Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 158
A calm room can hide a broken relationship
Workable interdependence requires more than calm language agreement or conflict avoidance
Premise
Guo-Ming Chen’s Harmony Theory judges communication by whether interaction sustains a workable and morally grounded relationship amid change. Harmony is not the disappearance of disagreement. It is an adaptive balance among people, obligations, circumstances, face, relationships, and power. A calm exchange may therefore be disharmonious when silence is coerced, information is withheld, or hierarchy makes challenge unsafe.
Chen developed the theory from Chinese philosophical premises rather than treating Western transmission or self-expression models as universal. Its nine concepts form three linked layers. The intrinsic layer contains ren, yi, and li; the contingent layer shi, wei, and ji; and the behavioral-strategic layer guanxi, mianzi, and power. The architecture matters more than any single cultural term.
What the model is: Chinese Harmony Theory of Communication in Knowledge →
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- FamilyModel
- CategoryTheories & Explanatory Models
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What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Model
In this series, Model names the editorial family primarily used to understand and explain communication: theories, frameworks, effects, traditions, principles and other conceptual resources. It is an umbrella for a route into the field, not a claim that every included object is a predictive model.
Editorial orientation · Category
Theories & Explanatory Models
Explains how or why a communication process works by relating mechanisms, conditions or variables. Its value is an account that can guide inquiry into what produces an outcome, rather than a name for the outcome alone.