Communication: Conflict Resolution Techniques in the Workplace

This article discusses the importance of cross-cultural training and collaboration in solving conflicts in the workplace. It presents a case study of conflict between an American team and Japanese clients due to cultural differences and suggests five conflict resolution techniques, out of which the collaborating method was chosen. The article emphasizes the need for cross-cultural training to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Running head: COMMUNICATION 1
Communication
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COMMUNICATION 2
Communication
It is imperative to note that for there to be winners, there must be losers at some point
in time. However, for conflict, resolution, there must not be winners or losers, but both teams
can reach a consensus. For instance, I have been working on a particular software project
whose clients were Japanese. As the project manager, I had to interact with Japanese clients
fully. My team is fully composed of Americans. However, it was clear that the variation in
terms of my clients and my team’s cultural heritage as well as the value system had a clear
difference. In this case, they approved a set of business issues or even affected the decision-
making process. The issue of decision-making resulted from the fact that the Japanese are
looking for sheer perfection. The Japanese try their best to simplify the issue at hand to the
lowest of details since they are looking for clarity as well as certainty. In this case, they are
not inclined toward risks and try as much as possible to aim at long term profits. On the
contrary, Americans do not try their best to avert risk since they are generally risk takers. All
the situations presented to them are considered as a challenge hence aim at exploring it at full
potential. Therefore, Americans are fast to make decisions as well as aim at short-term profits
without focusing on the long term benefits.
It is because of such cultural differences that there were many conflicts occurring in
the initial phase between the American team and the Japanese clients. The Japanese client
team believed that the team was too casual with the process of decision-making. On the other
hand, our team was convinced that the client team was too cautious as they make decisions
affecting the project. The communication, as well as the synergy, was affected because of the
cultural issues affecting the teams (DeVito, 2019). The following five techniques can be used
for conflict resolution in the workplace.

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 Accommodating: this process of resolution needs the teams to prioritize all the
concerns of the other team over theirs.
 Avoiding is a resolution process through ignoring the issues and waits for the conflict
to resolve itself.
 Compromising is a resolution technique that allows the two parties to lower their
concerns and come to an understanding.
 Collaborating the two teams in this situation develop a win-win situation for the two
parties.
 Competing is a resolution technique where the party enforces their point of views on
the other party while trying to solve the conflict (Oetzel, 2017).
In this case, we chose to use the collaborating method of conflict resolution. This
technique will be effective in solving the negative synergy existing between the two teams.
Therefore, the leaders of the teams will have to train the team members in cross-cultural
matters in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness (Robbins, 2017). The training will
equip the employees with the knowledge to account for the difference in style of work based
on the cultural differences. The collaboration will help in solving the issue.

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References
DeVito, J. A. (2019). The interpersonal communication book. Instructor, 1, 18.
Oetzel, J. G. (2017). Effective intercultural workgroup communication theory. The
International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication, 1-5.
Robbins, J. (2017). Stakeholders and conflict management: Corporate perspectives on
collaborative approaches. In Unfolding Stakeholder Thinking 2 (pp. 162-179).
Routledge.