Conflict, Dispute, And Negotiation

Conflict is inevitable in any personal relationship or among members of any group. While we encounter many types of conflict in our lifetime, we often look for ways to avoid conflict. So, why do we run away from dealing with our conflict? It is often because many of us fear the conflict will escalate into a situation we will not be able to sustain. “As conflicts escalate, they go through certain incremental transformations. Although these transformations occur separately on each side, they affect the conflict as a whole because they are usually mirrored by the other side. As a result of these transformations, the conflict is intensified in ways that are sometimes exceedingly difficult to undo” (Pruitt, and Kim 89). We

What is conflict? Even something as basic as a universal definition for the word conflict seems to vary from source to source. A literature review focusing on conflict defined it as “the interaction of interdependent people who perceive incompatibility and the possibility of interference from others as a result of this incompatibility” (Brinkert 2010). Often times the disagreement results not from a concrete difference, but rather a difference in perception (Ellis & Abbott 2012). One of the most important factors effecting conflict management is the resolution style used. The most often used tool for classifying how conflict is managed is the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (Iglesias & Vallejo 2012).

Learning to communicate efficiently and manage conflict successfully is challenging. Gaining cooperation between people is complex and mentally demanding. Communication ways and conflict styles are deeply woven into our personalities. Conflict is the expressed struggle of interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, interference from the other party in achieving those goals, and the perception of scarce resources. Perceptions are just as important as reality in regards to conflict. As stated in the text, “we encounter conflict as we compete for acceptance, love, recognition, position, power, success, and many other goals. Judgments of the quality of

Communication in conflict can be both constructive and destructive. Those who communicate constructively, or productively, emphasize both themselves and

Conflict can be described as a process that begins when an individual perceives that another person is about to or has negatively affected something that is important to him/her. Therefore, the conflict process consists of various stages with the first one being the existence of situations that create enable conflict to arise. The other stages in this process are cognition and personalization, aims, behavior, and results.

Conflict is “an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from others in achieving their goals” (Hocker, 1991). There are two basic types of conflicts: substantive and emotional. According to Schermerhorn et.al., substantive conflict is a fundamental disagreement over ends or goals to be pursued and the means for their

Based on the conflict modes of Thomas and Kilmann, there are five styles of conflict management: avoiding, accommodating, collaborating, competing and compromising. Accommodation happens when a person attempts to satisfy the other person’s concerns at the expense of their own, Avoiding is where a person sidesteps the conflict without trying to satisfy either person’s concern, Compromising is when the person partially satisfies both people’s concerns, Collaborating is when a person tries to find a win-win solution that satisfies both people’s concerns, and Competing

Conflict is defined as the behaviour due to which people differ in their feelings, thought and/or actions. Collins (1995) states that the conflict is a ‘serious disagreement and argument about something important’ and also as ‘a serious difference between two or more beliefs, ideas or interests’ (cf. Kumaraswamy, 1997, p. 96). In general it is believed that conflicts are the underlying cause of disputes. In other words, dispute is a manifestation of the deep rooted conflict. A dispute is defined as ‘a class or kind of conflict, which manifests itself in distinct, justifiable issues. It involves disagreement over issues capable of resolution by negotiation, mediation or third party adjudication’

According to Cloke and Goldsmith (2011), “one way of understanding the hidden layers and complexities that lie beneath the surface of our conflicts is by using the metaphor of the iceberg” (p. 66). Just like an iceberg, there are layers in conflicts. What we see is only a portion of what is happening. Below the water line, is much more. In fact, the portion that we see on the surface is the current issue at hand. The issue is usually easy to observe. On the other hand, there is always things that is happening under the surface. They are usually less easy to point out. Beneath the surface, there are personalities. People behave, communicate, and get things done in different ways. After, there is emotions. To reach the best resolution we can, each party in a conflict should be true about their emotions by bringing empathy into the picture. Next, there is interests, needs, and desires. This is where each party should be curious. It is important to ask questions in order to find out the needs and concerns behind people’s action. Also, self-perceptions and self-esteem. In the iceberg of conflict, there are hidden expectations. Here is when the conflicting parties should use their active listening skills to figure out the missing links. They should listen and try to understand the other party perspectives. Lastly, there is unresolved issues from the past. Keeping an open mind is critical in this stage. If you are still angry, it is wise to calm

On a whole, conflict is what leads to negotiation in regard to solving a problem for a win-win situation.

Dispute is the formal name of dysfunctional conflict, which is viewed as “a kind of conflict manifesting itself in a distinct, justiciable issues” (Brown and Marriot 1999). This view indicates that one more feature of the dispute is its justiciability. Burton (1993) further distinguished the two concepts from a time-scale perspective, who suggested that compared with conflict, dispute which is supposed to be easy to resolve is a kind of short-term disagreement that are embedded in a larger and longer-term conflict. Thus, from this analysis of conflict and dispute, it can be suggested that conflict is inevitable while dispute is needed to be avoided.

When the word “conflict” is projected, it is almost always perceived as nothing good; or, something bad is bound to happen. This perception is normal (Domenici & Littlejohn, 2001) because conflict is inevitable to anyone ranging from personal to worldly levels throughout various types of circumstances where their needs and wants could be compromised. Using a real conflict, this text aims to describe and discuss causes of conflict, resolution skills, application and challenges in the same of a conflict model.

Before beginning to outline the theoretical approach, it may be useful to outline the key aspects of the field of conflict and conflict resolution studies. Firstly, comparing to other fields of social science studies, the study of conflict and conflict resolution is relatively new "it is only in the twentieth century that the systematic study of conflict has become a field in its own right. In fact, the overwhelming majority of work in this field is a product of the last half of the twentieth century" . Thus, the study of conflict and conflict resolution has long remained within a variety of disciplinary, “theory and research are drawn not only from political science but also from social psychology, sociology, economics, and law" .

Many people do not know the difference between conflict and dispute because they may seem similar, although, they are quite different. Conflict and disputes are distinct but with a common denominator; both causing the effect of trouble and both approached by violence. Disputes are short-term problems, are relatively easier to solve and generally involve negotiable interests while on the other hand, conflicts are long-term, deeply rooted and involve 'non-negotiable ' interests such as value/moral differences and denial of basic human needs (Sprangler & Burgess, 2012). To recapitulate, conflicts are much more severe and easily noticed however, disputes are of a

In the world today there are many pressed ideals on how to solve conflict. Conflict is part of human existence. The world is filled with conflicts in all realms of life. Evidence of unresolved conflicts in greater scale are the chaos around the world that we hear and see from the daily world news. Every day we experience some sort of conflict that are either insignificant or relatively important whether we are at home, at school, at a coffee shop, or at work. The workplace usually has a diverse group of employees from all walks of life, culture, and family background. Differences that arise from a diverse group could result to a conflict. Therefore, it is imperative to better understand the influences and styles of conflict and implement a conflict resolution process as part of an organizations culture that is on a neutral standard. Resolutions to conflicts should be taken from a mediating standpoint when possible with Human Rights always intact.