Inter-generational conflicts and approaches to their management among different generations in China

Abstract

The continued globalization and internationalization of erstwhile regional and local markets and workplaces have given rise to issues of intercultural and intergenerational conflict, as the workplace becomes both more generationally and culturally diverse. With the growing financial influence of China on the world stage, there is an understanding that erstwhile approaches to studying intergenerational differences and sources of conflict in Western cultures may need to be modified to better account for how factors like social hierarchy, age dynamics and filial piety interact in non-Western contexts. For countries like China, growing business and trade ties might often lead to workplace conflicts or misunderstandings, as individuals from different generations and cultures interact in diverse contexts. Businesses, meanwhile, do not have enough data to formulate effective policies and training programs to mitigate possible conflicts. The current study sought to address this gap by employing a scenario-based semi-structured questionnaire that incorporated participant-generated bubble dialogues to study the approaches of 73 Chinese professionals from younger and older generational cohorts towards intergenerational conflict management at the workplace. The results indicate that while older Chinese participants prefer to avoid sources of conflict, or approach them in a more confrontational manner, their younger counterparts prefer more active approaches that stress cooperation and are more solutions-based. The findings also suggest that younger respondents are less constrained by age-related hierarchical considerations when faced with potential sources of conflict that involve older individuals.