International Journal of Organizational Leadership

Abstract

The culture that people come from has played an important part in shaping any society. Culture is of vital importance since it assists in the way people live and articulating the manner in which information among people is administered. Miscommunication often arises due to the differences in cultures that exist that leads to people misunderstanding of other cultural contexts. Individuals from certain cultures may deal with conflict easily while others tend to find it difficult in dealing with it amenably. This leads to the system of sweeping it under the carpet (De Drue, Blom, & Hagendoom, 2007). Conflict is triggered when there are cultural differences between individuals within an organization or through general interaction with one another. This often leads to cross-cultural conflict which generally occurs in the context that individuals are not willing to understand each other’s diversity in cultures. This study examines cultural differences that influence conflict within an organization. Quota Sampling was used as sampling technique. Data was grouped according to ethnicities. The study is qualitative in nature and made use of semi-structured interviews which were carried out with fifty participants from three ethnic groups. Data was analyzed using Qualitative Content analysis. Findings suggested ways that management could reduce conflict by creating an environment where all cultures interact with one another freely.