Page 122 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

100 Nathalie van Meurs and Helen Spencer-Oatey

contribute to the maintenance and cohesion of groups, and it can stimulate re-
flection and change. So in these senses, it can be positive.
According to Hammer (2005: 676), conflict entails two key elements: (a)
perceived (substantive) disagreement and (b) strong, negative emotions. The
source of the disagreement or incompatibility can be various, of course. It could
be that people have incompatible attitudes, values, and beliefs; or it could be
that two parties require the same resource, or need to engage in incompatible
activities to acquire a goal. In terms of affective experience, Rahim (1992: 17)
argues that the incompatibilities, disagreements, or differences must be suffi-
ciently intense for the parties to experience conflict. Yet, there can be
differences in people’s threshold of conflict awareness or tolerance, and this can
sometimes be a cause of conflict in itself.
Conflict can be classified into two basic types, according to whether its pre-
dominant basis or source is cognitive or affective. Cognitive conflict results
from differences of opinion on task-related issues such as scarce resources, pol-
icies and procedures, whereas affective, psychological, or relational conflict
stems from differences in emotions and feelings (De Dreu 1997, Rahim 1992,
Thomas 1976). Of course, these sources are not mutually exclusive, in that a
conflict can start by being about a task-related issue and then develop into a per-
sonality clash.
What, then, do intercultural researchers want to find out through their study
of conflict? There are three fundamental issues:
– What are the procedural characteristics of conflictive episodes? What tac-
tics, communicative styles and linguistic strategies can be used to manage
them?
– What factors influence the preferences, styles and tactics that people may
choose, and what positive and negative impacts do they have on the out-
comes? How may cultural differences impact on the emergence and man-
agement of conflict?
– What role does communication play in the emergence and management of
conflict?
The following sections explore some of the main approaches that researchers
have taken in addressing these questions.

3. Classic frameworks for analysing conflict

3.1. Thomas’ (1976) models of dyadic conflict

Kenneth Thomas (1976), in a classic paper, proposed two complementary mod-
els of conflict – a process model and a structural model. The process model fo-
cuses on the sequence of events within a conflict episode, whilst the structural
model focuses on the underlying factors that influence the events.