Culture Communication and Conflict

Intercultural Communication

Managing conflict in intercultural communication

Intercultural communication is considered as one of the most important communication level through which people from all cultures interact. Surpassing the complex nature of intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, and organizational communication, communication at the intercultural level is characterized as having the greatest complexity due to the presence of numerous differences among communicators. And because of these differences, conflict often arises among communicators. It is therefore imperative that understanding and knowledge of cultures be undertaken by the communicator so that conflict would be alleviated, if not altogether eliminated.

In understanding intercultural communication, one must first identify the nature of conflict that arises at this level (of communication). Conflict at the intercultural communication level is characterized as ambiguous and involves different styles of communicating (i.e., differences in languages and manner of communicating).

Intercultural communication conflict stems from ambiguity because communicators often make the mistake of communicating without prior knowledge of the other communicator's cultural background. Whatever the nature of this culture is -- race, gender, age, or language -- it is important that communicators exercise sensitivity when interacting with people who have radically different cultures from the communicators' own. It is also essential to look into the communication styles adopted by a communicator, how the individual deals with the communication conflict at hand. The communicator may be antagonistic or conciliatory when faced in a conflict with another communicator; knowing how the individual would react prepares the communicator what style to adopt in order to ensure that the conflict will be resolved.

Evidently, there is a need for conflict management when dealing with people from different cultures and societies. One of the important concepts in handling intercultural communication conflict is identifying the context or situation in which the communication or interaction takes place. People are expected to communicate formally when the communication context is formal, and this is also applied to informal communication situations. Language use is often categorized into formal and informal (vernacular or colloquial); one must be able to distinguish one from the other and appropriately use them at the right context (formal language for formal interaction and the vernacular for informal ones).