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For other uses, see Conflict (disambiguation).

Conflict is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests. A human need can be defined either psychologically or objectively A personal and cultural value is a Relative ethic value, an assumption upon which implementation can be extrapolated A conflict can be internal (within oneself) or external (between two or more individuals). Conflict as a concept can help explain many aspects of social life such as social disagreement, conflicts of interests, and fights between individuals, groups, or organizations. A controversy or dispute is a commencement of a conflict between statements of accepted fact and a new or unaccepted proposal that disagrees with argues against The ComBat was an Aluminium Cricket bat and the subject of an incident that occurred at the WACA cricket ground in Perth in December 1979. In political terms, "conflict" can refer to wars, revolutions or other struggles, which may involve the use of force as in the term armed conflict. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions War is an international relations Dispute, characterized by organized Violence between National Military units The term use of force refers to the right of an individual or authority to settle Conflicts or prevent certain actions by applying measures to either a dissuade another party War is an international relations Dispute, characterized by organized Violence between National Military units Without proper social arrangement or resolution, conflicts in social settings can result in stress or tensions among stakeholders.

Conflict as taught for graduate and professional work in conflict resolution (which can be win-win, where both parties get what they want, win-lose where one party gets what they want, or lose-lose where both parties don't get what they want) commonly has the definition: "when two or more parties, with perceived incompatible goals, seek to undermine each other's goal-seeking capability". The term "conflict resolution" refers to a range of processes aimed at alleviating or eliminating sources of conflict

One should not confuse the distinction between the presence and absence of conflict with the difference between competition and co-operation. Competition is a rivalry between individuals groups nations or animals for territory or resources Distinguish from Corporation. Cooperation, co-operation, or coöperation is the process of working or acting together In competitive situations, the two or more individuals or parties each have mutually inconsistent goals, either party tries to reach their goal it will undermine the attempts of the other to reach theirs. Therefore, competitive situations will, by their nature, cause conflict. However, conflict can also occur in cooperative situations, in which two or more individuals or parties have consistent goals, because the manner in which one party tries to reach their goal can still undermine the other individual or party.

A clash of interests, values, actions or directions often sparks a conflict. Conflicts refer to the existence of that clash. Psychologically, a conflict exists when the reduction of one motivating stimulus involves an increase in another, so that a new adjustment is demanded. The word is applicable from the instant that the clash occurs. Even when we say that there is a potential conflict we are implying that there is already a conflict of direction even though a clash may not yet have occurred.

Contents

Types and Modes of Conflict

A conceptual conflict can escalate into a verbal exchange and/or result in fighting. The ComBat was an Aluminium Cricket bat and the subject of an incident that occurred at the WACA cricket ground in Perth in December 1979.

Conflict can exist at a variety of levels of analysis:

Conflicts in these levels may appear "nested" in conflicts residing at larger levels of analysis. Workplace conflict is a specific type of Conflict that occurs in Workplaces The conflicts that arise in workplaces may be shaped by the unique aspects of this environment For example, conflict within a work team may play out the dynamics of a broader conflict in the organization as a whole. (See Marie Dugan's article on Nested Conflict. John Paul Lederach has also written on this. John Paul Lederach is Professor of International Peacebuilding at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend Indiana, and concurrently Distinguished Scholar at ) Theorists have claimed that parties can conceptualize responses to conflict according to a two-dimensional scheme; concern for one's own outcomes and concern for the outcomes of the other party. This scheme leads to the following hypotheses:

In Western society, practitioners usually suggest that attempts to find mutually beneficial solutions lead to the most satisfactory outcomes, but this may not hold true for many Asian societies. Several theorists detect successive phases in the development of conflicts.

Often a group finds itself in conflict over facts, goals, methods or values. Generally a fact is defined as something that is true something that actually exists or something that can be verified according to an established standard of evaluation A goal or objective consists of a projected state of affairs which a Person or a System plans or intends to achieve or bring about — a personal or Scientific method refers to bodies of Techniques for investigating phenomena A personal and cultural value is a Relative ethic value, an assumption upon which implementation can be extrapolated It is critical that it properly identify the type of conflict it is experiencing if it hopes to manage the conflict through to resolution. For example, a group will often treat an assumption as a fact.

The more difficult type of conflict is when values are the root cause. A root cause is an initiating Cause of a Causal chain which leads to an outcome or effect of interest It is more likely that a conflict over facts, or assumptions, will be resolved than one over values. It is extremely difficult to "prove" that a value is "right" or "correct". In some instances, a group will benefit from the use of a facilitator or process consultant to help identify the specific type of conflict. A facilitator is someone who helps a group of people understand their common objectives and assists them to plan to achieve them without taking a particular position in the discussion In Organization development, a process consultant is a Facilitator who helps a group deal with issues involving the process in a Meeting, rather Practitioners of nonviolence have developed many practices to solve social and political conflicts without resorting to violence or coercion. Nonviolence is a philosophy and strategy for social change that rejects the use of physical Violence.

Conflict can arise between several characters and there can be more than one in a story or plot line. The little plot lines usually enhance the main conflict.

Examples

Causes of Conflict

Structural Factors (How the conflict is set up)

Personal Factors

The assertion that "conflict is emotionally defined and driven," and "does not exist in the absence of emotion" is challenged by Economics, e. Not to be confused with Interconnectivity or Interconnectedness. A conflict management style is the Pattern of behaviour an Individual develops in response to Conflict with others such as differences of opinion An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours In Psychology and the Cognitive sciences perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory Information. Personality psychology studies personality based on theories of individual differences A skill is the learned capacity or talent to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time energy or both. A personal and cultural value is a Relative ethic value, an assumption upon which implementation can be extrapolated Ethics is a major branch of Philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. g. "the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. " In this context, scarcity means that available resources are insufficient to satisfy all wants and needs. The subject of conflict as a purely rational, strategic decision is specifically addressed by Game Theory, a branch of Economics. Game theory is a branch of Applied mathematics that is used in the Social sciences (most notably Economics) Biology, Engineering,

Where applicable, there are many components to the emotions that are intertwined with conflict. There is a behavioral, physiological, cognitive component.

These three components collectively advise that “the meanings of emotional experience and expression are determined by cultural values, beliefs, and practices. ”

There are several principles of conflict and emotion.

  1. Conflict is emotionally defined-conflict involves emotion because something “triggers” it. The conflict is with the parties involved and how they decide to resolve it — “events that trigger conflict are events that elicit emotion. ”
  2. Conflict is emotionally valence — emotion levels during conflict can be intense or less intense. The “intensity” levels “may be indicative of the importance and meaning of the conflict issues for each” party.
  3. Conflict Invokes a moral stance — when an event occurs it can be interpreted as moral or immoral. The judging of this morality “influences one’s orientation to the conflict, relationship to the parties involved, and the conflict issues”.
  4. Conflict is identity based — Emotions and Identity are a part of conflict. When a person knows their values, beliefs, and morals they are able to determine whether the conflict is personal, relevant, and moral. “Identity related conflicts are potentially more destructive. ”
  5. Conflict is relational — “conflict is relational in the sense that emotional communication conveys relational definitions that impact conflict. ” “Key relational elements are power and social status. ”

Emotions are acceptable in the workplace as long as they can be controlled and utilized for productive organizational outcomes.

Ways of addressing conflict

Five basic ways of addressing conflict were identified by Thomas and Kilman in 1976:[1][2]

The Thomas Kilman Instrument can be used to assess one's dominant style for addressing conflict. [5]

Ongoing conflicts

Main article: Ongoing conflicts

Many NGOs and independent groups attempt to monitor the situation of ongoing conflicts. This is a list of ongoing conflicts that are happening around the world which continue to result in violent deaths Unfortunately, the definitions of war, conflict, armed struggle, revolution and all these words which describe violent opposition between States or armed organised groups, are not precise enough to distinguish one from another. War is an international relations Dispute, characterized by organized Violence between National Military units Guerrilla warfare is the unconventional warfare and combat with which a small group of combatants use mobile tactics (ambushes raids etc A revolution (from the Latin revolutio, "a turnaround" is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively For example, the word terrorism is used indifferently by many governments to delegitimate every kind of armed revolt and, at the same time, by many rebel groups to delegitimate the armed repression of sovereign governments. Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ Resolving Workplace Conflict, Colorado University.
  2. ^ Five Problem Solving Methods
  3. ^ Managing Conflict within or between Groups, Timor Australia Friendship Manual.
  4. ^ Conflict Management, FAO Corporate Document Repository.
  5. ^ Analyze Your Conflict Management Style: The Thomas Kilman Instrument

Amsterdam Center for Conflict Studies (ACS)

Dictionary

conflict

-noun

  1. A clash or disagreement, often violent, between two opposing groups or individuals.
  2. An incompatibility of two things that cannot be simultaneously fulfilled.

-verb

  1. (intransitive, with ‘with’) To be at odds (with); to disagree or be incompatible
  2. (intransitive, with ‘with’) To overlap (with), as in a schedule.
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