CROSS CULTURAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION STYLES: DATA REVISITED

Abstract

The way conflicts are solved is thought to be culturally learned (Hammer, 2005); therefore,this is reflected through language use. Conflicts, as inevitable parts of communication,naturally mirror cultural differences. Intercultural conflict styles have been studied so far byvarious researchers. How conflicts are initiated, maintained and escalated or terminated are allculture bound (Leung, 2002) and all the related stages vary from one culture to another. In therelated literature, there have been attempts to describe different conflict handlingclassifications. Using Hammer’s (2005) categorization that was found to be more refined andsummative, conflict resolution styles of Turkish and American College students were exploredusing Discourse Completion Tests (DCT) with eight conflict situations where the respondentswere required to write verbal solutions to overcome the conflicts described in the test. Thoseutterances were categorized according to Directness/Indirectness Scale modified fromHammer’s (2005) “International Conflict Style Inventory (ICSI)” that classifies interculturalconflict resolution styles as high/low level of directness and high/low level of emotionalexpressiveness. It is believed that the study provides insight into intercultural communicationas there are culturally generalizable (etic) and learned patterns of conflict resolution stylespertinent to different cultures (Hammer, 2009, p. 223; Ting-Toomey, 1994).