercultural Communication, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 213‐35.

Ting‐Toomey, S. (Ed.) (1993), The Challenge of Facework, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY.

Ting‐Toomey, S. (1994), “Managing intercultural conflicts effectively”, in Samovar, L. and Porter, R. (Eds), Intercultural Communication: A Reader, Wadsworth, Belmont, CA, pp. 360‐72.

Ting‐Toomey, S. (1997), “Intercultural conflict competence”, in Cupach, W. and Canary, D. (Eds), Competence in Interpersonal Conflict, McGraw‐Hill, New York, NY, pp. 120‐47.

Ting‐Toomey, S. (2005), “The matrix of face: an updated face‐negotiation theory”, in Gudykunst, W.B. (Ed.), Theorizing about Intercultural Communication, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 71‐92.

Ting‐Toomey, S. and Kurogi, A. (1998), “Facework competence in intercultural conflict: an updated face‐negotiation theory”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 187‐225.

Ting‐Toomey, S. and Oetzel, J.G. (2001), Managing Intercultural Conflict Effectively, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Ting‐Toomey, S., Yee‐Jung, K.K., Shapiro, R.B., Garcia, W., Wright, T.T. and Oetzel, J.G. (2000), “Ethnic/cultural identity salience and conflict styles in four U.S. ethnic groups”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 47‐81.

Ting‐Toomey, S., Gao, G., Trubisky, P., Yang, Z., Kim, H.S., Lin, S.L. and Nishida, T. (1991), “Culture, face maintenance, and styles of handling interpersonal conflict: a study of five cultures”, The International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 2 No. 4, pp. 275‐96.

Triandis, H.C. (1995), Individualism and Collectivism, Westview Press, Boulder, CO.

Trubisky, P., Ting‐Toomey, S. and Lin, S.L. (1991), “The influence of individualism‐collectivism and self‐monitoring on conflict styles”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 65‐84.

Wilson, S.R. (1992), “Face and facework in negotiation”, in Putnam, L.L. and Roloff, M.E. (Eds), Communication and Negotiation, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 176‐205.

Wilson, S.R., Aleman, C.G. and Leatham, G.B. (1998), “Identity implications of influence goals: a revised analysis of face‐threatening acts and application to seeking compliance with same‐sex friends”, Human Communication Research, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 64‐96.

Chen, G.M. and Ma, R. (2002), Chinese Conflict Management and Resolution, Ablex Publishing, Westport, CT.

Gao, G. (1998), “An initial analysis of the effect of face and concern for ‘other’ in Chinese interpersonal communication”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 467‐82.

Leung, K. (1987), “Some determinants of reactions to procedural models of conflict resolution: a cross national study”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 53 No. 5, pp. 898‐908.

Ma, R. (1992), “The role of unofficial intermediaries in interpersonal conflict in the Chinese culture”, Communication Quarterly, Vol. 40 No. 3, pp. 269‐78.

Ting‐Toomey, S., Oetzel, J.G. and Yee‐Jung, K. (2001), “Self construal types and conflict management styles”, Communication Reports, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 87‐104.

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Emerald

Tập 19 Số 4

382-403

Thông tin tác giả