Excerpt from Fisher et.al. "Working with Conflict", Chapter 1This is a featured page

Please note: The content below is taken from Fisher et.al., Working with Conflict. Skills and Strategic for Action, Responding to Conflict, London: Zed Books 2000, pp. 3-5. Hard copies can be ordered on the Responding to Conflict website <http://www.respond.org/pages/publications.html>

Chapter 1 - Understanding Conflict

Making sense of conflict
Perceptions
People have different perceptions on life and its problems:
  • We each have our own unique history and character.
  • Each of us is born either male or female.
  • Each of us is born into a particular way of life: a nomadic pastoralist from Northern Kenya and an urban dweller in Kuala Lumpur have radically different experiences of, and views about, the world and their place in it.
  • Each of us has our own values, which guide our thinking and our behaviour and motivate us to take certain actions and to reject others.
Not surprisingly, therefore when we meet and work with others, we find that they often have a different perspective on things. [...] [P]eople see social and political situations differently. Our backgrounds lead us to see things in a particular way.

Differences in viewpoints are inevitable, and often enriching. When people study a problem together they often assume that, with the same facts at everyone's disposal, they will all agree on a single analysis. This is not so. Unanimity is even more unlikely when we consider that, in addition to these 'natural' differences, there are those brought about by a range of other dimensions: status, power, wealth, age, the role assigned to our gender, belonging to a specific social group, and so on. These indicators of position in a society often mean that people want different things from the same situation: sometimes these goals clash, or are incompatible. It is then that we have a conflict.

Differences in perspective and goals are often seen as a problem that will only be resolved when we all have the same intentions, or when one view wins over the others. Alternatively, they can be seen as a resource, leading to a wider understanding of a problem, and an improvement to the present situation.

Conflict and violence are different things
As basic working definitions of conflict and violence, we would suggest the following:
  • Conflict is a relationship between two or more parties (individuals or groups) who have, or think they have, incompatible goals. (See Chris Mitchell, The Strucure of International Conflict, London: Macmillan, 1981, chapter 1.)
  • Violence consists of actions, words, attitudes, structures or systems that cause physical, psychological, social or environmental damage and/or prevent people from reaching their full human potential.
Conflicts are a fact of life, inevitable and often creative. Conflicts happen when people pursue goals which clash. Disagreements and conflicts are usually resolved without violence, and often lead to an improved situation for most or all of those involved. Which is just as well, since conflicts are part of our existence. From the micro, interpersonal level through to groups, organisations, communities and nations, all human relations - social relations, economic relations and relations of power - experience growth, change and conflict. Conflicts arise from imbalances in these relationships - i.e. unequal social status, unequal wealth and access to resources and unequal power - leading to problems such as discrimination, unemployment, poverty, oppression, crime. Each level connects to the others, forming a potentially powerful chain of forces either for constructive change or for destructive violence. [...]

If it is clear that conflict is with us whether we like it or not, it is only another step to seeing that we actually need it. There is much literature, in the business world especially, which focuses on the beneficial effects of conflict. These include making people aware of problems, promoting necessary change, improving solutions, raising morale, fostering personal development, increasing self-awareness, enhancing psychological maturity - and fun. (See here Dean Tjosvold, The Conflict-Positive Organisation: Stimulate Diversity and Create Unity, Addison Wesley, 1992.)

While, from your own experience, you may want to disagree with the advantages listed above, it is intriguing to reflect on the positive contribution that conflict can make, not just within organisations, but at all levels. Without it, you might imagine, individuals would be stunted for lack of stimulation, groups and organisations would stagnate and die, and societies would collapse under their own weight, unable to adapt to changing circumstances and altering power relations. It is commonly said, for example, that the Roman Empire collapsed because it was not able to adapt and change.

  • Can you think of a situation, from your own experience, where conflict has made a positive contribution?
  • How did conflict help to change the situation?
  • Do you now agree that conflict can help to stimulate necessary change?


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