A Research Report of the Face-Negotiation Theory

from the article "Intercultural Conflict Styles: A Face-Negotiation Theory" by Stella Ting-Toomey.

by Heath Brothers

"Facework" and "conflict style" are two culturally grounded concepts. Culture provides the framework in which "face" and "conflict style" can be expressed and maintained. The values and norms of each culture shape how people manage facework, and handle themselves in conflict situations. In the article the author of the theory Stella Ting-Toomey discusses the role of culture in both face-management and conflict style processes.

First we will talk about facework processes. "Face," can be defined as the public self-image that every member of a society wants to claim for themselves. It's what we want to be known as my other members of society. In an individualistic culture such as the U.S., maintaining a consistent public and private "face" is very important. In collectivist cultures such as Japan, the concept is based on the situation and the relationship. In the U.S., to provide "face-support" in a problematic situation would mean lending support to the person's idealized self. You would have to realize what the person wants to be known for and help them out using that knowledge. In Japan, the "face" is maintained through an active process and is constantly changing. It doesn't matter who the person wants to be known as because their image changes in every situation.

Positive face is the basic claim over the public self-image to be appreciated and approved by others. Negative face is the basic claim to territories, personal reserves, and rights to nondistraction. Negative facework is the amount of respect parties give concerning the others sense of freedom and individual autonomy. Positive facework is the respect one gives for another's need for approval and association.

There are two major ways we use to understand conflict among different cultures. There is a three-style approach and a five-style approach. The three-style is:

Control Style: Acts that lead to direct confrontations, arguments, or imposition of ideas on another person.
Solution Oriented Style: Acts that aim to find solutions to the conflict and integrate the needs of both parties.
Nonconfrontational Style: Acts that entail indirectness avoidance and withdrawal.

The five-style approach also has degrees. The first is the degree (high or low) to which a person satisfies their own face-need. The second is the degree to which a person satisfies another's face-need.

Dominating(high self-concern, low other concern)
Obliging(low self-concern, high other concern)
Integrating(high self-concern, high other concern)
Avoiding(low self-concern, low other concern)
Compromising(intermediate self and other concern)

Both of these models only seem to work for the U.S. and other high-context cultures. The low-context cultures like China and Mexico seem to be more passive and use mainly avoidance strategies.

Overall high and low context cultures are very different. Face is more consistent in high-context cultures and seems to be more important. In the low-context cultures it's based on situations and relationships. Conflict styles are also very different, and maybe if some of the low-context cultures were more assertive in their styles they would be better off in this world.

This article was really easy to read. It was broken up nicely into sections that I could understand. It related well to the theory and helped explain it in a way that I could understand.

Click here to go back to the Face-Negotiation title page

Click here to see a paper about facework by W. Scott Thune a student from Iowa State University.

William Gudykunst, L.P. Stewart, and Stella Ting-Toomey, eds. Theories in Intercultural Communication. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1988.