Cross-Cultural Conflict Management

May Nor Clara Cheng has a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is Associate Professor in Psychological Anthropology at William Carey International University. She served with OMF International for sixteen years in Japan, in the Philippines, and in Taiwan.

Her area of expertise is equipping cross-cultural workers in their inner-beings in order to lead a healthy emotional, social, and spiritual life and to be effective in their cross-cultural endeavors.

August 17, 2017

by May Nor Clara Cheng

Interweaving with stories of her cross-cultural experiences in three countries, Cheng contends that the context of conflict management is the emotional wholeness of a cross-cultural worker. One of the two starting points of cross-cultural conflict management is self-awareness of the impact of one’s national character in their personality, especially in relevant to individualistic and collectivistic cultures. The other one is the understanding of the conflict dynamics and the issues in cross-cultural conflicts. For cross-cultural workers from an individualistic cultural background, the core lesson is to move their social life and conflict management from a self-centered orientation towards more of a communal life orientation.

How Does Spirituality Connect with Conflict Resolution?

The approach of spirituality in cross-cultural conflict management must be psycho-spiritual. The keys to spirituality amidst various conflicts are: self-awareness and guarding of one’s own heart, intimacy with God, biblical self-esteem and social boundary, humility and meekness, gentleness and calmness, fear of God instead of fear of human being. They will be able to rejoice that they belong to God and that they are worthy to suffer for Christ. Resilience in intimacy with God is the very key to growth for the cross-cultural workers during and after conflicts.

Continue reading Clara Cheng’s article in PDF format.