Pornrung Katejulasriroj
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to test the argument that "face" is a fundamental cause of interpersonal conflict and explore the similarities and differences of conflict resolution between Thai and Japanese MNCs participants. Additionally, the correlation between face concerns and conflict management styles of the two cultures was examined. The research explored the Face-Negotiation theory (FN) version 2 to test that "face" is an underlying assumption and/or an explanatory mechanism for conflicts in the organization. The adapted version of Rahim Organization Conflict Inventory-IT (ROCI-II) was employed to test the differences and similarities of conflict management styles.
The findings of this research illustrated that "face" is a fundamental cause of interpersonal conflict for Thai and Japanese participants. Thais rated themselves higher for all types of face concerns: self-face, other-face, and mutual-face, than Japanese. Regarding the similarities and differences of conflict resolution, Thai participants preferred using integrating, avoiding, obliging and compromising more than Japanese participants. The relationship between face concerns and conflict management style showed that the more self-face and otherface concerned the Thai participants were, the more they reported using obliging. Additionally, the more mutual-faced concerned they were, the more they reported using integrating. Whereas for Japanese participants, the more self-face concerned they were, the more they reported using dominating. Additionally, the more other-face concerned and the more mutual-face concerned they were, the more they reported using integrating.
(Published in Rian Thai: International Journal of Thai Studies, Volume 4/2011, Page 237-263)
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