Benjamin J. Broome

Building shared meaning: Implications of a relational approach to empathy for teaching intercultural communication

Empathy, associated with many important aspects of communication behavior, is generally held to be difficult, if not impossible, in intercultural encounters. It is argued in this essay that previous definitions of empathy have not been useful for intercultural communication because of (a) an overemphasis on accuracy, (b) an inappropriate focus on affect, and (c) the improper portrayal of empathy as an ability or a skill. A relational view of empathy is advocated for intercultural encounters, with emphasis on a productive rather than a reproductive approach to understanding. Relational empathy de‐emphasizes similarity, concentrating instead on the development of a “third‐culture” between the communicators, thus providing a basis for building shared meaning in the intercultural situation. This view of empathy has several pedagogical benefits for intercultural communication instruction.

Value Differences and Conflict Resolution Facilitation or Delinking

Three conditions are compared for their effects on attempts to resolve differences on issues concerning both values and interests. Two of the conditions were designed to facilitate resolutions in different ways: One reflected the “values-first” approach while the other allowed the parties to concentrate on their interests apart from differences in values (“interests-first”). Both approaches produced more resolutions and more improved perceptions of the negotiating climate than a third condition in which interests derived directly from values that were not the focus of prenegotiation exercises designed to increase understanding. However, the processes by which dyads in the two conditions achieved resolutions differed. Dyads in the values-first condition were more cooperative in the discussions from their initial positions than were those in the interests-first condition. Implications of these results for models of negotiation and for long-term intergroup cooperation were discussed along with suggestions for further analytical work.

Value Differences and Conflict Resolution Familiarity or Liking

Effects of familiarity and liking on negotiating perceptions and behaviors are explored in two experiments, one focusing on prenegotiation expectations and perceptions (experiment 1), the other on negotiation processes and outcomes (experiment 2). Both experiments were embedded in the context of a simulation of conflict between groups resembling the Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus. Results obtained in the two experiments showed different effects for the familiarity and liking variables: Analytically distinct effects for these variables on prenegotiation perceptions contrasted with the combined effects on negotiating behavior and postnegotiation perceptions. In experiment 1, liking influenced expected movement from initial positions, perceptions of the opponent, and types of strategies prepared for the negotiation; familiarity had its primary impact on perceptions of the situation as being conducive to agreement. Results of experiment 2 showed that reducing either liking or familiarity served to reduce willingness to reach compromise agreements, whether actual or desired. These results suggest that the positive effects obtained for a facilitation condition reported in an earlier study by Druckman, Broome, and Korper (1988) may have been due to the combination of familiarity and liking produced by the experimental manipulation. Implications of the results obtained in both experiments are discussed in terms of changing expectations and uncertainty reduction. Further analyses of negotiating process dynamics would elucidate the difference between reaching agreements in the short run and developing relationships between groups over the long term.

Guidelines For Computer-Assisted Group Problem Solving: Meeting the Challenges of Complex Issues

Over the past decade, several computer-based systems have been developed for assistance with group decision making and problem solving. The goal of such systems is to make meetings more productive by increasing the speed at which decisions are reached and to improve the quality of the resulting decisions. Although there are indications that computer assistance has been successful in helping groups fulfill their normal tasks more efficiently, the challenge confronting the next generation of computer-assisted systems is to provide greater support for complex problem situations. The demands of complexity differ from those faced by groups working on more traditional meeting tasks. Computer assistance needs to help groups (a) move beyond the status quo of group problem solving, (b) develop a greater focus on shared meaning, (c) adopt a new view of human rationality, (d) balance technology with the behavioral demands of group work, and (e) emphasize both individual and group learning. Such computer assistance must be developed as an integrated system of planning and design that is conceived with a holistic view of the requirements of complexity.

Next generation group facilitation: Proposed principles

This article suggests that the effectiveness of group problem solving using facilitated processes appears to have reached an intellectual and methodological plateau. The time has come to move our thinking about group facilitation research and practice beyond this “plateau.” Warfields (1986) Domain of Science Model is seen as providing the appropriate frame from which to construct a new set of principles for group facilitation. These principles are set forth for designing an approach to facilitation of communication in problem-solving groups that is appropriate for dealing with the increasingly complex problems characteristic of todays organizations.

Reaching Across the Dividing Line: Building a Collective Vision for Peace in Cyprus

Although the conflict on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus has resisted for decades attempts by third parties to negotiate a political solution, and in spite of communication barriers that until recently made contact between ordinary citizens extremely difficult, a number of initiatives have brought together groups of citizens who have formed interpersonal alliances across the buffer zone that divides the island. This article focuses on one of these citizen groups that met over a nine-month period, examining in detail the phase of the group’s work in which participants created a ‘collective vision statement’ to guide their peacebuilding efforts. The group encountered many difficulties, ranging from internal dissent to outside pressures, but it was able to work through them by employing a structured methodology for dialogue that gave voice to individual contributions and promoted a consensus that reflected the variety of needs and opinions within the group. The vision statement created by the group was instrumental in its future work, in which the group developed and implemented a collaborative action agenda for peacebuilding activities. It is suggested that such vision statements, developed through a consensus process that assists groups in managing their discussions fruitfully, help focus the group toward a common set of goals, while preserving individual views and perspectives.

Religion and Intergroup Conflict Findings From the Global Group Relations Project

How might religion shape intergroup conflict? We tested whether religious infusion—the extent to which religious rituals and discourse permeate the everyday activities of groups and their members—moderated the effects of two factors known to increase intergroup conflict: competition for limited resources and incompatibility of values held by potentially conflicting groups. We used data from the Global Group Relations Project to investigate 194 groups (e.g., ethnic, religious, national) at 97 sites around the world. When religion was infused in group life, groups were especially prejudiced against those groups that held incompatible values, and they were likely to discriminate against such groups. Moreover, whereas disadvantaged groups with low levels of religious infusion typically avoided directing aggression against their resource-rich and powerful counterparts, disadvantaged groups with high levels of religious infusion directed significant aggression against them—despite the significant tangible costs to the disadvantaged groups potentially posed by enacting such aggression. This research suggests mechanisms through which religion may increase intergroup conflict and introduces an innovative method for performing nuanced, cross-societal research.

A Multistage Influence Model of Barriers to Group Problem Solving: A Participant-Generated Agenda for Small Group Research

Although writers frequently suggestfuture directionsfor small group research, it is not clear to what extent these suggestions arise from participant concerns rather than researcher interests. Not always do the concerns of scholars coincide with the needs of the user. This article presents a participant-generated agendafor small group research that is constructed from a structural analysis of influence maps developed by seven groups overa 6-yearperiod. Each of these groups was engaged in the generation, structuring, and interpretation of difficulties related to group work. A multistage influence model of barriers to group problem solving is developedfrom the group products, and suggestions are made forfuture research directions based on this modeL Thefollowing agenda is proposed: (a) we must examine more carefully the role of contextual influences in group work (b) we need to provide stronger guidance on methodologies for group work, (c) we must find ways to fully integrate discussions of culture with group process, (d) we should view climate and communication as primary conduits of group interaction, (e) we need to conduct more research on how attitudes are influenced by group factors, and (f) we need to broaden our view of the role of process experts.

Systems-thinking social marketing: conceptual extensions and empirical investigations

ABSTRACT Systems thinking dominated the 2015 World Social Marketing conference with the premise that a more holistic approach takes into account all the issues at play for effective change. Augmenting the broadening social marketing literature, we contend that systems-thinking social marketing enhances the field’s conventional behavioural change with concepts of scale, causation, and iterative co-creating change processes for complex health and environmental problems. The results of our empirical Sea for Society study, a sustainable European marine ecosystem examination of what the barriers to change are and how they are interrelated, find systems-thinking social marketing offers the potential to strategically and critically reinforce, not replace, behavioural change campaigns. With systems-thinking social marketing, a coherent theory of change becomes a possibility. Orchestrating social change may become a reality.

Designing a Collective Approach to Peace: Interactive Design and Problem-Solving Workshops with Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot Communities in Cyprus

A series of problem-solving workshops, facilitated by the author utilizing the “interactive management” design process, was held in Cyprus over a nine-month period with a bi-communal group of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. Participants addressed peacebuilding efforts in Cyprus during three phases of group work in which they (a) explored the current situation surrounding such efforts, (b) developed a collective vision for the future, and (c) created an integrated set of activities that they would lead over the next two to three years. The process and the products from the group work are described, and personal reflections are offered about the context for the training, cultural considerations, political and practical difficulties, the impact of the workshops, and an evaluation of the training.