distance (Hofstede, 1994, apud Launikari, 2005). Clients from these cultures say what
they think, their message is explicit, words are the main communication vehicle, essential
to understand the message (Hall, 1997, apud Launikari, 2005).
Indirect context presupposes mainly including information in the physical realm and little
information in the verbal message. When working with clients from cultures such as
Japanese, Arabic, Thai it is necessary to recognize the client’s tendency towards
collectivism and homogeneity, their behaviour predictable, they work in united groups
with a rich common cultural code that allows them not to be very explicit. Nonverbal
clues represent the key to knowing whether the verbal message is the real message. The
objectives of communication are keeping harmony and saving the interlocutor’s face,
confrontation is avoided, and criticism taken with great difficulty.
Management of intercultural conflicts
Conflict is a relationship between two or more individuals who consider their purposes
incompatible, or a confrontation between two or more people that can lead to tension or
violence. Unlike violence, which consists of actions, words or attitudes, structures or
systems causing physical, mental, social, cultural, or environmental damage, or
preventing people from reaching their full human potential, conflict must be viewed as
something normal, inherent to life situations (Fisher, 2003, apud Launikari et al., 2005).
Consequently, a counsellor must give up the traditional view on conflict as an objective
issue with a unique solution that presupposes individual opponents blaming each other, a
win or lose situation, with legitimate use of power, or an unpleasant state to be removed.
The conflict must be regarded as a situation where no one has the monopoly over the
truth, it involves various individuals or groups in reciprocal confrontation, a process that
can lead to gain or loss for both groups, or where one wins and the other loses according
to the way the conflict is managed, and represents a human reality present in any society.
Multicultural relationships management and problem solving are based on the reduction
of fear, understanding the other, and intercultural counselling. Xenophobic attitudes are
often created and maintained through misinformation, ignorance, and harmful
generalization; eliminating this phenomenon is possible through knowledge of the other,
direct exchanges, equal commitment in common projects, dialogue and cooperation in
terms of equality. By increasing interaction between the members of various social
groups, false or negative stereotypes can be removed and proven unreal or unfounded.
Direct exchanges yield in a brief interval information on the other related to looks,
interaction style, dress code, age, gender, self-image, attitudes, etc.
As Jelking and Sajous (1995, apud Launikari et al., 2005) show, in order to be efficient
with increased interactions in changing stereotypes, a counsellor must make sure of the
following: