Cultural Differences in Conflict Management Styles in East and West Organizations Employing Holism as a Cultural Theoretical Frame to Investigate South Korean and U.S. Employee Conflict Management Styles
Abstract
This study employed a new theoretical frame, holism, to distinguish cultural differences in conflict management strategy preference. Results indicated that S. Koreans showed more holistic tendencies than U.S. employees, and higher scores on a holism measure were positively related to ratings of the collaborative style (S. Korean preferred style) and negatively related to ratings of the avoidant style (U.S. preferred style). In comparisons across the two cultures, S. Koreans preferred collaborating, compromising, and accommodating styles, whereas U.S. participants preferred the avoiding style. Although additional investigation is needed to further explore how holism can be used to explain cultural differences, these results point to the richness of this new cultural value as a theoretical framework and suggest its potential for future investigations.
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Copyright (c) 2012 Jihyun Kim, Renée A. Meyers
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