Business today is increasingly being impacted by international considerations. This international impact is felt in areas such as locating the various sources of raw materials, coordinating production schedules with plants around the globe, selecting marketing strategies to be employed in various cultures, determining which financial decisions need to be made in a world market, and also how to best utilize a workforce rich in diversity of talents, backgrounds, and communication styles. This paper addresses the last of these considerations: namely, how to effectively manage a diverse workforce. In particular, this work is directed toward helping managers to deal with conflict in the workplace, and to effectively manage that conflict across cultural boundaries. A case situation involving a multinational bank with a diverse workforce is presented. The nature of conflict is discussed, and contributors to conflict explored. A variety of conflict management techniques is reviewed and discussed. Finally, a proposed nine-step model for managing conflict is presented. The proposed model is then applied to the case situation to illustrate its practical applicability to business today.

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The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the use of the Black communication style by African Americans in an organized environment. The research method which was used involved a multimethod approach of data collection in the field using direct observation, and obtrusive observations, as well as semi-structured interviews. This investigation has shown that although the Black employees in this organization felt, in general, as if they were changing their communication style to fit the organizational norms, they continued to rely on the cultural norms underlying the Black communication style. U.S. demographics are foretelling a future that will require innovative organizational communication strategies. According to Fine, two facts about the U.S. corporate environment which are uncovered by demographic trends are that the workforce will be comprised of a “greater diversity of gender, race, age, culture, and language” and that the demand for qualified workers will exceed the supply thereby “creating intense competition among organizations for workers” [1]. These changing demographics are not going unnoticed by the U.S. corporate leaders. Specifically, the issues of most concern to organizational executives, according to Workforce 2000, center around linguistic and cultural differences. Most organizations have no innovative strategies for meeting the demands of a diverse workforce. Traditional programs, such as day-care provisions, flexible work times, and hiring and recruiting more people of color are being implemented by corporate America in an effort to meet the demand for diversity. However, organizations are often lacking in creative programs which will provide for this emerging diverse workforce an environment that will accept and nurture their diversity. Certainly these corporate executives are receiving little in the way of guidance from organizational researchers.

Chinese social and economic history is both influenced by and, to a certain extent, married with Chinese political regimes. Various political dynasties from the past have each exercised significant control of Chinese social and economic environments, and continue to exert influence even to the present day. Three of these influential periods include the Kang Qian Flourishing Age (1723-1796), the Qing Dynasty Decline (1800s-1912), and the People's Republic of China Communist Control (1949-present). A review and in-depth examination of each regime helps to both understand where China is today and also how it is likely to evolve in the future.