Free Paper: Case Studies in Intercultural Conflict and Conflict Management

Culture is defined as the social behaviors and norms that characterize people of a given society. Culture outlines the language, religion, art and other beliefs of a specific people in a given community. It should be noted that every culture of a given people is unique. One of the cultural aspects of language is that it can be culturally transmitted because it can easily be leaned. It is important to stress that language plays a significant role in shaping human relationships because it is through language that people can easily communicate to one another in meeting their desires effectively and efficiently. Conflict results when it is emotional, as well as the physical struggle between interested parties of different or the same culture but, hold parallel ideologies about a given aspect. In this context, intercultural conflict results when persons of different cultures portray the emotional struggle between them because their cultural ideologies, goals values and norms are incompatible. In a society, conflict becomes part of people living in the society, and however much we cannot eliminate it, people can learn to manage and resolve it amicably. The primary purpose of this essay is, therefore, to establish how different cultures lead to conflicts and how to solve these interpersonal conflicts.

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In illustrating this issue of interpersonal conflict, I considered using a case where Jerry who is a student from Hawaiian Islands and studying in the University of California at Berkeley, who lodges a complaint to Frank; an Alaskan born student who studies in the same institution. A closer look at the two students reveal that they are both Native Americans from Hawaii and Alaska respectively. He goes to Frank room to request him to reduce the volume of his music because the high amount of music from Frank's place was interfering with his concentration yet he was studying for his forthcoming examinations. Such conflicts are quite an inevitable part of living in the society because they must occur because Jerry and Frank come from different cultural backgrounds which view playing music differently (Chakrabarty, 2006). It is worth noting that all human beings experience conflicts be it from family, strangers and even to intimates. Therefore communication will play a significant role in these conflicts by solving the impasse between conflicting parsons. Additionally, conflict breeds stress between people, but through proper discussion, an amicable solution can be reached through successful resolution of the conflict. It is therefore essential to understand the various mechanisms through which interpersonal conflict between Jerry and Frank could be solved owing to their intercultural differences by employing proper communication technique (Chakrabarty, 2006). In this relation, while resolving the conflict between Jerry and Frank communication procedure should be ensured so that proper agreement between them can be initiated.

In handling the conflict between them, Jerry and Frank ought to initiate appropriate strife solving methods. Even though the battle is an inevitable impact of living in this world with diverse cultures, solutions to it through proper communication and use of useful conflict solving methods are necessary. Broome, in his model, believes that by employing efficient strife resolving procedures, then peace is very likely. To solve the conflict between them, Jerry and Frank need first to acknowledge the existence of successful ways that they can apply to help them solve their problem of conflict. It is important to note that these two conflicting parties should involve in some dialogue thereby promoting a culture of peace between them (Chapel, 2017). It is right to state that for Jerry and Frank to maintain a culture of peace between them, because after all, they are neighbors, and therefore they need peaceful co-existence between them, they have to study productive ways to handle their disagreement. For the two to realize and achieve this, they have to come up with mechanisms, institutions, and norms that will help to guide them to solve the conflict between them without any violence. In this case, they need to embrace a culture of dialogue as Broome contends in his model. He states that it is through dialogue that conflicting persons can sit down with each other and come to an agreement but only by using appropriate communication skill as the tool they can both use to understand one another and resolve the conflict between them. Through embracing dialogue with one another, Jerry and Frank will be able to understand and evaluate the situation in which they are caught in. It is, however, worth to note that dialogue itself does not mean to do away with the disagreement but it only makes conflicting persons, in this case, Jerry and Frank, to start understanding each other's viewpoint about the issue antagonizing them. This can lead to the establishment of peace between the two.

In addition to the above, if Jerry and Frank engage in a dialogue as a way to solve their conflict, then it can lead to a likelihood of reconciliation between them. The dialogue between conflicting parties will ensure a sustained contact amongst themselves (Chapel, 2017). This is because according to Broome, a conflict exists just because the parties are not in close contact with one another and therefore, conflicting persons should be close enough to engage and interact with each other. If Jerry and Frank ignore each other, they will not be able to understand one another's position. As stated above, to help solve the conflict between these two people, a proper communication style that is going to address this conflict need to be put in place. The use of other face need will be appropriate because it takes into consideration the interest of the other party by incorporating their views about a given situation unlike in self-face need where one seeks to satisfy only his interest in a conflict. A significant recommendation to solving interpersonal conflict from the Christian world is that the persons should live in harmony as well as embrace extensive dialogue between them.

In conclusion, embracing intercultural practices of other people is one step towards preventing the occurrence of conflicts between different people. The purpose of the study is thus achieved by ascertaining that conflicts can be solved using dialogue as a tool to promote peace between people (Chakrabarty, 2006).

References

Chakrabarty, B. (2006). The social and political thought of Mahatma Gandhi. Routledge.

Chapel, G. (2017). Metamorphosis.

Manian, R., & Naidu, S. (2009). A Cross-Cultural Overview of Intercultural Competence. The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence, 233-249.

Signorino, C. S. (1999). Strategic interaction and the statistical analysis of international conflict. American Political Science Review, 93(2), 279-297.