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Dean Tjosvold
Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Professor Tjosvold is a specialist in organizational conflict and a prolific author. He lives in Hong Kong and does research there and in mainland China. He will speak about research that challenges common stereotypes about the Chinese approach to conflict. Here is how he describes his topic:
Conflict is not only inevitable when people from diverse cultures work together but, when well-managed, can very much contribute to solving problems and strengthening relationships. However, people often have different approaches in how to deal with conflict. Our research has documented that discussing conflicts openly for mutual benefit is appropriate and useful for people from China as well as North America. It is often argued though that Chinese values make managing conflict productively difficult. Recent experimental and field studies suggest that Chinese values can be expressed in ways that promote the open, constructive discussion of opposing views.
Biographical sketch
Dean Tjosvold is the Henry Y. W. Fong Chair Professor and Head of the Management Department, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, and the Director of the Hong Kong Cooperative Learning Center. After graduating from Princeton University, he earned his Masters Degree in history and his Ph.D. in the social psychology of organizations at the University of Minnesota, both in 1972. He has taught at Pennsylvania State University, Simon Fraser University, and was visiting professor at National University of Singapore, the State University of Groningen in The Netherlands, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and City University of Hong Kong.
He is past president of the International Association of Conflict Management. In 1992, Simon Fraser University awarded him a University Professorship for his research contributions. He received the American Education Research Association’s Outstanding Contribution to Cooperative Learning Award in 1998. His review of cooperative and competitive conflict was recognized as the best article in Applied Psychology: An International Review for 1998. He was elected to the Academy of Management Board of Governors in 2004. He has also received outstanding paper awards from the International Association of Conflict Management.
He has published over 200 articles, 20 books, 30 book chapters, and 100 conference papers on managing conflict, cooperation and competition, decision-making, power, and other management issues. He is now Asian editor, the Journal of World Business, and has served on several editorial boards, including the Academy of Management Review, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Journal of Management. His books have been selected by Fortune, Business Week, Newbridge, and Executive Book Clubs and translated into Chinese and Spanish. With colleagues, he has written books on teamwork, leadership, and conflict management in China published in Chinese. He is a partner in his family’s health care business that has 900 employees and is based in Minnesota, USA.