Page 125 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

Multidisciplinary perspectives on intercultural conflict 103

showed that although managers preferred a collaborative approach, the British
managers were more avoiding than the Dutch managers, both in their own eyes
and in those of the Dutch. While Britain and the Netherlands are often grouped
together in terms of cultural values, they differ in terms of their need to avoid
uncertainty, with the Dutch having a greater aversion to uncertainty and ambi-
guity (Hofstede 1991, 2001). This is a value that could have a major impact on
preferences for handling conflict.
These findings could be regarded as conceptually problematic, because ac-
cording to Thomas’ orientation framework, neglect is an ineffective orientation,
in that it reflects a lack of concern for the interests of either self or other and en-
tails withdrawal. In fact, other researchers have found that avoiding is moti-
vated by a concern for the relationship with the people involved (e.g., De Dreu
1997; Leung et al. 1990; Markus and Kitayama 1991; Morris et al. 1998). Fried-
man, Chi and Liu (2006) proposed that far from reflecting lack of concern, an
avoiding style could result from concern for others. They hypothesized that it
could reflect three possible concerns: (a) concern that a direct approach will
damage the relationship, (b) concern that a direct approach will be more costly
in cost–benefit terms, and (c) genuine concern for others based on personal
values. They also hypothesized that the hierarchical status of the people in-
volved in the conflict would have an impact. Using respondents from Taiwan
and the USA, their results show a greater tendency for Taiwanese to use avoid-
ance than Americans do. They found that this was explained by higher Taiwan-
ese expectations that direct conflict will hurt the relationship with the other
party, and by greater intrinsic concern for others. They found that it was not ex-
plained by differences in expected career costs/benefits of good/bad relations
with others. In addition, their Taiwanese respondents showed more sensitivity
to hierarchy than their American respondents did, in that avoidance behaviour
was even more important for them when the other party was of higher status.
Superficially these studies suggest that Thomas’ (1976) grid framework has
limited cross-cultural validity. In fact, however, it is important to distinguish
people’s orientations (i.e. the degree to which they want to satisfy their own de-
sires and those of the opposing party) and the tactics that people use to pursue
them. This is a distinction that Thomas himself originally made, and Friedman,
Chi and Liu’s (2006) qualitative data illustrate its importance. They found that
their Chinese respondents often displayed a long-term orientation, reporting
tactics such as ‘do nothing right now, but draw a lesson for future actions’ and
‘say nothing but collect more data on my own’. In other words, they found that
avoidance was a tactic for achieving a satisfactory resolution of the conflict in
the longer-term.
Van Meurs (2003) wanted to assess the motivations for conflict styles by
measuring individual’s concern for clarity, control and inconvenience without
the focus on self vs. other. She found that managers were equally concerned