Conflict is an inevitable result of our interaction with others. Whether you are trying to decide which movie to see with your significant other or trying to resolve a grade with a professor, conflict arises when individuals with incompatible goals communicate with each other. When conflict occurs, persuasion can often be a useful way to reach agreement. By understanding the causes of conflict, the variables involved in conflict and some ways of resolving conflict, one can be a more effective interpersonal communicator.
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Causes of Conflict
There are a number of factors that give rise to interpersonal conflicts. First, you may have different values, philosophy, goals or objectives than another person. For example, your roommate might not share your ideas about the value of a clean apartment. The two of you might disagree about the apropriate level of cleanliness.
Differences in perception of the other side account for many disputes. Often we do not accurately gauge how the other side feels or thinks. You might think that your roomate is mad at you and respond accordingly. However, your roommate may not be mad at all. Depending on what you said to your roommate a conflict may have arisen because of your misinterpretation of your roommate's emotional state.
Individuals must often compete for limited resources. When there is a finite amount of financial or other resources available, we must compete with others for those resources.
Conflicts also arise do to turf battles. When someone perceives that another is trying to take his or her ground, the individual seeks to preserve that ground. Divisions of large organizations often differ over who is responsible for a given job. Conflict arises in these situations when more than one individual or group attempts to use shared resources to carry out the same mission.
A Model of Dispute Resolution
Disputes typically involve four variables: actor attributes, conflict issues, relationship variables, and contextual factors. Understanding how these ideas are related can help individuals settle disputes with others. Actor attributes include the needs, personalities, beliefs and attitudes of those involved in the dispute. The individuals involved in a dispute have certain qualities that influence the conflict resolution process.
Conflict issues are the root causes of the dispute and the positions of those involved. Knowledge of these issues aids a disputant in presenting arguments to the other side. For example, a consumer who understands the differences between two similarly priced products has an advantage when negotiating with a salesperson.
Relationship variables include trust, power and degree of interdependence. The disputants can be related in several ways. They may be competitive. Having more options is a source of power as well. Being legitimate, either formally or informally, can be powerful. Being an effective persuader is another source of power. Persuaders are powerful when they can convincingly state their case and have others see the situation from their perspective.
Contextual factors include climate issues, precedent and legal-political constraints. The climate in which conflict is managed is important.
A defensive climate usually results in a bitter resolution process. Individuals should avoid a defensive climate which is characterized by these qualities:
A number of methods can be used to resolve disputes. Often an authority settles a dispute. The two parties may simply avoid discussion of the issue in question until it goes away or becomes so big that it must be confronted. Third parties are also used to resolve disputes.
Another method of resolving disputes is negotiation. Negotiation is the process where both sides present their positions to each other, consider these positions, and then reach a compromise based on their original positions.
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