Conflict Management and Intercultural Communication

The Art of Intercultural Harmony

Xiaodong Dai, Guo-Ming Chen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351971485
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Communication
• Index: Business

In the globally interconnected world, conflicts often arise as a result of tensions between different cultural perceptions and diverse social preferences. Effectively managing conflicts and harmonizing intercultural relationships are essential tasks of intercultural communication research.

This book seeks to find effective intercultural conflict management solutions by bringing together a group of leading international scholars from different disciplines to tackle the problem. Consisting of two parts, this book covers major theoretical perspectives of conflict management and harmony development in the firstand conflict management and harmony development in different cultural contexts in the second. Integrating the latest work on conflict management and intercultural harmony, Conflict Management and Intercultural Communication takes an interdisciplinary approach, adopts diverse perspectives, and provides for a wide range of discussions. It will serve asa useful resource for teachers, researchers, students and professionals alike.

PART I
Perspectives on the study of intercultural conflict management

1
MOVING FROM CONFLICT TO HARMONY

The role of dialogue in bridging differences

Benjamin J. Broome

It is easy to become pessimistic about the possibility of living in harmony in our increasingly diverse world. We hear daily reports in the media about suicide bombings, drone strikes, terrorist attacks, violent protests and demonstrations, gang warfare, organized crime, human trafficking, and many other forms of violence. Indeed, there is abundant evidence of violent conflicts occurring around the world. In their analysis of armed conflicts from 1946 to 2013, Themnér and Wallensteen (2014) report that since the end of World War II there have been 254 armed conflicts active in 155 locations around the world. In 2013 alone, there were 33 armed conflicts occurring in 25 locations worldwide. Disturbingly, there were 15 new conflicts in the three years preceding their analysis. Many of these conflicts are civil wars, lower-level insurgencies, and other forms of conflict that can tear a country apart for decades, and sometimes permanently.¹ Although there are also many positive and uplifting stories of people working together cooperatively, and despite the study by Pinker (2011) that shows that violence is lower today than during previous periods of history, the prevalence of war and other forms of violence could certainly create a perception that the world is hopelessly embroiled in conflict.

High-tension conflicts are costly. Some of the effects are material: human lives are lost; physical property is destroyed; essential infrastructure is damaged; public health systems no longer function properly; education systems are severely disrupted; and outside investment dries up. All of these can have devastating effects on the economy and future development of a country in conflict (Glaeser, 2009).² Other costs are less visible and less quantifiable but can have consequences that last for generations: loss of family members, relatives and close friends; population displacement; constant disruption and fear for one’s life (and the post-trauma mental conditions that often result therefrom); injuries and disability; malnutrition leading to lower life expectancy; loss of normal childhood and adolescence for many children and young people; disrupted, delayed and often never-completed education; brain drain from the emigration of an educated workforce; reduced investment and tourism from abroad; and the devastating effects of a breakdown in trust manifesting itself both in individuals’ confidence in society and divisions between groups that once lived together in harmony. And the effects go far beyond the country in which the war is taking place, affecting neighboring states and areas far away from the conflict itself, as we are seeing now with the refugee crisis in Europe.³

Given the overwhelming negative consequences of conflict and violence, clearly there is a need to promote greater harmony in the face of increasing confrontations. Unfortunately, the quest for harmony can seem despairingly out of reach in a world filled with tensions emanating from racial, religious and resource-based conflicts. For some, discussions of peace and harmony might seem to be wishful thinking or even delusional. Even for those dedicated to building peace, many questions arise when discussing harmony and conflict: What has brought about the breakdown in harmony that seems to characterize today’s world? Can anything be done to counteract the disruptive forces acting against harmony? Is harmony even possible in the face of so much violence and destruction? Is there reason to believe that harmony will be achieved someday? These are all reasonable questions, but they are often guided by a view that harmony is a quiet and stable state of existence, in which people are in agreement about issues and everyone acts in concert within an established order. Such a view of harmony is an idealistic aim that is unachievable and even dysfunctional in a healthy society.

In this chapter, a conception of harmony is adopted that emphasizes difference rather than sameness and that focuses on process rather than outcome. Drawing on both ancient Greek and Chinese approaches to harmony, the argument will be made that instead of viewing conflicts as a threat to harmony, they should be seen as an essential part of the harmonization process. Indeed, conflicts over seemingly incompatible goals can sometimes serve as the impetus for individual and social changes that need to be made in order to address the underlying causes for the conflicts. And although differences, by their very nature, will cause disagreement and discord, we are not destined to live in a violent world. An alternative to violence is dialogue, which has the potential to promote harmony and lead to greater peace in conflict-torn societies. This chapter will suggest ways in which dialogue can help bring about more peaceful ways of dealing with differences, contributing to a process of harmony that embraces, rather than avoids, diversity and change.

Harmony: going beyond agreement and conformity

Harmony has been seen as an important concept throughout history and across cultures; the concept of harmony is reflected in music, art, politics, religion and other aspects of society (Xie, 2012). At first glance, harmony would seem to be a rather straightforward concept that is easy to define. In the English language, the word “harmony” is usually associated with agreement, getting along without problems, tolerating differences, avoiding conflicts and experiencing consensus across issues of concern to society. Even with positive connotations, the pursuit of harmony is often regarded in the West as naïve or even harmful in the face of strong differences. Perhaps because of the individualistic focus in the West, harmony is considered to be somewhat of a weak concept. Although it is a positive value, it is not one to be placed above standing up for one’s rights or defending one’s position when there are conflicts. Many influential academic and activist figures, including political liberals and staunch defenders of humanities education, focus more on justice and human dignity than on finding ways to pursue harmony (see, for example, Nussbaum, 2001). Harmony is often juxtaposed with the need to fight for one’s rights. For Westerners, the choice is clear: you must stand up for your beliefs and be willing to fight for what you believe is rightfully yours rather than “give in” in the hopes of preserving harmony.

In the East, harmony is treated quite differently, particularly in places such as Thailand, Japan, Korea and China. In these societies, harmony is viewed as a primary value and it is seen as underlying a great deal of human interaction (Chen, 2011). The group-based and hierarchically oriented nature of many Asian societies leads their members to seek harmony by avoiding outward displays of anger (Hu, Grove & Zhuang, 2010); refraining from engaging in argument especially when it involves disagreement (Hazen & Shi, 2009); showing self-restraint; saving face; avoiding direct criticism of others; exhibiting modesty; and practicing generosity (Wei & Li, 2013). Sustained by politeness and respect, societies with a Confucian tradition will usually display a courteous attitude toward others in an effort to build a harmonious communication climate (Chen, 2014). In general, the emphasis on harmony means that people are more disposed to engage in negotiation when differences arise, are more willing to compromise, and are less inclined to engage in confrontation when faced with conflict.

In contrast to contemporary treatments of harmony in both the West and the East that tend to emphasize agreement and similarity, ancient conceptions of harmony gave importance to tension and dissimilarity. The English term harmony is from the ancient Greek word harmonia, which means the joining or coming together of different entities. The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (6th century BCE) defined harmony as opposites in concert, believing that harmony exists when disparate forces are held in tension (Graham, 2015).⁴ Using the example of the bow and lyre, Heraclitus demonstrated that tension and opposition are essential to harmony and that unity is made possible because of opposing tensions. He used the example of night and day, which are opposites but which are intimately connected and interdependent. If you lose day, you lose night as well. Heraclitus gave us the well-known insight that a person can never walk in the same river twice, as both the person and the river are constantly changing. For Heraclitus, harmonization happens through this constant change, not through seeking agreement and sameness. Everything is subject to internal tension, and harmony comes from opposing elements and movements pulling in opposite directions but finding equilibrium. Harmony is not a matter of properly orienting ourselves to preexisting structures or conditions; rather, the structure of the world is itself the result of the harmonizing process, in which different forces are integrated into dynamic unity (Li, 2008).

The emphasis on diversity and unity was also reflected in the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, who like Heraclitus lived during the 6th century BCE. For Confucius, harmony is a generative and creative process in which diverse elements are brought together to form a complex and inclusive world. To produce good music, musicians must be able to mix together very different sounds so that they complement and complete one another. Likewise, to produce a delicious dish, good cooks must be able to mingle ingredients with contrasting flavors and different tastes. With both music and food, different elements complete each other and enhance one another, coming together in a coherent and harmonious way. However, harmony is much more than simply mixing sounds and mingling flavors; rather, it requires that the various elements enrich one another by forming a relationship in which they mutually compensate for one another’s shortcomings; mutually reinforce one another’s strengths; and mutually advance each other’s paths toward fulfillment. Even the five virtues of Confucianism—human excellence, moral rightness, ritualized propriety, wisdom and sageliness—need to be practiced in harmony in order to achieve happiness and the prosperity of the world (Li, 2008).

As with Heraclitus, Confucius stresses the dynamic nature of tension and diversity within harmony. In the Confucian view, conflict between parties, when it is handled properly, serves as a step toward harmony. Although the Confucian way advocates self-restraint, subduing emotions in public and indirect expressions of approval, it is at the same time built around the coexistence of difference. When facing a controversial issue, the Confucian approach calls for taking into account the whole picture and resolving the differences through facework, social connections and reciprocity (Wei & Li, 2013). For Confucians, harmony is dependent on a continuous process of managing opposing forces through give and take. Li (2014) uses the example of rocks and water in a river, where both have to yield in some way. Through this “negotiation” process, order is established, although this order is constantly changing.

While they have different starting points and base their thinking within different cosmologies, both Heraclitus and Confucius understood harmony as an ongoing process in a constantly changing world. For both, the goal of harmony is not to conform to a fixed underlying structure of the world; rather, structure itself is a result of the harmonizing process. And in both approaches, harmony is much more than sameness; in fact, harmony has to be achieved through difference. As Li (2014) argues, since harmony is a composite it can only be realized by successful integration of different elements. This need for integration makes harmony inclusive in nature, since during the harmonization process each component finds an appropriate place and none of the components exclude or suppress one another. Even when elements are in conflict, one or more of them can change positions or at least be stabilized within the system so that they are not disrupting it in ways that are damaging to its overall structure or its long-term viability.

Although harmony emphasizes balance and equilibrium, conflict is also part of the harmonization process. Unlike simple differences, where harmony can be achieved when contrasting elements complement one another within a larger pattern, conflict produces a level of tension that can put harmony at risk. This usually necessitates a negotiation process in which parties need to jointly explore ways to modify their positions to accommodate the other or find creative ways to satisfy both of their needs. By taking an inclusive approach and using the tension between positions to engage in creative exploration, it is possible to find harmonious solutions to conflicts.

While there is no panacea, one of the important means for encouraging and nurturing harmony across difference is dialogue, a concept and a practice that, like harmony, is frequently misunderstood and that, despite having positive associations, is not widely seen as a powerful force in the face of conflict. But if we can move beyond a view of harmony as sameness, accord, conformity and uniformity, and instead understand harmony as encompassing diversity and creative tension, then we will be positioned to understand how dialogue can help transform conflict into harmony. The next section will explore the nature of dialogue and will propose several ways in which it can be a key component in harmonizing the tension that is inevitable in today’s conflict-filled world.

Dialogue: a path from conflict to harmony⁵

The question of how to harmonize protracted conflict situations is one that has long concerned diplomats, community leaders, researchers and anyone seeking to bridge the divide between disputing parties. Certainly, there are no easy answers, and any possibility for progress will need to involve multiple levels of society and numerous approaches for moving forward. But dialogue can be a key piece of the strategy both for preventing societies from falling apart under pressures from seemingly insurmountable differences, and for engaging in a healing process once societies have succumbed to the ravages of violence. By bringing individuals with a variety of perspectives together in a safe space, different voices can be heard and creative ideas can be generated, providing opportunities to learn from others and expand one’s perspective on the conflict and the possibilities ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Notes on contributors
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part I Perspectives on the study of intercultural conflict management
• Part II Conflict management in cultural contexts
• Index