Most of the teachers of Japanese in American institutions of higher education are women, and they have to deal with and learn how to resolve various conflicts that arise out of differences between their own cultural assumptions and those of their students.
Dr. Hamada will report on the results of her research on: 1) what are the most common bases for misunderstandings and conflicts between Japanese female professors and their American students, 2) what strategies Japanese female professors in American Universities use in resolving conflicts and misunderstandings with their American students, 3) which strategies were more common, and 4) which one was most successful.
Her findings indicate that: 1) Misunderstandings and conflicts between Japanese
female professors and their American students arose out of culturally-based
differences in assumptions about formality and informality, direct and indirect
communication, verbal and nonverbal communication styles, language issues, and
differences in expectations and assumptions about classroom management and
behavior and the teacher-student relationship;
2) The conflict management styles of the professors changed over time; and 3)
The professors tended to use either a dominating style or an integrating style
in dealing with conflict, with 4) the integrating style having a
greater rate of success in resolving the conflict. (She will explain what the
"dominating" and "integrating" styles of dealing with conflict are.)
After attending this session, the participants will be better able to identify their own conflict resolution styles and will have the knowledge that, at least in one study, the integrating style of conflict resolution was shown to be more successful than the dominating style.