Japanese Community and Organizational Mediation

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title

The Journal of Conflict Resolution

Volume

41

Issue

2

Publisher

SAGE Publications

First Page

311

Last Page

328

Publication Date

1997

Abstract

This study investigated community and organizational mediation in Japan. Initially, hypotheses about community mediation were developed from a review of Japanese history and culture. These predictions were compared to data from interviews with Japanese students and subsequently with data collected in Japan. The comparisons yielded revised predictions about organizational conflict resolution, which were strongly supported by data collected in Japan. Specifically, it was found that the Japanese in their organizations, as in the community, infrequently use assertive mediation techniques such as criticism, education, and disputant separation. They are more apt to rely on nonassertive techniques such as gathering information from the disputants, listening to opinions, and relaying these between disputants. Such an approach is significantly less assertive than that used by the Chinese or the South Koreans.

Comments

Originally published by SAGE Publications. Publisher's PDF and article fulltext available through remote link via JSTOR.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS