Chinese Employees Negotiating Differing Conflict Management Expectations in a U.S.-Based Multinational Corporation Subsidiary in Southwest China

Abstract

This article explores Chinese employees’ views of conflict management norms and their coping strategies in a U.S.-based multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiary in inland China. Twenty-seven interviews were conducted with employees of a renowned large-scale American Information Technology (IT) company in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province in Southwest China. The findings showed that the company’s norm of conflict management is constructive confrontation, and the Chinese employees have contradictory attitudes when they are required to adopt it in everyday conflict management. During the process, the local employees bear burdens to conform to the MNC norms and culture, and have developed coping strategies such as switching mode, seeking hard facts, resorting to off-line talk, and turning to a third party of higher authority for intervention.