Cultural theory and conflict management in organizations: How does theory shape our understanding of culture in practice?

Abstract

Research studies on the management of cross-cultural conflict in organizations are put into an analytically structured synoptic model that helps to reveal a wide range of forms and of the extent of the assumed influence of culture on social interaction in organizational settings. Evaluations of competent conflict management strategies derived from these theories will differ respectively. Furthermore, the model may illustrate clusters of contemporary research vs idle approaches of research that may hide some potential for future studies. To bypass the influence of theories on the analysis of given conflict situations, this article will present a discourse analytic approach to discovering interactants' subjective notions of culture, which will be illustrated by means of an empirical example.