THE VALUE OF APPLYING THE THEORY IN CHINA

The theory of cooperation and competition has performed well in China with the amount of variance explained comparing favorably with studies in North America. However, our results do not indicate that the theory of coop­eration and competition is highly useful for a full capturing of how Chinese people experience and manage conflict.

Chinese people clearly distinguish and understand cooperation and compe­tition. They recognize that they can promote their own goals as well as those of team members. It is not necessary to project that Chinese are collectivist who emphasize their group interests without concern for their own. They can pur­sue joint outcomes when they believe their goals are cooperative.

Our research in China questions the unidimensionality of collectivism­individualism. Individuals can be highly committed to the collective with strong cooperative goals, but this does not assume a lack of individuality. Indeed, a coop­erative, collective commitment has been found to promote the open expression of individual opinions and needs. A strong cooperative team fosters outspoken, assertive, and confident individuals; an effective cooperative team depends upon members’ willingness to express their individuality (Tjosvold, 1991, 1997; Tjosvold, Chen, and Liu, 2003). Individuals can be both self-assertive and team- oriented; cooperative goals encourage both.

Although a theory developed in the West has guided our research, the resulting studies have exposed Western stereotypes of China. In contrast to the ideas that Chinese consider conflict anathema and that they inevitably deal with open con­flict competitively, Chinese people were found to welcome and value open dis­cussion of opposing views and used conflict to explore opposing views and integrate them.

Chinese values on social face, persuasion, and nonverbal communication need not imply conflict avoidance. These values, when constructively expressed, contribute to open-minded, cooperative conflict management. Organizational values in China support developing effective, two-way relationships among leaders and employees. Chinese leaders are more effective and appreciated when they seek the views of employees and develop cooperative relationships with them.

Cooperative conflict was also found to develop the teamwork to deliver high- quality, high-value service to customers, a competitive advantage needed to sur­vive and flourish in China’s growing market economy (Tjosvold, Chen, and Liu, 2003; Tjosvold and Hu, 2005). Ironically, although the theory of cooperation and competition has been developed in the West, it may be particularly applic­able to relationship-oriented China.

Expanding the Theory Through Cross-Cultural Research

Studying conflict in different cultural contexts can challenge and refine pre­sent understanding of conflict management. Our research in China so far has not much capitalized on this possibility. We are uncertain about the condi­tions under which competitive or independent goals are productive or the conditions when cooperative approaches to conflict are costly and risky. A recent study suggests that competition can be constructive when competitors already have an effective interpersonal relationship (Tjosvold, Johnson, and Sun, forthcoming). Similarly, another study conducted in China identified cooperative interpersonal relationships as an important ingredient to effective conflict avoidance (Tjosvold and Sun, 2002). Research in China has the poten­tial to widen our understanding of conflict and the theory of cooperation and competition.

Responsiveness to Goal Interdependence

One potential cultural difference is that Chinese people, as highly relationship oriented, may be particularly responsive to goal interdependence differences.

In North America, independent goals have an impact on dynamics and out­comes similar to but not as powerful, as competition. However, in some field studies in China, interactions with independent goals have been more power­ful and destructive than competition (Tjosvold, 1998; Tjosvold, Sasaki, and Moy, 1998). It can be speculated that Chinese people are particularly suspicious and closed-minded toward persons with whom they are not involved. At times they find the lack of relationship implied by independent goals more highly disrup­tive of effective collaborative work than competition.

Antecedents of Cooperative Goals

Chinese society has a unique relation system, guanxi, where personal connections are central to work. Maintaining good relations is a key job motivator and ingre­dient to success. Particular ties—coming from the same village, attendance at the same school, and prior connections between fathers—all can build guanxi.

Research on guanxi may illuminate how cooperative goals evolve. Guanxi bases may be prima facie evidence that the partners are on the same side with cooperative goals, and these beliefs of cooperative interdependence in turn lead to mutual trust and assistance. Guanxi bases, however, do not inevitably result in mutual relationships. Perhaps the development of com­petitive goals between partners can explain the failure to capitalize on guanxi bases. At present, it is unclear how guanxi may facilitate or hinder the development of cooperative goals. Studies could also explore the extent that Westerners have similar relational ties that help them develop strongly coop­erative relationships.

Research in China has begun to suggest conditions conducive to the for­mation of cooperative goals. Confirmation of face, implicit communication to convey warmth, benevolent and participative leadership as well as in-group relationships and guanxi may convince Chinese people that their goals are cooperative. These conditions may also promote cooperative goals among Westerners.

Approaches to harmony may affect goal interdependence in China (Leung, 1997; Leung, Koch, and Lu, 2002). Harmony enhancement—the desire to engage in behaviors that strengthen relationships—is “solid” and involves feel­ings of intimacy, closeness, trust, and compatible and mutually beneficial behav­iors whereas disintegration avoidance—tendency to avoid actions that will strain a relationship—involve differences in values and interpersonal styles and the avoidance of contact and conflict. Research can explore the hypothesis that har­mony enhancement induces cooperative goals and disintegration motives lead to competitive ones.

Practical Implications

Our studies indicate that learning how to resolve conflicts constructively is very valuable for managers and employees to operate effectively in the emerging market economy of China. They need cooperative conflicts so that they can con­tribute significantly to the teamwork needed for their organizations to improve product and service quality. Organizations also benefit when they can use coop­erative conflict to strengthen their supply chain and other partnerships that cross organizational boundaries. But how can individuals, teams, and organizations become committed and skilled in developing cooperative relationships and man­aging conflict constructively?

Space does not allow for a review of the training research. Research on coop­eration and competition supports the findings of training research on the major conditions that promote training effectiveness. They both indicate that employ­ees need to be motivated and knowledgeable of the target ideas and behaviors, actively participate in the training, be trained as a cohort, and engage in ongoing development and feedback for effective training.

Cooperative goals should be strengthened over time and supported by ongoing feedback. Unresolved disputes, promotion opportunities, ineffective interaction, and many other developments may lead team members to emphasize that their goals are negatively or independently related. Compe­tition and independence are both possible and at times highly appealing alternatives.

A major advantage of cooperative team training is that using cooperative groups can themselves be very facilitative of the goals of the training. Findings indicate that people in cooperative groups have higher achievement than those in competitive and independent settings (Johnson, Druckman, and Dansereau, 1994). Team members can become more knowledgeable and skilled in working cooperatively through team training and follow-up activities. The method of cooperative team training reinforces the message. Relatedly, cooperative expe­riences can improve feedback processes that stimulate learning. Chinese people have been found to be more accepting, open, and respectful of feedback when they are working cooperatively rather than competitively (Tjosvold, Tang, and West, 2004).

A combined consideration of training and cooperation and competition research suggests the following features for cooperative teamwork training. Members from interdependent teams:

1. Form cooperative learning teams to understand the theory and review the research to appreciate the value for them and their organization of strengthening cooperative goals. They also learn major ways to rein­force cooperative goals and reduce competitive and independent ones.

2. Use constructive controversy to debate and decide whether they want to invest in developing cooperative teamwork.

3. Participate in postworkshop follow-up activities to assess and receive feedback on their teamwork within and between groups and develop concrete ways to strengthen them.

4. Commit themselves to ongoing development of their cooperative team­work.

Cooperative team workshop and two-month follow-up of team feedback and development used the preceding four steps to train teams in a high-technology company based in Beijing (Lu, Tjosvold, and Shi, 2005). Over 150 employees from all the teams in the company participated in the workshop and the follow­up activities. The design allowed the measuring of the effects of the workshop and follow-up activities on the relationships and interaction among the teams as well as within teams. Overall, the results support that the theory of cooperation and competition not only can identify conditions and dynamics by which teams can effectively contribute to their organization but also provide a basis upon which teams can strengthen their internal functioning, their collaboration among teams, and their contributions to their organization. In particular, the study indicates that cooperative teamwork training can heighten beliefs that goals are positively related, foster constructive controversy and creative processes across teams as well as within them, and result in group productivity and potency.