Face Concerns and Conflict Management Styles A Cross-Cultural Approach
Face Concerns and Conflict Management Styles A Cross-Cultural Approach

Summary/Abstract: The current study investigates cultural aspects regarding conflict perception and attitudes, as a response to the imperative of a better understanding of how individuals from different cultural backgrounds interact, without generating intercultural conflicts. More precisely, the aim of this study was to test the assumption that face concerns and facework are an explanatory mechanism for culture’s influence on interpersonal conflict-handling styles. Data were drawn from university students in Romania and Greece. The participants (N=231) completed in their respective language a questionnaire that measure self-face/other-face maintenance, organized by Kim et al., (2004), and Rahim’s instrument - ROCI-II (1983), in order to test their preferences for five conflict management styles (integrating, avoiding, obliging, dominating, compromising). Respondents was given an organizational conflict scenario, in order to rate their perceived importance for each constraint. The major assumptions are as follows: a) among Romanian respondents is scored a higher self-face preservation than among Greek respondents; b) Greek participants seem to manifest concern for minimizing dominating style, which appears more evident at Romanian participants. Results reveal that intra and intercultural dissimilarities do exist between these two similar countries, and personal image negotiation do play a significant role in interpersonal conflict-handling preferred styles, as Romanian seem to be more individualistic than Greek participants, in their conflict perception, and communication attitudes.

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