ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights spoken, written, and nonverbal communication which has many cultural roots. Communication savvy can pay dividends in international business in many ways—especially in fending off conflict before it occurs, let alone dealing with it or negotiating when it raises its head. Conflict management research has focused on what managers do once conflict does arise. Research shows that some general, culture-based tendencies distinguish how groups of people tend to handle conflict. Electronic communication of many kinds, including greatly improved teleconferencing and inexpensive face-to-face technologies, has moved ahead of the old memo. The chapter considers in more detail the degree to which each type of culture prefers written or verbal communication. In high-context cultures such as Japan, people may prefer verbal and face-to-face communications because these modes are more dynamic and allow for greater subtlety than written messages. The chapter concludes with a review of negotiation across cultures.
