Stella Ting-Tommeys Toward a Theory of Conflict and Culture

Stella Ting-Tommeys Toward a Theory of Conflict and Culture Introduction This research report is based on the article Toward a Theory of Conflict and Culture taken from the book Communication, Culture, and Organizational Processes. In this article, Stella Ting-Toomey talks about culture and conflict and its relation to low- and high-context cultures. Summary Ting-Toomey starts the article by addressing conflict. Conflict is part of human nature. It stems from many things. An example of a possible conflict could stem from differences in culture. She lists several other examples of possible conflict. She breaks the article up into three sections to better understand the idea of conflict versus culture. The first†¦show more content†¦Ting-Toomey starts to incorporate examples of high-context societies and low-context societies to her definitions of culture and conflict. The second section of the article deals with conflicts in low- and high-context cultures. She defines a low-context culture as groups of cultures that value words, or what is actually said (Ting-Toomey 76). A high-context culture is defined as groups of cultures that put the needs and goals of the group first. This is more of a we-identity (Ting-Toomey 76). Examples of low-context cultures are Germany, United States, and Switzerland. Some high-context cultures are the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Vietnamese. There is more emphasis put on the relationship in a high-context cultre, whereas words are more important in a low-context culture. Ting-Toomey explains one of the conflict differences between the two. In a low-context culture, two people in a conflict can argue, yell, and curse at each other while still remaining friends (Ting-Toomey 77). To call someone out in a high-context culture is a severe insult. This causes both parties to lose face (Ting-Toomey 77). Another difference between the two cultures as noted by Ting-Toomey is the levels of uncertainty in a conversation. There are high levels of uncertainty in a low-context society, while there is low uncertainty in a high-context culture (Ting-Toomey 79). The high uncertainty level in the low-context cultures is often