ZeePedia

RECURRENT THEMES IN CONFLICT DIAGNOSIS II:Themes of Conflict Diagnosis

<< RECURRENT THEMES IN CONFLICT DIAGNOSIS I:The Seven Steps of Social Behavior, Seven steps to diagnose conflict
DESCRIBING THE CONFLICT I:Description of Conflict, Identifying Interpersonal Conflict >>
img
Conflict Management ­HRM624
VU
Lesson 8
RECURRENT THEMES IN CONFLICT DIAGNOSIS II
Quotation
"When one ceases from conflict, whether because he has won, because he has lost, or because he cares no
more for the game, the virtue passes out of him".(Charles Horton Cooley)
This lecture is the continuation of the previous lecture. In the last lecture we had discussed seven steps of
social behavior in detail. In this lecture we will try to understand the themes of the Conflict diagnosis by
applying the seven steps of social behavior.
Themes of Conflict Diagnosis
Following are the ten themes of conflict diagnosis
1.
Behavior makes sense to actor
2.
The interpretation of reality is subjective
3.
Behavior during conflict is used to infer motivational state of others.
4.
Interpretation of the behavior of others is largely unconscious and automatic
5.
Misperceptions and misinterpretations are common during conflicts, and contribute to the
persistence of conflict
6.
Pleasure principle
7.
Expectations about results of one's actions are subjective
8.
Actor's choice of response will be largely unconscious, subjective, based on diverse, often
contradictory motives
9.
People in conflict often don't attain intended goals
10.
Interpersonal conflict tends to be self-fulfilling
Theme 1. Behavior makes sense to actor
An individual will behave in ways that make sense to him or her.
It is of no utility to write off someone's behavior as motivated by evil intent.
Theme 2. Interpretation of reality is subjective.
Each individual's interpretation of reality is subjective.
Theme 3. Conflict to Form Perception
Conflict participants use the conflict itself to make judgments about the motives of the other conflict
participants.
Mind reading is impossible, and the statements of others about their motives are usually not trusted.
Theme 4. Perceptual Biases are Unconscious
The influence of mental processes on the perception of reality in interpersonal conflict is largely
unconscious and automatic.
Because these processes are unconscious and automatic, errors of perception are not usually noted.
The faulty perceptions that arise during conflicts are usually thought as "obvious".
Theme 5. Perceptual Biases Feed Conflict
Expect interpersonal conflict to be misperception
Because the perceptual frames of reference of disputants usually differ, they usually attribute the wrong
motives to each other as they try to explain the behavior they are seeing using the wrong frame of reference.
Emotional reactions to misunderstood actions feed the conflict.
Defensive responses to misunderstood actions further confirm to the observer the negative perceptions.
31
img
Conflict Management ­HRM624
VU
Theme 6.The Pleasure Principle
Each individual is motivated to improve his or her basic well-being, happiness, comfort, and pleasure and to
reduce discomfort, pain, and harm to the self.
This is an expression of the basic motivating force assumed by behaviorists and social learning theorists to
underlie human and animal behavioral responses.
Theme 7. Subjectivity of Expectations about Results
Expectations held by individuals, about the results that their behavior will produce, are subjective.
Theme 8. Complexity and Inconsistency of Motivation
Individual choices in a conflict are the result of reconciling among many diverse and contradictory
motivations. Motivation usually appears simpler to an observer than it does to the one taking action.
Motivation is often unconscious to the actor. This can create a situation in which hidden motives unduly
influence an actor because he or she is unaware of their existence and influence. It also can create a situation
in which an actor seems to be lying, but in fact lacks insight into his or her own behavior.
Interpersonal conflict creates predictable motivations. It can "beat" the other disputant.
Theme 9. Intended goals are not usual achieved
Individuals in a conflict frequently don't attain their intended goals.
Reasons for failure:
i. Misinterpretation of the situation
ii. Application of inappropriate conflict blueprint
iii. Application of unhelpful strategies for resolving conflict
iv. Failure to proficiently execute a strategy
v. Chance; the strategy had a known risk of failure
Theme 10. Self-fulfilling prophecy
The course of a conflict tends to be self-fulfilling. The dynamics of interpersonal conflict typically cause it
to evolve into what the disputants think it is.
Some ADR practitioners use this feature of conflict, subtly manipulating conflict participants into a frame
of mind conducive to resolution. A more constructive approach to handling the conflict often follows.
32
Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION TO CONFLICT:Dispute, Legal Dispute, Call the police
  2. DISPUTE RESOLUTION 1:Positive affect in Negotiation, Alternative Dispute Resolution
  3. DISPUTE RESOLUTION II:Adjudication, Litigation, Mediation-Arbitration
  4. PRECONCEPTIONS ABOUT CONFLICT I:Pedagogical development, Pressures against Innovation
  5. PRECONCEPTIONS ABOUT CONFLICT II:Cultural beliefs about interpersonal conflict, Why strategies of change fail
  6. CONFLICT DIAGNOSIS:Who Needs to Know About Conflict Diagnosis?, Steps in Conflict Diagnosis
  7. RECURRENT THEMES IN CONFLICT DIAGNOSIS I:The Seven Steps of Social Behavior, Seven steps to diagnose conflict
  8. RECURRENT THEMES IN CONFLICT DIAGNOSIS II:Themes of Conflict Diagnosis
  9. DESCRIBING THE CONFLICT I:Description of Conflict, Identifying Interpersonal Conflict
  10. DESCRIBING THE CONFLICT II:Step 1 for Conflict Diagnosis, interpersonal or intrapersonal
  11. SOURCES AND CAUSES OF CONFLICT I:Main Sources of Conflict, Discussing major sources of conflict
  12. SOURCES AND CAUSES OF CONFLICT II
  13. INTEREST ANALYSIS I:Analyzing your interests, Analyzing the other disputant’s interests
  14. INTEREST ANALYSIS II:What are interests?, Tips for Interest Trees
  15. INTEREST ANALYSIS II:Principles and values, Basic Human Needs
  16. ASSESSING THE CHARACTER OF THE CONFLICT I, Premises of Deutsch’s Theory
  17. ASSESSING THE CHARACTER OF THE CONFLICT II:Techniques to transform competitive conflict into cooperative
  18. TRUST AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE I:What is Mistrust,Trust and business,Three levels of trust
  19. TRUST AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE II:Advantages of high trust level, Building of trust
  20. ASSESSING IMPEDIMENTS TO RESOLVE THE CONFLICT I:Motivation to seek vengeance, Mistrust
  21. ASSESSING THE IMPEDIMENTS TO RESOLVING THE CONFLICT II:Disempowered Disputant, Unpleasant Disputant
  22. ASSESSING THE NEGOTIATING STYLE I:Dual Concern Model, Dominating or competition style
  23. ASSESSING THE NEGOTIATING STYLE:Dual Concern Model, Tactics Used In Integrating
  24. ASSESSING POWER AMONG DISPUTANTS:Conflict and Power, Kinds of power in the Relationship Domain
  25. ASSESSING POWER AMONG DISPUTANTS II:Sources of Relationship Power, Context and Power
  26. POWER, CONFLICT, AND BATNA III:Role of Third Party in BATNA, Dealing with Power Imbalance
  27. STEREOTYPES, DIVERSITY, AND CONFLICT I:Stereotyping, Stereotyping in Interpersonal Conflict
  28. STEREOTYPES, DIVERSITY, AND CONFLICT:Categories of Diversity Issues, Seven Mental Processes to Prove Stereotypes
  29. STEREOTYPES, DIVERSITY AND CONFLICT III:Individual Difference and Social Category, Cultural differences in values
  30. MEDIATION I:When is mediation required, Processes Related to Mediation, Product of Mediation
  31. MEDIATION II:Important distinguishing factors, More Advantages and Disadvantages of Pure Mediation
  32. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MEDIATION I:Efficiency Consideration, Conflict Management and Prevention
  33. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MEDIATION II:Quality of Consent, Effects on the parties to mediation
  34. PROCESS OF MEDIATION:Stages of Mediation, Facilitative tactics in mediation
  35. LAW AND ETHICS OF MEDIATION I:Characteristics of mediation, Confidentiality
  36. LAW AND ETHICS OF MEDIATION II:Role of ethics in mediation, 8 Dimensions of Ethics in Mediation
  37. ARBITRATION I:Ways to Resolve Conflict, Advantages of Arbitration, Disadvantages of Arbitration
  38. ARBITRATION II:Varieties of Arbitration, Process of Arbitration, Contents of Arbitration Act
  39. NON BINDING EVALUATION:Disadvantage, Varieties of Non-binding Evaluation
  40. NON BINDING EVALUATION II:Varieties of Non-binding Evaluation, Advantages and disadvantages of Non-binding Evaluation
  41. MIXED AND MULTIMODAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION:Six System Design Principles, Extensions of Dispute Systems Design
  42. POWER TOOLS AND MAGIC KEYS I:Introduction, Necessity of conflict diagnosis, Using conflict diagnosis
  43. POWER TOOLS AND MAGIC KEYS II:Proposed Contents of a Clients’ Interview, Impediments to use facilitative mediation
  44. PANCHAYAT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM, AND ADR, Definitions of Panchayat, Definition of Jirga
  45. SUMMARY AND MESSAGE OF THE COURSE:Definitions of conflict, Negotiation, Meditation, Adjudication