Prior literature on conflict in teams has generally established that team heterogeneity (vs. homogeneity) influences the extent to which conflict occurs in teams. However, to date literature has not examined different types of culturally homogeneous teams’ experience of team conflict and its effect on team identity. In two field studies, I look at the effect of team cultural composition and conflict on team identity (Study 1) and the effect of team cultural composition on the tendency to engage in conflict over time (Study 2). Consistent with the literature on culture and dialectical reasoning that suggests East Asians are better able to tolerate contradictions and mixed emotions which usually accompany conflict situations, my results revealed that conflict did not affect East Asian teams’ identity, but it negatively impacted North American teams’ identity. Further, my results revealed that North American teams reported higher levels of conflict during the initial team interaction, but East Asian teams reported higher levels of conflict during later team interactions. I discuss contributions to theory on team conflict and identity and implications for managing culturally homogeneous North American and East Asian teams.

This project involves studying the connection between climate change and large scale conflict within Darfur. This has been accomplished by initially giving a summary of the history of Sudan and Darfur Sudan, while ending with a chronology of events leading up to 2002/3 when large scale conflict between ethnic groups and the state occured in Darfur. This is followed by an analysis of the events leading up to conflict, focusing on the group vs. group and group vs. state interacton over resources in the area which climate change brought about. Following this  is a discussion section in which relevant connections between the conflict in Dafur and outside forces are discussed. The conclusion lends to the fact that the confllict in Dafur is related to flow policies of managing confclit emitted from Khartoum.

The purpose of this study has been to find out how Kenyan journalists look at their own role in the development of the Somalia conflict and how they work to make sure that they have a positive impact on the situation. The empirical material consists of seven semi-structured interviews with journalists who work in print- or broadcast media in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and who specialises in conflict reporting in general and Somalia more specifically. The interviews were summarised, analysed and presented in a thematic order, based on the initial research questions stated below:    Do Kenyan journalists believe that they can help bring peace and stability in Somalia and if so, how? How do Kenyan journalists look at their own role in reporting about the Somalia conflict? How do Kenyan journalists reason when choosing subjects to report about, angles and sources? The result of the study is very clear: all journalists interviewed believe that they can help bring peace and stability in Somalia. Some even believe that without the media, there won’t be peace in Somalia. However, they look slightly different at their individual roles as reporters covering a conflict in a neighbouring country where their own nation is militarily involved. Some look at themselves as objective messengers that report the truth no matter the implications. Others are sensitive when it comes to showing pictures of dead people or publishing the number of casualties, afraid that it might stir up emotions and cause retaliatory attacks. One journalist stands out as the only one openly supporting a patriotic line that he believes is needed for the Kenyan military to defeat the enemy and in the end achieve peace and stability in the region. They all consider it difficult to remain objective when reporting from Somalia, since they most often need to work embedded with the troops for security reasons. African journalists need to highlight the plight of the Somali people and also report about the positive sides of the region, all journalists believe. It is important to paint a brighter picture of Somalia in order to bring new investments to the poor country. Also, they all emphasise the need to talk to the people of Somalia, to let them speak for themselves, because in the end, only Somalis can bring peace to their country.

The Internet is a common technology nowadays in our daily life. More and more people think it will soon replace traditional mass media and become the new age public forum. However, the cyberspace is not as open, free, and democratic as we may imagine. Actually more and more regulations and rules are imposed on it. But deviating behaviors such as conflicts, crimes, and violence did not decrease with all the regulations and rules. And the hierarchy of power and class did not disappear from the cyberspace as the internet utopians described. The researcher investigated one of the biggest and most popular virtual community in Taiwan, Gassiping Board in PTT Bulletin Board System, in particular regulation and power aspects, and tried to find out what is behind the regulations and how the collective behaviors of the users collide with the power of the administrators and the order of the board. Do they reflect any social value or internet culture? And what is the connection with the real world? With the idea of regulation in Lawrence Lessig¡¦s book Code v2 and the concept of cyberpower, the researcher analysed the important changes and conflicts occurred on Gassiping Board. Gassiping Board can be seen as a free speech market by Lessig¡¦s concept, and the rules serving as laws, which give power to the administrators, along with the internet norms, regulate the behaviour of the users. By the code, the administrators can execute the rules. However, the common users have their own power given by the design of the code to rival the administrators, and they can even change the rules, the norms, and the free speech market of Gassiping Board. Also, some changing effects come from outside the virtual community, namely from the real world. Although the administrators have superior power of technology, most of the time they are low in authority. It is hard for them to regulate all the users under the anti-control culture in the cyberspace. The users of Gassiping Board will gather all their powers when it is necessary, and will even destroy the order and overthrow the power of the administrators. However, this phenomenon indicates self-centredness and lack of respect to others, no matter if it is led by the common users or the administrators. Even though the internet is a modern technology product, in practice modern values such as the quality of democracy, law and order can not work with the internet users in making the virtual community a public sphere with both freedom and order.

Abstract The main purpose of this research & analysis report is to suggest a working model between a world leading connector distribution firm and a world leading connector manufacturer firm that will guide them to improved sales performance, increased profitability, and higher levels of customer satisfaction. However, a lack of trust and commitment is keeping them from accomplishing these outcomes. Without trust, there is no commitment. Without commitment, there can be no meaningful change. The method of this research is to first analyze the theories developed in the past for working partnership between distribution firms and manufacturer firms and then, the empirical studies conducted for the same period of time. Among the theories and empirical studies, we focus on how to bond the relationship by using influence (or power), dependence, functional conflict, and cooperation. More specifically, these factors or variables are somewhat related to idiosyncratic investments and contractual terms which provide the two parties with the options to compare pros and cons of taking the next step for relationship bonding. Other ways that may affect their common interest are to form a strategic alliance or joint venture that will provide a competitive advantage for both companies to win the business in this highly competitive environment. At the end of this research, we use a case study to represent potential relationship issues that still go on in today¡¦s business environment which occurred decades ago. Then, we apply the theories and studies and provide suggestions to both leading connector distributor and manufacturer on how to strengthen working relationship in today¡¦s competitive business environment.

The current world population of Muslims is in the range of 1.2 to 1.6 billion (20% of the world¡¦s population), and their numbers are spread out over various geographical areas and religious groups. After the Cold War, America has experienced several international conflicts with the Islamic world at large. Huntington, an American scholar, wrote a thesis ¡§The Clash of Civilizations¡¨ to explain the cause of conflict. While there are significant culture differences, it is difficult to conclude that it is a simple case of conflict in culture. Upon closer inspection of the conflict situation, we find that the American dispute with the Islamic world has largely been focused on the Middle-Eastern group of countries. It would be dangerous to take a stand point that the basis of conflict is in terms of culture, because it over-simplifies the situation and leaves an undesirable stereotype on the Islamic civilization. Using a historical sociology perspective, the author found that there have been several different changes at different times in the international relationship between the American and Middle-Eastern Islamic countries after the Cold War. In fact, before the Cold War, Afghanistan was a crucial ally in the Anti-Soviet movement. It is therefore worth pondering why Afghanistan became the first Middle-Eastern country target in the war against terrorism. This thesis serves to use a geo-political perspective to further examine and explain the intricate transitions and changes in the American-Islamic relationship, in order to demonstrate that the conflict is a struggle for power, rather than a mere ¡§Clash of Civilizations¡¨ as in Huntington¡¦s paper.

Urbanization decreases the amount of natural habitat available to wildlife but some species are able to adapt to and even thrive in human-dominated landscapes. When humans and wildlife live in close proximity the number of conflicts increase. Natural resource and agricultural departments were not designed to handle urban problems or the number of complaints that arise in urban areas, and the nuisance wildlife control (NWC) industry has developed in response to the unmet demand for assistance. Members of the wildlife profession have expressed concerns over the impact the nuisance wildlife control industry may have on wildlife, the public, and wildlife management, but no national studies were found that examined the size, growth, and/or economic impact of the industry. The most recent national reviews of regulation and oversight took place ≥10 years ago. This study examines 2 broad features of the NWC industry: 1) size and economic impact of the industry in the U.S. (e.g., number of businesses, annual sales revenue generated); and 2) the national regulatory environment. A total of 3,153 NWC businesses were identified in the U.S., and a conservative annual sales figure of $140 million was estimated for the wildlife removal services only. Changes in the regulatory environment from 1997-2007 were examined using a 10-category scoring system developed during an earlier study, and comparing the results of both studies. Changes were observed (P ≤ 0.05) for 9 of 10 characteristics, and the average cumulative score rose from 2.20 to 4.28 out of 10.0.

As the component partners of the international joint venture (JV) are from different nationalities of which have the diversities of cultural and concepts and the other factors of societies or the political impact. All these factors not only increased the complexity in organization management, but also reduced efficiency of organization. The case company is an international JV specialized in the field of Environmental protection with professionalism recognition and reputation in Taiwan. The mutual cooperation between both parties mainly based on project execution with the foreign joint venture company providing specialized technique and know-how assistance in project execution. And the case company responsible for internal management mechanism and daily operation under mutual common consensus. However, learning after the execution of few joint venture projects, we found out further improvements could be taken in considering of the diversity of culture, concepts and management from both sides. This research is focused on how to efficiently implement the value of JV and gain competitive advantages via case study, the research conclusion summarized as below. 1.The cultural diversity from both sides mainly displays on ideology as well as the values aspect. Therefore, to enhance understanding with each other is necessary in order to effectively reduce the cultural diversity from both sides. To minimize the cultural diversity will increase harmony in communication and coordination and promote higher chance to avoid the possibility of potential conflicts. 2.Before the cooperation taking place, both parties should align their concepts in company goal as well as strategy, management, operation etc., to ensure the achievement of win-win situation. 3.The experience shares: The knowledge exchange and sharing will be contributive to both sides in the way of more understanding both present situations. In the process of mutual cooperation, the occurrences of miscommunication can be attributable to the foreign joint venture company does not fully understand the local market trend and is doubtful about its potential risks. To optimize the joint venture company to have a comprehension of Taiwan enterprises and to share the experiences gained from previous mutual cooperation to facilitate mutual understanding in view of each other standpoint. 4.Increases own organization wisdom capital: The foreign joint company indeed has more specialized technology and finance resources and always takes trust attitude on mutual cooperation. Nevertheless, the foreign joint company still has the hesitancy on the executive capability of project experiences of the case company. The case company should accelerate to accumulate its own organization wisdom capital on professionalism and the technical knowledge in order to lowering risk appraisal by the foreign joint venture company. In this regard, the case company could create more opportunities of mutual cooperation in future special case cooperation in terms of utilizing its own wisdom capital.

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It has become increasingly apparent that the topic of marital conflict has been given “special status” within the published literature on issues of marriage (Bradbury, Rogge, & Lawrence, 2001; Fincham, 2003). The question has been raised as to whether or not there are other constructs that deserve comparable attention. The present study argues for a closer look at an additional emerging construct, emotional intimacy, and its role in couples’ relationships. Much of the literature on overt conflict and emotional intimacy fails to make an adequate distinction between these two constructs. The present study proposed to derive two factor scales from the Marital Satisfaction Inventory-Revised, Disaffection and Disharmony. Basic psychometric properties of these scales were examined using multiple data sets. Implications were examined for understanding underlying components of relationship distress in both community and clinic couples, and results provided support for the use of the revised factor scales in both clinical and research applications.