An Intercultural competence study of conflict management style amongst managers in cross-cultural American organizations - QualComm and Genentech

Abstract

Today nations are not only transferring goods and services, but also people, knowledge, technology and cultures. These new ways of development triggers new concepts to the literature of intercultural interaction and conflict management styles in businesses across the world. Businesses around the world are developing various disciplines to support, teach and increase awareness of intercultural interaction. This study aims to analyze the intercultural interaction and the different conflict management styles that appear in a cross-cultural work setting among managers. The aim is to recognize and further generate ways to become better at understanding, how conflicts occur, are managed and if “face” negotiation theory plays a role into the type of conflict styles different individuals from different cultures use. Sixty (60) managers from two well-known organizations, Genentech and QualComm in California, San Diego were chosen to participate in the study. The questionnaire was conducted to try and identify the effects of cultural on conflict management styles among managers who deal with other managers from other countries. The study revealed that managers from different cultures tend to have different conflict management styles and that “face” plays a big role on what type of styles they use to resolve conflicts. Gender and age were also included as fixed factors which showed a positive correlation to how you deal with cultural interactions at work and conflict management styles. The study of the study is applicable for understanding culture influence on conflict management.