Editorial

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Conflict Management, Volume 26, Issue 3

Introduction

This special issue of the International Journal of Conflict Management is dedicated to research that focuses on conflict management in China. This issue includes five excellent studies that are based on strong theoretical foundations that have emerged from prior conflict management research. Each of the studies in this special issue is summarized below.

Overview of studies

The study by Bai, Harms, Han and Cheng examined dialectical thinking as a cognitive style that can influence the effectiveness of leaders on employee and team performance. Dialectical thinking is a cognitive style that tolerates contradictions and inconsistencies and resolves them through compromise and integration. This type of cognition has been studied in Western cultures. However, the authors proposed that westerners tend to think of things as more fixed, whereas individuals in East Asian cultures have a tendency to accept these dialectics as an ongoing process that cycles back and forth over time. This study focused on the extent to which leaders’ use of dialectical thinking influenced the resolution of conflicts. The data from 222 employees in 43 teams working in Chinese high-tech manufacturing company were examined using multi-level structural equation modeling. The data showed that leaders’ dialectical thinking was associated with greater employee creativity and in-role performance. The data also showed that these positive effects were the result of increasing the use of cooperative as opposed to competitive conflict tactics as a part of dialectical thinking. This increased the level of constructive task conflict and reduced destructive relationship conflict. An interesting question for future research is whether these positive effects of dialectical thinking can be generalized to other cultures.

The study by Wong, Wei and Tjosvold examined the role of social face to enhance the relationships between businesses and government regulators. Social face is important in Chinese culture. Social face is a positive image that people want to project to others. If a person is perceived by others as strong and competent, he/she will have a positive social face. Moreover, people often want assurance or confirmation that others accept their positive social face. Higher levels of social face were expected to enable Chinese to openly discuss even the most divisive issues. Survey data from 146 matched pairs of business managers and government regulators in Shanghai, China, were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The measure of social face included four items measuring whether business partners respected each other as competent, strong and effective. The results indicated that cooperative interdependent goals (as opposed to competitive goals) increased perceptions of mutual social face, which in turn increased confidence in business regulators. Cooperative relationships with government regulators are particularly important for business success in China. However, these findings might generalize to other countries and cultures as well, where cooperative relationships between businesses and government regulators can also be important to success.

The study by Chin and Liu examined harmony as a driving force in the resolution of a labor management conflict in China. In Western thinking, harmony tends to be perceived as a resolution of contradictions. In China, harmony is more of an ongoing process in which permanently coexisting opposite Yin – Yang factors interact over time in a dynamic, constantly changing and yet balancing process that proceeds through stages. The authors explained the origins of this ongoing dynamic and illustrated how the 5C stages, conflict, clash, communication, compromise and consensus, were encountered in a labor dispute in China. This study adopted a grounded theory qualitative approach to describe a dispute involving a strike organized by a large number of workers in China. These workers were represented by the officially sanctioned labor union. In many Western countries, the role of the labor union is to act primarily as the representative of workers negotiating on their behalf. In China, labor unions are also required to play an important role in maintaining harmonious relationships between workers and management to maintain productivity and support the interests of the country. Thus, it is more likely that they will be expected to act as mediators instead of negotiators. In this case study, the authors used both qualitative and quantitative data to describe the process through which this labor conflict evolved. Empirical data showed that low scores on measures of harmony with the corporate system, harmony with departments and harmony with the firm’s leader were possible causes of the labor dispute. Nevertheless, the conflict evolved through the harmonizing process that proceeded through the abovementioned 5C stages. An interesting question for future research is whether the acceptance of the Yin – Yang dynamic can facilitate an understanding of ongoing conflicts in other contexts.

The study by Yang, Lan and He examined the roles and influence tactics used by scholars acting as third-party neutrals in environmental community conflicts. This action-oriented research study utilized three methods of data collection: interviews, participant observation and archival records. The scholars were involved with 35 actual environmental community conflict cases in China. These cases involved organizations, citizens, government officials and scholars as the third-party neutral facilitators. The scholars played seven types of roles in these cases, for example leaders, organizers, information brokers and the like. The cases were characterized as either successful or failed conflict resolution. Eight factors were identified that had the potential to influence the success of scholars’ efforts. These included sustained participation, capacity and community social capital, among others. These factors were analogous to different types of influence tactics. The relationships between seven scholar roles and eight factors were examined. Scholars’ sustained participation, their involvement in improvement of community member organization and optimized action strategies were the most influential scholars’ roles. This study illustrated how scholarly academic researchers in China can participate, in meaningful and helpful ways, in resolving these types of conflicts through various roles and influence tactics. This study is important because as an emerging economy with rising levels of industrialization, the successful resolution of environmental conflicts is a high priority. Moreover, the findings of this study may also serve as a model for scholars in other countries who are also interested in participating in an action research, as envisioned by Kurt Lewin in the 1940s. In this way, scholars may find new ways to facilitate the solving of important problems while also building a body of knowledge.

Yeung, Fung and Chan studied the types of conflict styles used with others at work based on employees’ age. The study used survey data collected from 280 Chinese managerial employees in Hong Kong. Based on socio-emotional selectivity theory, the study found that older adults used more avoiding conflict styles with superiors and less dominating styles with subordinates. This seemed to be positively related to the cooperative and independent goals used by participants. The study also found that the negative effect of avoiding interpersonal relations emerged only for younger managers. An important implication of this study is that in this Chinese sample, a passive conflict strategy may be more useful. Perhaps this is based on higher levels of wisdom gained through life experience. Future research should examine whether the degree to which national culture variables influence these results affects these findings.

Summary

The articles published in this special issue demonstrated that conflict could be well-managed in various unique ways, including the use of dialectical thinking, enhancing social face, a phased approach, action research and avoiding tactics. The use of appropriate conflict management techniques resulted in increased creativity, constructive conflict, reduction in tensions and social integration. Scholars should carefully review these studies to gain insights for future research.

Research implications

The findings in these studies highlight the importance of seeking out new conceptualizations and research ideas that are not limited by Western thinking. However, interesting questions remain about whether these findings will generalize to other countries and cultures.

Richard Posthuma

About the author

Richard Posthuma is the Ellis and Susan Mayfield Professor of Management in the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas at El Paso. He received his J.D., Cum Laude, from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1992 and his PhD in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management in 1999 from the Purdue University Graduate School of Business. His research interests focus on conflict management and human resource management in international settings. Richard Posthuma can be contacted at: mailto:rposthuma@utep.edu