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FEDERAL STATE AUTONOMOUS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

Faculty of Humanities

CROSS-CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICTS AND WAYS OF THEIR RESOLUTION (ELABORATION OF COURSERA ONLINE COURSE MATERIALS)

BACHELOR'S THESIS

online course coursera communication

Kryukova Elizaveta Sergeevna

Field of study: 45.03.02 Linguistics

Degree programme:

Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication

Moscow, 2020

Table of contents

Introduction

Chapter I. Literature Review on the Seminal Notions of the Research

1.1 The notion of a conflict and its development over time

1.2 Types of conflicts and reasons for their emergence

1.3 E-learning and its role in the system of education

Chapter II. The materials for online course “Ways of cross-cultural conflicts resolution” on “Coursera”

2.1 Abstract

2.2 Study objectives

2.3 Expected learning outcomes

2.4 Content of the course

Week 1. Cross-cultural communication as a conflict premise

Lecture I: Introduction

Lecture II: Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions

Readings

1 practice exercise (5 questions)

Discussion prompt

Week 2. The premises of a conflict

Lecture I: the premises of organizational conflict

Lecture II: Circle of conflict by Gary T. Furlong

Readings

1 practice exercise (4 questions and 1 task)

Week 3. The preventive techniques to avoid conflicts

Lecture I: Introduction to conflict prevention

Lecture II: Preventive techniques

Readings

1 practice exercise (6 questions)

Week 4. The conflict-handling strategies and the role of a mediator

Lecture I: The conflict-handling strategies

Lecture II: Strategies for cross-cultural conflict resolution

Lecture III: The role of a mediator

Readings

1 practice exercise (6 questions)

Discussion prompt

Week 5. Case studies

Case 1

Case 1 exercises

Case 2

Case 2 exercises

Case 3

Case 3 exercises

Conclusion

References



Introduction

Many researchers support the idea that cross-cultural communication is considered to be one of the vital competencies which should be developed by all people around the world who are somehow connected to negotiations with foreigners and representatives of other cultures. This statement is especially true in the world of business and negotiations where every entrepreneur ought to possess well-developed communication skills not only with domestic partners but with the international ones as well. Even experienced enterprisers frequently face conflict situations due to the lack of knowledge about other countries' cultures and their specific features. That is why some questions are arisen at this point: “What to do if a conflict occurs in a multinational company?” Why could it emerge? How can I, as a CEO, resolve it? How can they, as employees, help to resolve it? How can I/we avoid such conflict next time?”

Since such questions emerge quite often at this time, it becomes clear why it is significant to be culturally aware and to be skilled in conflict resolution. To apply for modern requirements, an entrepreneur has to develop their soft skills, including cross-cultural communication and conflict resolution. What is more, successful people in business should know the reasons for conflict emergence, especially organizational ones that occur at the workplace or during negotiations. As our world is developing and globalizing rapidly, entrepreneurs should pay close attention to cross-cultural conflicts and the reasons they appear. It is crucial to be aware of partners' cultural background and specific features of the culture, which is key to successful negotiations. These days more and more educational resources emerge to teach people how to communicate with the representatives of other cultures or how to resolve conflicts effectively. However, it is almost impossible to find enough time for people in business to enrol at specific offline courses to possess these skills. That is why online education is an excellent resolution. During this century, many specific platforms were created to facilitate the process of receiving knowledge, obtaining special skills, and getting an education. As this field is not that developed yet, online courses have just started to gain popularity, several well-known universities around the world switched from offline lectures to online ones considering them to be more effective and productive. Such online courses may become a great way for busy entrepreneurs to gain new skills whenever they want to not being stuck to a timetable. That is why obtaining such skills as cross-cultural organizational conflict resolution becomes more comfortable to accomplish and use in the future as online courses are usually practice-oriented.

Scholars began to take an interest in intercultural and cross-cultural communication studies in the second half of the 20th century, beginning with the theory of cultural dimensions provided by Geert Hofstede, one of the pioneers of the field, in which he outlined cultural differences between the biggest countries according to six different dimensions. Although the issue of cross-cultural conflict is rather new due to the process of globalization, scholars agree on the main types of conflicts and reasons for their emergence. However, there are still debates around the questions of whether the causes of cross-cultural organizational conflicts lay in culture or not and how to learn to resolve them. The primary contradiction researchers face here is the real reasons for cross-cultural organizational conflicts.

This work attempts to combine different stances on the issue and develop materials for an online course based on “Coursera” prototype. The materials contain not only information about conflict resolution with existing types and spheres of emergence but also specifically organizational conflicts and ways of their resolution in cross-cultural communication. Subsequently, these materials could be used in order to create a proper online course on the “Coursera” platform provided by the university, which a company or an entrepreneur can use to resolve emerging conflicts quickly and efficiently. The topicality of this study results from the lack of research on cross-cultural conflict and organizational communication examined together as a new separate phenomenon while taking into consideration the cultural element. Nevertheless, the demand for cross-cultural organizational conflict resolution and the ability to apply a proper online course dedicated to this issue is high at the moment. As it was emphasized previously, being culturally aware plays a vital role in the context of the cross-cultural organizational environment.

This work aims to create materials for an online course based on the “Coursera” platform dedicated to the resolution of cross-cultural organizational conflicts. In order to achieve the aim, we used the qualitative method of theoretical analysis, along with creating a solid basis for an online course consisting of the reasons for conflict emergence and ways to resolve it.

The research questions of the current study are the following:

1. What are the reasons for cross-cultural and organizational conflicts emergence?

2. How can these conflicts be resolved efficiently?

3. How can an online course help to achieve this aim?

The outcome of this research is the materials for an online course dedicated to cross-cultural organizational conflicts that may be used further.

Theoretical and methodological basis comprises works on the notion of conflicts (L. Coser, Antsupov A. & Shipilov A., L. Tsoy, Yu. Lukin, Gary T. Furlong, Kibanov A., Vorozheykin E., Zakharov D. & Konovalova V.), on cross-cultural communication (G. Hofstede, E. Hall), and online education (Kaplan A. & Haenlein N., A.K. Datt, H. Shafiq, Z. Wani, I. Mahajan, U. Qadri, Kazdanyan S., Babanskaya V., Mozhaeva G. & Bal V., Atack P.).

This work is divided into two chapters: in the first one, the theoretical aspects are examined; in the second chapter, the practical part of the work takes place.

The first chapter is dedicated to the phenomenon of conflicts, in general, and in the organizational world, in particular, and the analysis of the role of online education. Firstly, the notion of conflicts and its development over time are described. After that, types of usual conflicts and types of organizational conflicts are correlated with the causes of their emergence. Another part of the chapter is dedicated to the role of online education in the modern world with particular attention to the “Coursera” platform. At the end of the chapter, the structure of the “Coursera” platform is outlined, and its significance among other online education platforms is assessed.

The second chapter is dedicated to the practical part of creating materials for the online course. The course itself consists of five weeks filled with written materials (lectures), additional materials for self-study, and quizzes. Firstly, the fundamental works of cross-cultural communication are described during the first week as an introduction to the topic. Secondly, the premises of conflict are analyzed, including the causes and background information known. Thirdly, the preventive techniques to avoid conflict, and the ways to choose the appropriate technique are illustrated. Fourthly, the conflict-handling strategies, and the way to use them are described, the role of a mediator in the conflict resolution is assessed. Lastly, case studies are provided as the final step of the program to demonstrate everything that was learned during the course (cases with a particular conflict).



Chapter I. Literature Review on the Seminal Notions of the Research

1.1 The notion of a conflict and its development over time

Conflicts are considered to be an inevitable part of cross-cultural communication because of existing differences in people's values and perceptions. The most common approach to define a conflict is to identify it with social contradictions. Opposites, contradictions, differences are necessary but, at the same time, insufficient conditions for a conflict situation. Contradictions and opposites turn into a conflict when the forces (their carriers) begin to interact.

The notion “conflict” comes from Latin “conflictus”, meaning “a striking together”, and “a fight” in Late Latin (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). In the contemporary research literature, “conflict” has different definitions based on various features the notion involves. There are many definitions that characterize the notion according to its nature, functions, and sources.

Lewis Coser (1956) defines conflict as “a struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power, and resources in which the aims of the opponents are to neutralize, injure or eliminate their rivals.”

Michael Mescon (1988) considers conflict as a lack of agreement between the parties, which can be both specific individuals and groups. Each of the parties takes all actions to ensure that its position is accepted (Mescon, 1988).

Kibanov, Vorozheykin, and Zakharov (2014) denote conflict as

1) a common manifestation of social relationships and connections between people,

2) forms of interaction of conflicting interests, views, and positions,

3) the confrontation of two or more parties that are connected but striving for achieving their goals.

V. Vesnin (2014), in his manual of personnel work, defines conflict as a collision of opposite trends in the mentality of an individual, in the relationship of people, and their formal and informal associations; conflict is caused by different positions, interests, and views.

Having considered the existing definitions of a conflict and their diversification, we suggest focusing on the following definition of a conflict. Conflict is the realization made by an individual, a social group, or a broader community of the inconsistency of the process of interaction and differences, relationships, as well as the incompatibility of values, interests, and goals as a meaningful confrontation (Dorokhova, 2008).

Traditions of accumulation of conflicting ideas represent a centuries-old history. Having emerged with the first human communities, conflicts were everyday phenomena and have not been scientifically researched for a long time. The first attempts to investigate this phenomenon originate in the 7-6 centuries BC. Famous ancient thinkers discussed the topic of conflicts and their role in the development of all humankind. Thus, Confucius, in his tractates, stated that the conflict is the result of dissimilarity and inequality of people, their vices such as covetousness, adulation, deceit, stubbornness, and others. Confucius believed that getting rid of vices, training of morality, kindness, and devotion can help prevent conflicts (Coser, 1957).

First modern works began to appear in the middle of the 20th century. The bases of modern Western sociology of conflict were laid by an American sociologist Lewis Coser and his publication of “Functions of social conflict” in 1956. The researcher justified the positive role of conflict situations in ensuring the stability of social systems in the concept of “positive-functional conflict.” Lewis A. Coser believed that conflict is a stimulus to social changes and the emergence of new social orders, norms, and relationships.

At the same time, during the 1960s, Kenneth Boulding, an American sociologist, attempted to establish the “General theory of conflict” - the universal doctrine of conflict. According to it, conflict is a universal category peculiar to the living and lifeless world, serving as a basic concept for analyzing the processes of the physical, social, biological, and chemical environment (Boulding, 1963).

Subsequently, in 1992 a Russian psychologist, A. Antsupov, proposed an evolutionary and interdisciplinary theory of conflicts, which was one of the first general theories of conflict in Russian literature (Antsupov, 1992). Another significant contribution to the development of applied aspects of this theory was made by A. Shipilov (Antsupov & Shipilov, 2013).

Conflict situations, as well as any social contradictions, are a form of real public relations, which are the expression of the interaction of individuals, relations of social groups, and communities with incompatibility of their motives, needs, and roles. In this context, conflicts are not only acceptable but also desirable, since they can be useful as a source of social activity. Thus, almost always, conflicts take place where people interact.

The place and role of conflict are a significant issue in the life of an individual, a social group, an enterprise, and society as a whole. Philosophers of the Ancient world considered conflict as a means of agreement and mutual understanding. In the modern world, most of the researchers and scientists in the realm of conflict-management specify conflict as a way to resolve social contradictions and to maintain a balance in the social structure. Now both the condemnation of hostile confrontations at any level and the recognition of the integral role of peacefully resolved conflicts in the formation and consolidation of cooperation and mutual understanding between people are visible.

Because of its nature, a conflict situation might be a carrier of both creative and destructive tendencies, might be good and evil at the same time, might cause harm, and bring benefit to the parties that are involved. The issue of the functional significance of conflicts has been the subject of controversy among many researchers for a long time.

On the one hand, problem solving is a functionally positive consequence; it enhances the cooperation and partnerships, helps overcome conformism. On the other hand, negative and dysfunctional results of conflict include people's dissatisfaction with the shared business, avoiding solving existing issues, increasing level of hostility in interpersonal and intergroup relations, weakening of employees' cohesion, and others. (Bolshakov, 2001).

The functions of a conflict cover both moral (the ability to increase or decrease social activity, encourage or suppress optimism, inspire people) and material spheres (economic interests, benefits, or wastes). All the factors mentioned above have a direct impact on joint activities and can make it easier or, conversely, more difficult to manage an organization.

One of the primary functions is the one that leads to an integrating effect. This function affects the stability of the social system, the formation, and development of groups, the correlation between collective and individual interests, as well as the readjustment of the organization's management mechanism. The fact of integration is also an ambiguous point since it profits from a situation where conflict leads to joint efforts in the coordination of mutual goals and interests and loses in a situation where conflict causes almost irrecoverable damage to the unity and organization of a team (Lazukin, 2011).

Another function of conflict is the activation of social connections, which makes people's interaction and relationships more mobile and dynamic. It directly affects the pace of socio-economic development not only of an individual organization but also of society as a whole.

Thus, it is evident that inter-group conflicts, while strengthening social connections, might emphasize people's interactions and relationships in different ways. They carry both positive consequences that increase the consistency and efficiency of shared work and negative consequences that disrupt the working order and the working mood in the organization. The consequences of a particular conflict are also relevant. It might contribute to social mobility, cause significant changes in the status of a group or individual, accelerate or decelerate the processes of socio-economic and moral development.

Another function of conflict that is significant to note is the signalization of the hearth of social tension. Conflict allows not only to identify existing problems and gaps in the organization, but also provides employees with an opportunity to express their interests, needs, and aspirations, their objections or dissatisfaction. Mostly the emergence of a conflict situation is a warning signal of a trouble situation in an organization, revealing and publicizing the lawlessness of the administration, intolerant working conditions, deviations from industrial democracy, abuse of individual officials, and others (Ratnikov, 2011).

A conflict situation is also significant as a means of innovation and promoting the creative initiative of employees. In conflict situations, employees are more clearly aware not only of their interests, but also of the interests of others, objective trends and contradictions of society, and the need to overcome obstacles to progress and achieve maximum success. Often the conflict is a kind of stimulus to show initiative, creative activity, mobilization of constructive forces, search for unusual approaches for solving existing problems. At the same time, a conflict situation can also increase the manifestation of aggression in the relations of the conflicting parties, while causing dissatisfaction with the results of joint work, depression of spirit, reduced work efficiency.

The transformational function of a conflict that converts interpersonal and intergroup relations is also essential. The conflict situation polarizes the opposing forces, thereby creating prerequisites for their unity on a new basis, contributing to the strengthening of mutual trust and respect.

Conflict, as a rule, is a source of information about the situation in the organization, personal qualities of employees engaged in joint activities. Better awareness, which is achieved through the emergence of conflict, helps establish regular communication, determine common ideas about the actual state of affairs, as well as agree on mutual obligations and interests of the parties (Withers, 2007).

Another essential function of conflict is the prevention of destructive confrontations. When the tense situation between the parties of conflict is resolved, the significant material and moral costs are avoided, as well as a long-term dissonance in the team that unsettles the whole organization (Svetlov, 2005).

Thus, summarizing all that was mentioned above, the conflict has the following functions:

- Achievement of an integrating effect

- Activation of social relations

- Signalization of hearths of social tension

- Promotion of creative initiative of employees

- Transformation of interpersonal and intergroup relationships

- Source of information about the state of affairs in the organization

- Prevention of destructive confrontations

The primary function of a particular conflict process might be revealed only through careful analysis and awareness of the consequences. Under any circumstances, the results of conflict affect the organization and its employees in a certain way.

1.2 Types of conflicts and reasons for their emergence

Conflicts are not only an inevitable part of our everyday life, relationships and negotiations but also a diversified phenomenon, which indicates a wide variety of them. Evaluation and analysis of conflict situations presuppose their systematization, grouping, division by types, and characteristics.

Thus, Yu. Lukin, a Russian scientist and a specialist in conflict-management, divided conflict situations into the following groups (Lukin, 2007):

- Intrapersonal conflicts (internal psychological conflicts)

- Interpersonal conflicts (conflicts between two or more participants)

- Conflicts between a person and a group

- Intergroup conflicts (e.g., conflicts between different departments in the organization)

- Regional conflicts (e.g., conflicts between the executive and legislative authorities)

- On the level of society (conflicts between the spheres of society's life: social, economic, pollical, cultural)

- Global conflicts (conflicts between developed and developing countries)

Another essential type of conflict that was developed later is organizational conflicts. T. Kabachenko, a Russian psychologist and author of many studies in the realm of organizational conflict management, considers that organizational conflict is the most acute way to resolve significant contradictions that arise in the process of interaction between the parties in the organization (Kabachenko, 2003).

According to another researcher in this field, V. Vesnin, organizational conflict is the collision of opposite tendencies on people's relationships, their formal and informal unities, emerged due to the difference of views, positions, and interests (Vesnin, 2005).

Thus, in various definitions of organizational conflicts, there is a common feature that this phenomenon is based on the contradiction between involved participants. According to A. Antsupov, organizational conflicts may be classified as the following:

- Horizontal

- Vertical

- Mixed.

Horizontal conflict situations involve participants who are usually not subordinate to each other. In vertical conflict situations, employees are connected by various relationships in the hierarchy tree of the organization. This type of conflict can also be mixed, reflecting on a relationship between subordinate and insubordinate parties. Particular attention should be paid to vertical conflict since it frequently expresses the inequality of forces of the opposing parties, differences between them in terms of their influence and hierarchical level. In this case, unequal status and rank have a specific power that subsequently affects the progress and outcome of the conflict situation (Antsupov, 1992).

Eleanor Gorman, a British psychologist, provides a typology of conflicts on the scale of occurrence, where she identifies: local (involving part of the staff of the organization region or separately considered industry) and general (involving all or most of the employees of the enterprise, or the central part of employees in the region). Most frequently, conflicts of the latter type are protracted, emerging from contradictions and disagreements about the disadvantages of the organization (Gorman, 2011).

Due to the wide variety of participants' possible behaviours, due to the psychological aspects, hidden aims, and random factors, the outcome of conflicts is often unpredictable. However, conflicts and their premises may be analyzed before the participants of conflict get deeply involved in it. The premises of conflicts are as diversified as the conflicts themselves are. Objective and subjective (participants' perception) reasons should be distinguished at this point. Objective reasons may be classified as the following (Utkin, 2008):

- Limited resources to be distributed,

- Differences in aims, values, methods, behaviour, qualification, education,

- Miscommunication or dissatisfaction with communication.

Subjective (or personal) reasons depend on a person, their perception and behaviour.

It is vital to distinguish objective and subjective premises of a conflict situation. As it was stated, most of conflicts emerge due to people's perception of contradictions as a threat of interests. These contradictions may lay in various spheres such as social and industrial ones, in the organization, in the system of relations, and others (Utkin, 2008).

Psychological researches show that conflicts related to mismanagement and psychological incompatibility are most common in the workplace. According to Marcel Pikhart, a Czech specialist in management, most common situations that lead to conflict during business negotiations are the following (Pikhart, 2016):

- Reticence, probable discontent, and uncertainty (the attitude of “silence” often leads to a hidden conflict)

- The lack of agreement

- Shifting responsibilities to others

- Vague distribution of functional responsibilities.

Another essential premise of organizational conflict is cross-cultural communication. According to Kevin Avruch, an American anthropologist and sociologist, cross-cultural conflict implies a conflict between individuals or social groups that are separated by cultural boundaries (Avruch, 1998). Cross-cultural conflicts, their premises, and strategies for resolution may be analyzed through Hofstede's cultural dimension theory. Geert Hofstede is one of the pioneers in the realm of intercultural communication. At this point, we should distinguish the two notions: cross-cultural and intercultural communication. Cross-cultural communication refers to comparing cultural differences or dealing with them. Intercultural communication refers to the interaction of different cultures. Thus, the current research aims at elaboration of the materials for an online course dedicated to cross-cultural organizational conflict resolution since we compare cultural differences through particular models as possible causes of conflict situations at organizations.

Having surveyed among IBM staff members worldwide, Hofstede proposed four cultural dimensions that he then extended with the other two dimensions (Hofstede, 1980):

- Power distance (perception of power, the degree to which members of society, institution, or organization with relatively less power expect and allow an uneven distribution of power)

- Individualism (inclination to personal goals, self-awareness, protection of private interests, connections between individuals)

- Uncertainty avoidance (the degree of perception and response to unfamiliar situations)

- Masculinity (focus on achieving results at all costs)

- Long-term orientation (strategic thinking determines short-term or long-term orientation to the future, focus on solving strategic and long-term goals, the desire to look into the future)

- Indulgence (the measure of happiness, the degree of satisfaction with the simple joys of life).

Before the emergence of Hofstede's model, cultures were firstly differentiated by an American anthropologist and cross-cultural researcher Edward T. Hall (1976). In the research “Beyond Culture”, he identified two types of culture - high context and low-context - where he relied on the differences that exist in communication between people belonging to the same type of culture. The word “context” is understood as an unstated piece of information that accompanies each interaction. E. Hall identified these two notions as the following:

- High context cultures - cultures in which the information is transmitted to the interlocutor with the help of not only words. Much of the information remains unstated; that is why it is crucial to choose the appropriate words. People are often taciturn, and special attention is paid to nonverbal communication.

- Low context cultures - cultures in which the message is entirely uttered to the interlocutor. The interlocutors express themselves clearly and directly; all the information is given through words.

At this point, it is possible to propose the definition of cross-cultural organizational conflict. Bridging together the definitions that were previously used, it is clear that cross-cultural organizational conflict implies contradiction of opposite patterns on counterparts' relations, their formal and informal communities due to being separated by cultural boundaries.

A lot of organizations worldwide are trying hard to improve their cross-cultural communication standards, for example, by introducing English as lingua franca. However, it is still complicated to manage without getting into a conflict. Zhu Hua, an English (with Chinese origin) professor of applied linguistics and communication, proposes several issues that emerge due to the usage of shared language (lingua franca) in the organization (Hua, 2013):

- The difficulty of finding a common language where none seemed to exist

- Comprehension problems due to insufficient translation of documentation into subsidiary languages

- Difficulty in understanding the various accents in which English is spoken internationally

- Centralization of power into the hands of those who can obtain and disseminate information through knowing the official corporate language or the parent company language

- Feeling of isolation in those lacking or with inadequate skills in the corporate language.

Thus, the study of the premises and essence of a conflict situation allows us to conclude that the conflict is an inevitable part of any social group and, in particular, an organization. The types of conflict and the reasons for their emergence make it possible to establish that the aim of working on conflict situations should not be the suppression, elimination, or avoidance of the conflict itself. Instead, the aim should be managing it in a way that will keep the destructive components under control, give the conflict a functionally positive pattern, and minimize the inevitable damage from its negative consequences.

1.3 E-learning and its role in the system of education

The notion of e-learning and its development over time

The history of e-learning (electronic learning) and online education starts with the notion of distance education (DE). DE (or distance learning) is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2016). It is a set of educational services provided to the general population in the country and abroad through a specialized educational information environment based on the means of exchanging educational information on distance (satellite TV, radio, communication via PC, and others.). DE is an acquisition of knowledge and skills through information and learning, including technologies and other forms of distance learning (Kazdanyan, 2019).

The information and educational environment of DE is a systematically organized set:

- Means of data transmission

- Informational resources

- Interaction reports

- Hardware and software, organizational and methodological support

that is oriented on meeting the educational needs of users. DE is a form of continuing education that is designed to realize the human rights to education and information. Thus, DE is a new organization of the educational process based on the concept of independent student learning. The learning environment is characterized by the fact that students are almost always distant from the professor in space and time. However, they can maintain a dialogue at any time using means of telecommunication.

Implementation of DE is based on information technologies that provide:

- Delivery of the primary amount of studied material to the students

- Interaction between students and professors in the learning process

- Providing students with the opportunity to work independently on the learning of study materials

- Assessment of their knowledge and skills acquired during the learning process.

After World War II, higher education was no longer the privilege and gained a tendency to mass production. However, nowadays' technologies allow us to take this mass production to the next level: a course created by one professor might be read to thousands of people distantly.

In recent years, the term e-learning has become widely used in Western countries, meaning the process of learning in electronic format via the Internet using the learning management system (LMS). The concept of e-learning is now an extension of the term distant learning. E-learning is a broader concept that refers to different forms and methods of learning based on information and communications technology (ICT).

Currently, interest in e-learning is steadily increasing. Russian universities have developed a large number of courses focused on the use of information and communications technology in education (Lapikova, 2008). The Internet provides free access to a variety of educational content. Students and professors can communicate using synchronous and asynchronous means of communication. At this point, online social networks are being formed (Martynov, 2013). The emergence of massive open online courses is connected with these new possibilities.

The emergence of MOOCs

Massive open online course (MOOC) is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and free access via the web. The common name of MOOC is created from four different terms (Artemenko, 2014):

- Massive: a significant number of participants is required for this type of courses

- Open: courses are free, anyone can join it

- Online: course materials have open online access on the Internet for all the participants

- Course: it has a specific structure, working conditions, and shared aims that can be transformed for a particular listener.

We highlight several features that distinguish MOOCs from their analogues, namely (Babanskaya, Mozhaeva & Bal, 2014):

- MOOCs are held online and do not imply the presence of students and professors at the same time in the same place

- They have specific time frames, structure, and syllabus

- They involve the participation of an unlimited number of people

- Do not require a fee for access to educational content.

MOOC-platform is a website that allows MOOCs' managers to publish their courses in the public domain and to manage the current educational process, as well as to promote the dissemination of information about courses. For this platform, we highlight the following features:

- Can be either a commercial project (pursuing benefits by introducing additional paid options such as a certificate of completion) or noncommercial project

- Provides technical support for courses

- Aggregates information about courses posted on the website and provides it with open access

- Aggregates information about user activity, partly providing it in open access.

The structure of the Coursera platform

The Coursera project is the leader among existing MOOC platforms. It rapidly gained its popularity in a short period since it was created in 2012. Now the platform has more than 4,000 courses, 200 world-class universities, and companies participate in the project. Coursera has expanded to reach 53 million people and 2,300 businesses around the world (Coursera, n.d.). In March 2018, Coursera launched six fully online degree courses, including the bachelor's and master's qualifications (Atack, 2018).

Coursera stated its mission as educating millions of students from all over the world and changing methods of traditional education. Coursera's business model is an eco-system that unites students, universities, and companies. In essence, universities and companies elaborate educational courses, Coursera sells them (or distributes for free), educational organizations, and companies get analytics about their courses and potential students and employees.

Registration for a course starts on a specific date but does not have any finishing dates - one can join it any time. A unique feature of lecture material on Coursera is its division into small parts (no more than 20 minutes). Thus, students watch lectures, read additional text materials, complete tasks, and communicate with assistants and fellow students on the forum within the website. Each home assignment or test is to be completed on time. Moreover, such technologies as the in-video quiz and peer assessment are also extensively used during different courses. The first one, in-video quiz, involves the incorporation of a check question inside video lecture; the second one, peer assessment, involves evaluation of 3-5 works written by fellow students during the course (in some cases an evaluation of student work).

At the end of a course, if students get a certain number of points, they receive a free certificate of completion (Statement of Accomplishment) or a paid verified certificate (Verified Certificate), which is usually purchased before the start of the course or in the first weeks of its launch.

Most Coursera courses are available in English, but it is still possible to find a sufficient number of courses in other languages. In addition to the “language of globalization,” or lingua franca, one can find courses in Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian, German, Turkish, Italian, and Hebrew. We can assume that the phenomenon of MOOCs is global, not being limited to spreading exclusively in Western countries. Russia is an active consumer of content from Western MOOC platforms, but at the same time, almost 10% of all courses on Coursera are made by Russian universities. In 2017 Russia became the largest non-English region on the platform representing eight universities and two companies with more than 290 courses.

The Coursera has many advantages that help to possess particular skills online:

- Best instructors from all over the world. Coursera makes it possible for people to receive knowledge, new skills, and experience from the best instructors in particular fields of study. Moreover, some instructors have their own business in addition to teaching.

- Flexible timing. The Coursera platform is available as a mobile application in addition to the official website, so that students may have access anytime and anywhere they are willing to. Indeed, it allows us to plan one's schedule and add these courses there when needed.

- Certificate. Although the whole platform does not require any fees, it is still possible to receive a certificate at the end of the course by choosing financial aid at the beginning of the course. Coursera certificates are highly ranked while applying for a job as it indicates obtaining particular skills at a sufficient level.

- Interaction. The vast majority of courses on the Coursera use real-life cases of companies as practical examples to theoretical basis. Moreover, all classes at the courses have specific forums where students may interact with each other, discuss the course, and ask questions.

Thus, an online course on the Coursera platform dedicated to the resolution of cross-cultural organizational conflicts is an excellent way for students who are interested in this field of study and for entrepreneurs who do not have enough time to enrol at offline courses. The materials for the future course help to identify the reasons for cross-cultural organizational conflicts emergence and to find the ways how these conflicts may be resolved efficiently.

Conclusion to Chapter I

In the fast globalizing world, it is a necessity to be culturally aware and to have well-developed skills in conflict resolution. It is especially true in the world of business. From practical experience, it is clear that multinational companies and organizations tend to have conflicts concerning the diversity of cultures, miscommunication, misunderstanding, and many others. Successful managers need to know the premises of such conflicts, how to handle them, and what is the nature of a conflict in general. In this chapter, the notion and the premises were analyzed, while handling techniques will be described in the second chapter.

To obtain conflict resolution skills, an entrepreneur needs to complete a particular course dedicated to it. However, it is not always possible due to the lack of spare time. Thus, an online course is an excellent resolution in such a situation. In this chapter, the role of online education in the modern world is also analyzed. The development of DE and e-learning was described, the emergence of MOOCs was outlined, and the structure of the Coursera platform, which will serve as a prototype for the future materials of the online course, was covered.

Chapter II. The materials for online course “Ways of cross-cultural conflicts resolution” on “Coursera”

As it was stated before, the current research is aimed at elaboration of the materials for an online course dedicated to cross-cultural organizational conflict resolution and created from a prototype of Coursera. As in the Coursera platform structure, the materials are divided into five weeks, where each of the weeks covers one topic:

1) cross-cultural communication and conflict resolution,

2) the premises of conflict,

3) the preventive techniques to avoid the conflict,

4) the conflict-handling strategies and the role of a mediator,

5) case study.

All parts (weeks) of the course (except for the last one) include 1) lectures on particular topics, 2) auxiliary texts for self-study, 3) test and quizzes at the end of the topic. Tests and quizzes are presented as the following types of exercise: 1) answering the question, 2) filling the gaps, 3) multiple choice. At the end of the course during the fifth week, students are to analyze case studies that aim at resolving a conflict applying all that they have learned during the course. The case studies are checked by the instructors and are defined as the end of the course.

In the current research, all the materials are presented in the written form as the scripts for the future online course. Each part of the chapter is dedicated to a particular week of the course. Each part (except for the last one) contains two or three lectures, one test or quiz, additional texts for self-study.

2.1 Abstract

Conflict resolution ought to be one of the essential skills in the realm of cross-cultural communication. It should be possessed by all negotiators who interact with foreigners and representatives of other cultures, whether it is a student or a well-known entrepreneur. It is especially true in the business world where people in business need to be skilled at communication not only with domestic partners but with the international ones as well. Due to the lack of knowledge in cultural differences and organizational conflict resolution, many enterprisers frequently face difficulties while interacting with international partners.

2.2 Study objectives

· Learning objectives

· To introduce students to the subject, the fundamental theoretical and practical issues of modern organizational conflict resolution in the realm of cross-cultural conflicts

· To learn how to apply the model of cultural dimensions, preventive techniques, and conflict-handling strategies in practice, to learn how to analyze the premises of cross-cultural and organizational conflict situations.

2.3 Expected learning outcomes

· The ability to identify typical conflict situations, as well as the specificity of their emergence

· Knowledge of modern theories of conflict-management, the nature of conflict as specific features of social interaction, the primary strategies for conflict-handling

· The ability to identify and analyze the premises of conflict situations and techniques that might be applied to prevent conflict situations

· Skills in performing primary analysis and interpretation of culture's actions in a conflict situation



2.4 Content of the course

Week 1. Cross-cultural communication as a conflict premise

Lecture I: Introduction

Hello! This lecture will be dedicated to the description of the course. To be able to resolve conflicts efficiently, you need to know the premises of these conflicts, what factors may lead to them, what handling techniques you may use. If we speak about cross-cultural conflict emerging in companies and organizations, first of all, we should consider cultural differences as the primary source of conflicts. The first week of the course will be dedicated to the analysis of culture's features through Geert Hofstede's cultural dimension theory and how these cultural differences may lead to a conflict situation. During the second week, we will analyze other factors that might be sources of conflict (not only cross-cultural ones), what background information of participants we should consider while examining the premises of conflict using Gary T. Furlong's “Circle of conflict” model. Not all situations may lead to a conflict, especially if you are aware of the preventive techniques that help to avoid conflict. Our third week will be dedicated to this topic; we will discuss the existing techniques, how they can be applied to prevent conflicts and how to choose a particular technique. On the fourth week, we will describe the five existing handling strategies thoroughly. Then we will come up with strategies suitable for cross-cultural conflicts. Also, we will analyze how these strategies should be used and what situational considerations we should pay attention to that might affect the choice of an appropriate conflict-handling intention. At the end of the course, students will have to do case studies' analysis applying all the information that they will learn during the course. Throughout the course, at the end of the week, students will need to complete small tests based on the topic they have learned. Welcome to the course, let's get started!

Lecture II: Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions

In this lecture, we will discuss cultural diversity as the primary source of organizational conflicts. First of all, we should consider the corporate culture of a company to find cultural peculiarities in it. One of the most influential theoretical and practical methods for studying organizational cultures is the parametric method provided by Geert Hofstede. The model of cross-cultural research developed by Hofstede is focused on identifying cross-cultural contrasts and, as a result, common characteristics within cultures. In general terms, four main parameters can be described as the following:

Power Distance (PD). It involves the perception of power, the degree to which members of society, institution, or organization with relatively less power expect and allow an uneven distribution of power and accept differences in the position and status of individuals. In organizations with a heightened perception of differences in status, norms and values based on hierarchical representations prevail. In an organizational culture with a high level of PD people who have this power expect special rights and privileges; there are many hierarchical levels between managers and subordinates; authoritarian style and centralization of management are more common.

Individualism vs Collectivism (IDV). Individualism, as opposed to collectivism, is an inclination towards personal goals. In organizations with a high index of individualism, the priority is to achieve individual goals; employees avoid bringing their personal lives to work with them; they try to defend their independence. Employers encourage individual's initiative, take personal contribution into account when rewarding, ensure career growth based on the employee's competence, and relations between employees are often formal. In organizations with a high index of collectivism, the priority is the satisfaction and performance of groups; employees expect the organization to protect the interests of employees and deal with personal relationships. A sense of duty, loyalty, cohesion and attachment to the organization is cultivated. Personal, informal relationships play a significant role.

Masculinity vs Femininity (MAS). Masculinity, unlike femininity, has a focus on achieving results, moving up the career ladder even at the expense of personal life. It is associated with persistence, competition, independence, assertiveness, and success. In organizations with high level of masculinity, managers make decisions rationally, and conflicts mostly have open and rigid confrontation. Such values as success, material prosperity, career growth, and ambitions are dominating. In organizations where femininity prevails, the priority is the “comfort” of relationships, the establishment of good relations, a favourable atmosphere, positive emotional involvement in the working process, and the quality of life are valued. Conflicts often have a hidden nature, and their settlement is carried out through negotiations.

Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI). This term involves features of perception and the degree of acceptance/rejection of situations of uncertainty, of something new and familiar. Representatives of cultures and organizations with a high index of uncertainty avoidance experience discomfort when they face new and unfamiliar as they perceive it as a security threat. The degree of uncertainty is reduced by rules, regulations, covert norms and traditions.

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