Face negotiation theories
Introduction
There have been an increased number of empirical studies of negotiation theories in the last twenty five years. In this text I look at the development of the empirical studies of face negotiation theories as well as the description of procedures and flaws in the procedural design.
Face negotiation theories
Stella Ting-Toomey was the firs to be associated with the face negotiation theory. She came up with this theory to try and shed light on the management of conflict as well as communication within various cultures. Since then we have had the theory being subjected to intense scrutiny (Korobkin 2009). According to this theory, culture has a very huge impact on people’s communication habits and conflict management in between themselves or in their respective groupings or communal setting.
This theory has some theoretical assumptions which include;
Relational and individual factors as well as cultural variances have an influence on behavior.
On questioning of identities, face is not reliable.
Across the cultures, the basis of communication is face maintenance as well as negotiation.
Ting-Toomey came up with some 24 propositions from the above assumptions. These prepositions can be said to be the main basis on which the face negotiation theory is founded. Ting-Toomey also came up with an elaborate description of face work. She gave several taxonomies which she elaborated make up face work. According to Korobkin (2009), Ting-Toomey’s study has ignited considerable amount of discussion in the research field. Researchers have recently studied several aspects of her theories especially the conflict face interfacing. Some of the researchers who have showed concern with Ting-Toomey’s theories include Mark Cole and Ringo Ma. Face work has also been utilized by another researcher, Young Pang (2000), in a research involving Chinese face to face interaction. Studies have however raised issues with these theories. One of these concerns is failure of cultural dimension to come up with a good explanation of differences in culture. This issue of course comes up as Ting-Toomey’s theory bases its argument on differing experiences of collective as well as individual cultures.
Conclusion
As empirical studies show, face negotiation theory is concerned with individual as well as cultural level communication. It is hence important to note that in coming up with intercultural communication expertise, face negotiation can come in handy.
References
Korobkin, R. (2009). Negotiation theory and strategy, 2nd Edition. Aspen Publishers
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