Chapter 1 Introduction
　　Conflicts are endemic to all social life where people struggle for scarce resources， power， etc. Especially in the business world， when people with different business goals and interests work together， the potential for disagreements always exists. Conflicts of ideas， goals and decision-making are considered inevitable both among businesses and within business organizations. Previous studies showed that 20% of the managerial time is spent on dealing with conflicts on average (Thomas， 1976). The capability of resolving conflicts effectively and successfully is the most important expertise for managers (McKenna and Richardson， 1995). Focusing on the conflicts within business organizations， an increasing number of studies attach great importance to the critical role of conflict management. Elsayed-Elkhouly’s (1996) research indicates that the ability of management to handle conflicts within business organizations will directly affect an organization’s decision-making effectiveness， choice of corporate strategies， day-to-day decision level of achievement， level of empowerment， and level of productivity. It is obvious that conflict management expertise has become the fundamental skill of organizational management.
　　1.1 Conflict Management in Business Meetings
　　In business settings， when people with different business goals and interests collaborate with each other， the chance of confronting disagreements is prominent. Conflicts over ideas， goals and decision-making are considered inevitable for both external and internal business communication. As the routine of internal communication in business organizations， business meetings are one of the prevalent occasions where conflicts are triggered， mediated and resolved during face-to-face communication among attendees with incompatible business goals or ideas.
　　This book concentrates on the study of conflict management in business meetings. As for the conceptualization of conflict management in business meetings， we interpret it from its three components， namely “conflict”， “conflict management” and “business meeting”.
　　Scholars interpret the concept of conflict differently. Rahim (1997) believes that conflict is a process in which people disagree over significant issues， thereby creating friction between parties. Taylor and Moghaddam (1994) see it as the perceived incompatibility of interests caused by the misalignment of goals， motivations or actions between two parties that can be real or only be perceived to exist， whereas Wilmot and Hocker (1998) define conflicts as an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals， scarce resources and interference from the other party in achieving their goals. Albeit that a large variety of definitions of conflict is offered by scholars in the management field， several factors are shared in common: 1) people/parties who have opposing interests， goals or ideas; 2) the tense relationship between the opposing parties; 3) the inference from rivals in achieving their goals.
　　Sweeney and Carruthers (1996) define “conflict management”， sometimes known as “conflict resolution”， as the process used by parties in conflicts to reach a settlement. This all-encompassing definition universally applies to all kinds of conflicts in diverse settings， such as business conflicts， armed conflicts， conflicts between family members， racial conflicts. However， this book focuses on conflict management issues in internal business meetings， one of the indispensable business settings where conflicts are frequently triggered， mediated and resolved during face-to-face communication among attendees who are from the same business organization but with incompatible business goals or ideas.
　　The working definition of conflict management in business meetings in this book is phrased as the settlement of conflicts among attendees who perceive incompatible goals or express incompatible ideas and get interfered with other members in business meetings. This definition stresses three unique features: Firstly， conflict management behavior under observation is restricted to business meeting occasions; secondly， conflicts arise not only because of incompatible goals but also of incompatible ideas that may contribute to the same goal; thirdly， interference comes from colleagues in the same team rather than from antagonists outside. The insights offered in this book are within the boundary set by this working definition of “conflict management in business meetings”， which is tremendously different from the research on external business meetings where attendees are from different business organizations with heterogeneous business cultures.
　　1.2 Cultural Contexts of Conflict Management in Business Meetings
　　Culture has always been considered an indispensable variable of external business communication. Previous studies of business meetings attach great importance to

Contents
总序
前言
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Conflict Management in Business Meetings 1
1.2 Cultural Contexts of Conflict Management in Business Meetings 3
1.3 Information Exchange of Conflict Management in Business Meetings 5
1.4 Summary 7
Chapter 2 The Characteristics of Cultural Contexts of Internal Business Meetings 8
2.1 Profile of Chinese and American Internal Business Meetings under Investigation 9
2.1.1 Simulated Internal Business Meetings 9
2.1.2 The Themes of Internal Business Meetings 11
2.1.3 The Conflict Discourse of Internal Business Meetings 12
2.2 Three-dimensional Cultural Context of Business Communication 14
2.2.1 National Culture 15
2.2.2 Business Culture 16
2.2.3 Personal Culture 17
2.3 Three-dimensional Cultural Context of Chinese and American Internal Business Meetings 18
2.3.1 The Impact of National Culture Context 18
2.3.2 The Impact of Business Culture Context 19
2.3.3 The Impact of Personal Culture Context 21
2.4 Summary 30
Chapter 3 Information Exchange Scheme of Business Meetings 31
3.1 Communicative Purposes 31
3.2 Communicative Strategies 38
3.3 Communicative Skills 39
3.4 Discourse Information Structure 41
3.5 The Working Scheme of Information Exchange 46
3.6 Summary 48
Chapter 4 Communicative Strategies of Conflict Management in Business Meetings and Their Informational Characteristics 50
4.1 Conflict Management Strategies of Persuading and Their Informational Characteristics 50
4.1.1 Strategies Serving the Persuading Purpose and Their Information Structure 51
4.1.2 Distributional Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Persuading Purpose 65
4.1.3 Informational Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Persuading Purpose 66
4.2 Conflict Management Strategies of Compelling and Their Informational Characteristics 68
4.2.1 Strategies Serving the Compelling Purpose and Their Information Structure 69
4.2.2 Distributional Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Compelling Purpose 79
4.2.3 Informational Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Compelling Purpose 80
4.3 Conflict Management Strategies of Avoiding and Their Informational Characteristics 82
4.3.1 Strategies Serving the Avoiding Purpose and Their Information Structure 82
4.3.2 Distributional Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Avoiding Purpose 83
4.3.3 Informational Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Avoiding Purpose 84
4.4 Conflict Management Strategies of Accommodating and Their Informational Characteristics 84
4.4.1 Strategies Serving the Accommodating Purpose and Their Information Structure 84
4.4.2 Distributional Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Accommodating Purpose 86
4.4.3 Informational Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Accommodating Purpose 87
4.5 Conflict Management Strategies of Ignoring and Their Informational Characteristics 87
4.5.1 Strategies Serving the Ignoring Purpose and Their Information Structure 87
4.5.2 Distributional Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Ignoring Purpose 90
4.5.3 Informational Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Ignoring Purpose 90
4.6 Conflict Management Strategies of Collaborating and Their Informational Characteristics 91
4.6.1 Strategies Serving the Collaborating Purpose and Their Information Structure 92
4.6.2 Distributional Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Collaborating Purpose 95
4.6.3 Informational Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Collaborating Purpose 95
4.7 Conflict Management Strategies of Bargaining and Their Informational Characteristics 96
4.7.1 Strategies Serving the Bargaining Purpose and Their Information Structure 97
4.7.2 Distributional Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Bargaining Purpose 108
4.7.3 Informational Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Bargaining Purpose 109
4.8 Conflict Management Strategies of Supporting and Their Informational Characteristics 110
4.8.1 Strategies Serving the Supporting Purpose and Their Information Structure 111
4.8.2 Distributional Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Supporting Purpose 115
4.8.3 Informational Characteristics of Strategies Serving the Supporting Purpose 116
4.9 Summary 117
Chapter 5 Communicative Skills of Conflict Management in Business Meetings and Their Informational Characteristics 121
5.1 Argumentative Skills and Information Structure 122
5.2 Tone-softening Skills and Information Structure 125
5.3 Tone-hardening Skills and Information Structure 129
5.4 Manipulative Skills and Information Structure 133
5.5 Summary 138
Chapter 6 Case Studies: Efficient Information Exchange During Conflict Management in Business Meetings 143
6.1 Case One: Resolving a Conflict 144
6.1.1 Introduction to Case One 144
6.1.2 Three-dimensional Cultural Influences on Conflict Resolution 155
6.1.3 The Tactful Employm