Pathways To Overcoming Intercultural Conflicts Across Organizations In The United States
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2023
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
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This paper examines key causes and solutions to intercultural conflicts across organizations in the United States. Fifteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with new, current, retired and/or former employees belonging to culturally diverse organizations in the U.S. who experienced intercultural hardships. Both, employer and employee perspectives were considered. Causes of intercultural conflicts, personal experiences with intercultural conflicts, strategies to navigate cultural frictions and organizations’ role in reducing conflicts were carefully studied. Work ethics shaped by cultures, miscommunication, adjustment problems, misunderstandings, class conflict and nonconformist attitudes at work were a few causes of intercultural conflicts. Not every cultural interaction was based on conflict either. Workplace interaction with different cultures emerged as learning experiences for some interviewees. Employees shared that they would diffuse intercultural conflicts at work by developing awareness of different cultures, understanding individuals’ intentions and finding commonalities instead of differences. Employers recommended investing in trainings and observing workplace behaviors to reduce intercultural struggles. They emphasized the role of talk stories and a conflict resolution process to foster intercultural harmony. Both employers who were interviewed had no current organizational policy to address intercultural conflicts. Hence, findings from this paper can help organizations implement a comprehensive policy to investigate and resolve intercultural conflicts between and among employees.
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Culture conflict, Intercultural communication, Diversity in the workplace
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United States
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