Cross-cultural Conflict Research Articles

Cross-Cultural Conflict and Pursuit of Identity in Ameen Rihani’s The Book of Khalid

Multiculturalism is an outcome of developing global culture emanating from ceaseless flow of people between nations and intercultural interactions. Crossing the borders results in psychological transformation of the immigrants as their ethnic identity shaped by social, religious, historical and political forces over decades is in continual flux. Though different kinds of responses to the situation of cultural multiplicity may be diagnosed, the fact remains that there are no simplistic ways of dealing with or responding to multiculturalism. The immigrants face cultural clash and find difficulties in acculturating. When the immigrants come to install in another country, they are accosted with a new culture, a new statute and a reserved group of people who do not mix so very easily. Everyone does not have the capacity to adjust their feelings and mind. They form a community of diaspora who are always reminded of their roots in an alien land. The impact of diasporic experiences on immigrants’ psyche depends on their level of belonging in an alien land. Ameen Rihani’s odyssey from Lebanon to United States gives him a cutting edge over his contemporaries to be established as most revered author of Arabs diaspora abroad. Rihani, molded and transformed by the cultures of his countries of origin, movement and settlement, has been earnestly engaged in re-conceptualizing the idea of diaspora as a profitable affair as opposed to the popular beliefs that render immigration and displacement as a condition of loss. His novels are bulging with different protagonists of staunch spirit and calibrating credence who win the tussle with cultural conflict and in the process evolve and finally lost. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how Rihani’s protagonist Khalid in his novel of the same name evolves with cultural changes, endeavors for pursuit of identity in both origin and adopted worlds and finally takes control of his destiny.

INDIA-KUWAIT: INTER-CULTURAL SENSITIVITY, CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE AND CONFLICT-HANDLING STYLES IN CROSS-CULTURAL INTERACTIONS

The present explores inter-cultural sensitivity, cultural intelligence and conflict-handling style preferences of employees engaged in inter-cultural interactions. It further tests the influence of inter-cultural sensitivity, cultural intelligence on conflict-handling style preferences. Using self-report instruments, data was collected from respondents from India (N=103) and Kuwait (N=71) involved in work-related interactions with each other. Findings reveal that Indian and Kuwait respondents significantly differ on the three dimensions studied. The results also reveal that influence of cultural intelligence and inter-cultural sensitivity dimensions on conflict-handling style preferences vary for Indian and Kuwait employees. The present work contributes to the largely limited work in the area and offers valuable information facilitating better understanding and application of effective conflict handling styles in India–Kuwait cross-cultural work interactions. Keywords: Conflict, inter-cultural sensitivity, cultural intelligence, conflict handling styles, India, Kuwait, cross-cultural interaction, effective conflict handling, cross-cultural conflict

Igwebuike theology of Ikwa ogwe and the inculturation of the gospel message

This piece on Igwebuike theology of Ikwa Ogwe has attempted at building a bridge between two conflicting inheritances or worldviews of the African Christian: the western heritage and the heritage of his or her ancestors. The researcher attempted doing this with maturity and creativity, and without destabilizing the wholeness of the African Christian. It defined Igwebuike theology contextually, and the Igwebuike concept of culture as a preparation for the gospel, basing this on Clement of Alexandria’s Stromata. This created a basis for an Igwebuike theology of Ikwa Ogwe. It argued that until this bridge is built, the Word of God cannot be effectively communicated- in such a way that the people hearing the Word understand who they are and who others are. It observed that communicating the Gospel without building a bridge would rather take people away from themselves, thus, creating a problem of identity. It discovered that the major task of the gospel message, which is the transformation of worldviews and conceptual systems would not be adequately achieved without Ikwa Ogwe. Igwebuike theology of Ikwa Ogwe, therefore, emphasizes identifying with the people and communicating the message through their categories. The purpose of this study is to make a contribution to the ongoing efforts at resolving the cross-cultural conflicts of the missionary era. The theoretical framework employed is the Igwebuike holistic and complementary understanding of evangelization and culture, which focuses on the bigger picture of reality and believes that all parts of reality are interconnected.
 Keywords: Igwebuike, Theology, Ikwa Ogwe, Missionary Enterprise, Culture, Conflicts

To the question on methodology of the concept in modern science

The scientific works of scholars and experts dedicated to conceptology, intercultural communication, and linguistics became the foundation for this research. The author analyzes bibliography, presents various approaches towards conceptology, formulates main conclusions of recent research on the indicated problematic, as well as provides specific examples. Research of the concepts presented in different linguistic worldviews, including Russian linguistic paradigm of the world, is first and foremost substantiated by the importance of intercultural communication in the current context. The relevance of this topic is defined by the significance of studying the dialogue of cultures, language, culture and mentality. The selected topic is of interest to the philosophers, linguists, culturologists and foreign language pedagogues. In anthropological linguistics, cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, ethnolinguistics, linguoculturology and other fields, the subject of research is the concept of the dialogue of cultures along with interaction between language, culture and mentality. The development of Russian relations on international arena over the past decade led to active cooperation in the area of education, economy, trade and tourism. Therefore, there is an urgent need for studying communication in the situation of interaction between the representatives of Russian and foreign cultures from the perspective of teaching languages as a means of intercultural communication. The need to study communication is justified by different communication behavior in Russia and other countries in the cultural aspect. Insufficient understanding of the language of communication can result in communication failures and even initiate cross-cultural conflict. In the following paragraphs of this article, the author gives detailed attention to specificity of the concept in the linguistic worldviews.

Turning cross-cultural management conflict into collaboration: Indian and Romanian experiences in Global Project Teams

Abstract Global project virtual teams are increasingly common as organizations strive to maintain a global presence, find top and diverse talent, and cope with economic constraints. They include members from multiple nations and cultures who must work together while being separated by time and space. An internal research, which has been conducted in an international company active in the industrial sector of financial services, provides few insights into how integrating the Western values of individualism and low power distance with the Eastern values of collectivism and high power distance may influence cross-cultural conflict management. The purpose of this paper is to directly examine the impact of organization-level collectivism and individualism as well as high and low power distance – in case of global project teams that include Romanian and Indian experts – in order to determine the interactive effects of these factors on cross-cultural conflict management. The authors sustain the idea that understanding intercultural dynamics can facilitate collaboration and reduce conflicts in intercultural encounters at the individual, organization, and probably societal levels. Methodological approach is to use both secondary literature survey and primary research methods as interviews and short case-examples from authors’ direct consulting experience while working with global project teams. This pilot study – as part of a larger research project – contributes to fill one gap in the understanding of culturally heterogeneous project teams and is the starting-point for additional investigation in this area.

How Cultural Differences Influence Conflict Within an Organization: A Case Study of Near East University

The culture that people come from has played an important part in shaping any society. Culture is of vital importance since it assists in the way people live and articulating the manner in which information among people is administered. Miscommunication often arises due to the differences in cultures that exist that leads to people misunderstanding of other cultural contexts. Individuals from certain cultures may deal with conflict easily while others tend to find it difficult in dealing with it amenably. This leads to the system of sweeping it under the carpet (De Drue, Blom, & Hagendoom, 2007). Conflict is triggered when there are cultural differences between individuals within an organization or through general interaction with one another. This often leads to cross-cultural conflict which generally occurs in the context that individuals are not willing to understand each other’s diversity in cultures. This study examines cultural differences that influence conflict within an organization. Quota Sampling was used as sampling technique. Data was grouped according to ethnicities. The study is qualitative in nature and made use of semi-structured interviews which were carried out with fifty participants from three ethnic groups. Data was analyzed using Qualitative Content analysis. Findings suggested ways that management could reduce conflict by creating an environment where all cultures interact with one another freely.

Acculturating Into Nursing for Hispanic/Latinx Baccalaureate Nursing Students: A Secondary Data Analysis

This is a secondary data analysis of an original study describing the lived experiences of Hispanic/Latinx nursing students as they acculturate into the profession of nursing. The original study described the experiences of 11 Hispanic/Latinx new graduates from three baccalaureate nursing programs in the southeastern United States. A secondary data analysis using a theoretical thematic analytical approach with data gathered in the original study was done to determine the utility of the theory of cultural marginality in understanding these student experiences. Findings support aspects of the theory, including marginal living, cross-cultural conflict recognition, and adjustment responses of poise and integration. Personal and contextual influences also impact the acculturation process for these nursing students. The theory of cultural marginality is valuable and provides important context for understanding the process that Hispanic/Latinx nursing students experience as they acculturate into nursing.

ДО ПРОБЛЕМИ ПЕРЕКЛАДУ РЕКЛАМНИХ СЛОГАНІВ З ПОГЛЯДУ НА ОСОБЛИВОСТІ КРОСКУЛЬТУРНОЇ КОМУНІКАЦІЇ

The article tackles the problem of finding translation matches in order to render the idea and save the emotional content of the source advertisement text in the target text, thus preserving its preciseness. It also highlights the aspect of cross-cultural communication involved, which requires on part of its participants realizing inevitable cultural differences and overcoming cultural barriers to achieve mutual understanding and respect. With globalization of all spheres of life it is natural to assume that we are becoming part of world web media which will contribute to forming new thought patterns mainly because more and more bilingual people use English as a second language. Now that this tendency is overwhelming, we can look at the problem of translation anew. Effective cross-cultural communication takes place under the condition that all the communicants possess certain similar thought patterns. If communicants have different thought patterns, it can cause misunderstanding and cross-cultural conflict. So, the mediators in cross-cultural communication have to be not only bi-lingual, but also bi-cultural. The effectiveness of cross-cultural communication can be achieved via equivalent thought and speech patterns. With translation of advertisement texts the principle of dynamic equivalence helps to obtain the most adequate translation where the unity of the form and the content is preserved with the help of text adaptation. The target text creates a certain final effect, which determines the set of lexical, grammatical and stylistic units of the translation language with the translator’s imagination. The article also gives examples of translation of advertising texts that were marked as the best at various advertising festivals. The dynamic development of media linguistics contributes to the research in the sphere of translation of advertising texts.

The Answer Lies in the Resilience: Cross Cultural Conflict in The Bamboo Stalk

The Bamboo Stalk is a daring work which looks objectively at the phenomenon of foreign workers in Arab countries and deals with the problem of identity through the life of a young man of mixed race who returns to Kuwait, his father’s homeland, the ‘heaven’ which his mother had described to him since he was a child. The novel is written by Saud Alsanousi and he is a Kuwaiti novelist and journalist, born in 1981. He published his first novel The Prisoner of Mirrors in 2010, which won a prize awarded for novels and short stories by young writers. His second novel The Bamboo Stalk won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2013. Receiving this prestigious prize, he became the youngest author to win the prize. Alsanousi raises complicated themes related to religion, discrimination and identity. His sharp criticism of Kuwaiti society particularly in his last two novels is an attempt to inspire a positive change in the way Kuwaitis view both others and themselves. Although many have discussed the complicated themes of culture and identity in The Bamboo Stalk , a few critics have examined its protagonist’s coming of age journey realizing his identity through reconciling two cultures and hence his bicultural identity. Key words: Identity, culture, discrimination, conflict, reconciliation, Kuwait

From Stories to Salt Cairns: Uncovering Indigenous Influence in the Formative Years of the Oregon Historical Society, 1898-1905

Established in December 1898, the Oregon Historical Society (OHS) was founded to “collect and preserve a library of historical material related to the history of the state,” and Sarah Keyes notes that its mission also included “the gathering and preservation of Indians’ traditions.” In this research article, Keyes examines how “through their participation in the formative years of OHS, Native Americans shaped the archival and material collections as well as interpretive documents that continue to serve as the primary organs of preserving and disseminating Oregon history.” Keyes focuses on the first seven years of OHS’s existence shedding “light on early cross-racial and cross-cultural conflict and collaboration within OHS.” Building on scholarship on historical societies in the West and extensive research in OHS’s institutional archives, Keyes examines the close connections between Native and non-Natives in OHS’s formative years, which “contributes to our understanding of OHS and settler-colonialism in Oregon.”

THE INFLUENCE OF INTERCULTURAL FACTORS ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY OF THE ENTERPRISE

The article considers the influence of globalization on foreign economic activity, international relations and competition, examines the essence of cross-cultural management as a factor of competitiveness for effective foreign economic activity of the enterprise in modern conditions, examines the positive experience of introducing cross-cultural management in the activities of international companies. The position of Ukraine in the cultural environment is analyzed in accordance with model of Gerd Hofsted. Modern conditions of functioning of enterprises engaged in foreign economic activity require the knowledge and understanding of each other by the participants of this process. Cultural differences in economic activity can be both positive and negative influences. Globalization at the present stage contributes to the formation of the effective intercultural dialogue in the implementation of foreign economic activities. Cross-cultural management is an integral part of the human resources management system, which provides the development of training technologies for effective business management in a variety of cultures in order to prevent cross-cultural conflicts. The more diverse the cultural field of foreign economic activity, the higher the reputational risks, the more cross-cultural differences are manifested, the higher communicative barriers and critical requirements for the manager's cross-cultural competence are formed. Therefore, when developing corporate strategies of enterprises engaged in foreign economic activity, it is necessary to take into account cross-cultural factors. It is important for the manager to take into account different aspects of management practice in different countries. The current state of implementation of cross-cultural management is rather weak. It is necessary to study and implement international cross-cultural management to strengthen them. For the effective implementation of cross-cultural management in the practice of Ukrainian enterprises it is necessary: to comprehensively study the cultural diversity of nations; to create and maintain an atmosphere of respect for another culture; to take full advantage of international partnership; to research their specifics on consumer demand before entering foreign markets.

РОЛЬ МНОГОЯЗЫЧИЯ В ДИАЛОГЕ КУЛЬТУР В XXI ВЕКЕ

The article examines the problems of sociocultural communication in the multicultural world of the XXI century. The multilingualism phenomenon is considered as a factor promoting the formation of the dialogic element of cultures. The paper emphasizes the role of multilingualism as an important mechanism to solve crosscultural conflicts in the context of identity problems and considering the need to overcome cross-cultural barriers, cultural gaps, to raise the level of cultural and linguistic tolerance. Multilingualism in the context of trance-culture comes out as a means to create the space of an individual’s potential identities.

Effect of cross-cultural differences on industrial communication

This research deals with the important circumstances influencing cross-cultural communication and disagreements arising within it. Current social changes affect the world we live in and as a result the relationships between countries and individuals. Globalisation, economic integration and labour migration have a significant impact on industrial communication. The successful operation and development of an enterprise are heavily dependent on effective communication between co-workers who often come from different cultural background nowadays. The specificity of this type of communication is described in the article. The special attention is paid to the possible problems in cross-cultural interaction. The chain of causes and effects leading to miscommunication is determined. The article also provides analysis of the barriers to effective communication and describes the problems caused by them. The importance of cross-cultural competence is emphasised and the principles of effective management as a way of solving cross-cultural conflicts in communication are characterized.

The Innovative Ideas and Steategies of Cross-Cultural Communication Along "Belt and Road"

In the multicultural international environment, “Belt and Road” should take the ultimate caring spirit of the value community and the destiny community as the core, and take the idea of peace, openness and tolerance to guide the solution of cross-cultural conflicts in reality, to eliminate misinformation of China’s “Marshall doctrine” or “neocolonialism”. The Belt and Road’s cross-cultural communication needs to innovate the form of cross-media communication, actively use the concept of omnimedia communication, adopt the form of multimedia expression, more use of audio and video, website, mobile phone WeChat and other communication methods, to transmit information instantly. High-quality cross-cultural communication needs the support of high-quality talents. Cross-cultural communication talents should not only have a good foreign language proficiency, but also have a keen ability of cross-cultural perception and understanding.

Leadership for Multicultural Teams: The Challenges in Managing Cross-cultural Conflicts

Leadership for Multicultural Teams: The Challenges in Managing Cross-cultural Conflicts

Folk Filmmaking: A Participatory Method for Engaging Indigenous Ethics and Improving Understanding

On an assignment to produce videos promoting Cross River gorilla conservation to indigenous communities in Nigeria and Cameroon, I invited community members to join me. I followed decolonising and feminist methodologies to develop a form of participatory video production, 'Folk Filmmaking', in which participants present their own accounts of wildlife, conservation, and environmental values by performing stories. Through the films, participants shared their knowledge as morality tales, providing contextual nuance to moral challenges, clarity on local concerns, and opportunities for better understanding of local conflicts with conservation. Most films use gorillas as a plot device but orient the moral issues not to the ape's plight but to communal struggles with challenges such as marginalisation, modernity, and corruption. The films do not say how best to conserve the last 300 Cross River gorillas but they help articulate indigenous values and show the challenges conservation must overcome. This paper shares an account of lessons learned during the project through continual, critical reflection on my process. It describes my methodology and the films produced then offers an analysis and evaluation of the project. It concludes with notes on the potential and pitfalls of participatory video in contexts of cross-cultural conflict over conservation.

Personal Geography, Floating Identities and Inter-Asian Migration in Stories by Migrant Workers in Taiwan

In her article "Personal Geography, floating Identities and Inter-Asian Migration in Stories by Migrant Workers in Taiwan," I-Chun Wang discusses narratives by migrant workers with the purpose of looking into their personal geographies, their possibilities of integration, their floating identities and their dreams of settlement and possible success. This paper stresses the stories of migration show not only common human values, shared across cultures and creolization, but also sad stories of human-rights violations, injustices, discrimination, and even human trafficking. In these fictional stories or witness literature, cross-cultural conflicts, cultural in-betweenness and cultural hybridity are intertwined with the migrants’ ways to map their own personal geographies.

Mentoring beginning immigrant teachers: How culture may impact the message.

Beginning immigrant teachers may experience cross-cultural conflicts because their home cultures may differ in important ways from U.S. school culture. In California, mentors are assigned to work with new teachers, many born in other countries, to solve a range of problems-often attributable to cross-cultural conflicts between the culture of the school and the cultures of these teachers. Mentors are veteran teachers, but even those who receive special training as mentors are not educated in theories explaining how culture influences child-rearing and schooling practices. In this study, 12 beginning immigrant high school math and science teachers born in Asia and Latin America participated in lengthy, semi-structured interviews conducted by an experienced mentor specialist (not known to the participants). Conflicts reported by participants were analysed from the perspective of differences between the collectivistic cultures of the teachers and individualistic culture of the schools in which they teach. The conflicts reported, primed in part by the nature of interview questions, were categorised as having to do with differences in perceptions of the roles of parents, teachers and students and relations among those roles-particularly in terms of role hierarchy and regard for authority.

A Study on Cultural Conflicts Faced by Chinese Enterprises in Africa—A Case of Huajian Group

With the development of the Belt and Road initiative, an increasing number of Chinese enterprises have begun to adopt “Going Global Strategy”. The positive trend, however, is now impeded by various cross-cultural conflicts which will be more complicated and severe as the communication continues, which implies an effective cross-cultural management is essential for every Chinese enterprise during the process of going international. From the cross-cultural perspective ,this paper aims to study the challenges and problems faced by Huajian Group , the world's largest high-end leather female shoes manufacturer–Huajian Group , followed by some effective measurements.

SOME METHODS FOR FORMING CROSS-CULTURAL COMPETENCY OF FUTURE FACULTIES IN THE FIELD OF TOURISM

The article describes the methods for forming the cross-cultural competence of future specialists in the field of tourism, namely: case study, Brainstorming, moderation, SWOT-analysis method, "Cultural Capsule of the Country", Storytelling, "Babylon", "The World Café". These methods are methods of group work with students. The process of cross-cultural training of students of the specialty "Tourism" involves the use of a set of these methods. An integrated combination of these methods will create an author's methodical system for the formation of cross-cultural competence of students. The use of these methods will promote the development of students' ability to cross-cultural communication in the area of future professional activities, skills of cross-cultural communication, skills and abilities to use native and foreign languages as a means of communication with representatives of different cultures. Such a system of work with students will help create the conditions for students to master the specifics of cross-cultural relations, obtain information available to representatives of another culture, the use of all available means of broadcasting, overcoming cross-cultural conflicts.