Being Ready to Lecture a Multicultural Class: Asian Preferences for Conflict Management Style

Abstract

Lecturers increasingly face the challenge of managing conflicts in a cross-cultural study environment. Cultural variations have a significant impact on communication in general and conflict communication in particular. The study aims to examine Asian preferences concerning conflict behavior. Understanding of different conflict styles in conflict is important for facilitating intercultural competence. This article reviews the findings on Asian preferences for avoiding, integrating, and dominating while managing interpersonal conflicts. Seven studies were reviewed. The results of this review indicate that although Asian nations have often been labelled as “collectivists”, there is a difference between the “Asians”. Koreans are more likely to use a dominating style, Taiwanese and Hong Kong Chinese are more likely to use an avoiding style, and Thais and Japanese are more likely to use an integrating style to solve an interpersonal conflict.