Japanese Community and Organizational Mediation

Abstract

This study investigated community and organizational mediation in Japan. Initially, hypotheses about community mediation were developed from a review of Japanese history and culture. These predictions were compared to data from interviews with Japanese students and subsequently with data collected in Japan. The comparisons yielded revised predictions about organizational conflict resolution, which were strongly supported by data collected in Japan. Specifically, it was found that the Japanese in their organizations, as in the community, infrequently use assertive mediation techniques such as criticism, education, and disputant separation. They are more apt to rely on nonassertive techniques such as gathering information from the disputants, listening to opinions, and relaying these between disputants. Such an approach is significantly less assertive than that used by the Chinese or the South Koreans.