human conflict essay

622 Conflict Essay Topics & Examples

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🏆 Best Conflict Topics for Students & Essay Examples

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• ❓ Essay Questions About Conflict
• “Borders” Short Story by Thomas King Analysis: Conflict, Themes, and More Being a person of Cherokee origin, the author is concerned with discussing the problems of the First Nations, paying focused attention to cultural heritage, and the disadvantages of total assimilation.
• The Difference Between Organizational Conflict and Misbehavior If a union induces an employee to participate in industrial action, both the union and the employee are obliged by the legal requirements of the industrial action.
• Conflict at Hotel Fortina The aim of this paper is to discuss the conflicts that are likely to arise within and between the departments of Hotel Fortina.
• The Walmart Firm’s Internal Conflicts and Challenges This is due to the fact that this theory emphasizes the ability of a leader to inspire and motivate employees to reach their full potential.
• John Updike’s “A&P”: Themes & Conflicts Analysis Essay The main character of the story is Sammy, a teenager who tries to rebel against the system and structure of social norms represented in the text in the form of rules and standards typical for […]
• How to Resolve Conflict in Workplace Essay In fact, one of the roles of management in an organisation is to ensure peaceful environment that is characterised by workforce collaboration in the effort to meet the goals, mission, and aims of an organisation.
• Domestic Violence and Conflict Theory in Society The Conflict Theory explains remarkable events in history and the changing patterns of race and gender relations and also emphasizes the struggles to explain the impact of technological development on society and the changes to […]
• Coronavirus: The Conflict Theory Consequently, in analyzing and explaining the issue of the new coronavirus, a Conflict Theorist would focus on the inequalities that contribute to the problem and shape its effect on the people.
• Structural-Functional vs. Social-Conflict Theory However, the conflict theory says that the probability of change is embedded in the basic structures and relations among the classes of our society.
• The Time Machine Conflict of Class . Wells’ Book Analysis The Morlock live in the underworld and only to appear during the daytime to hunt for the Eloi and feed on them.
• Conflict in ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ by Connell Rainsford went through an internal conflict when he was in the ocean and had to keep stay focused by not panicking and realizing that his clothes were not helping his strokes and he ‘wrestled out […]
• Conflict Between Aristotle and Copernicus Copernicus continued his research and developed a new model of the universe which contradicted Aristotle’s paradigm since the Earth was not the centre, but one of the planets moving around the Sun.
• Types of Conflicts and Ways to Resolve Them In addition, the paper will examine the advantages and disadvantages that are related to conflict in the workplace, and effective ways of managing conflict.
• Youth Crime According to Conflict Theory The second one is that the youth might engage in criminal activities and violence due to misappropriation of resources, lack of jobs, and inadequate strategies to meet their social needs.
• The Israeli – Palestinian Conflict The purpose of this study is to establish the causes and the consequences of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The question which this study seeks to address include what is the relationship between the conflict and […]
• Functionalism, Conflict and Interactionism in Sociological Theories According to the views of the conflict theory, the main purpose of education in the society is maintaining social inequality as well as the power of those who rule in the society.
• Hamlet’s Renaissance Culture Conflict The death of Hamlet as the play ends indicates that though he was the definite answer to all the questions before him as he faced death, he was not in any position to give any […]
• Achilles and Agamemnon’s Conflict and Its Reasons The conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon is one of the major plotlines in the Iliad. However, Achilles was blinded by the revenge and refused to fight for the Achaeans.
• Sikh-Muslim Conflict and Guru Nanak’s Philosophy Many Sikhs and Muslim are oblivious of the fact that Guru Nanak sole aim was to promote friendly relationships between the Hindu and the Muslim people. The violent nature of Sikh-Muslim relationship is a manifestation […]
• Face-Saving Strategies. Examples of Conflict Negotiation Face giving is the action that is intended to defend and understand the inclusion of other party in the negotiation. Face-loss is an activity that leads to loss of dignity, self-esteem, and reputation to the […]
• Conflict Theory Applied to Technology-Related Issues Examples are personal choices and social forces: while the former contributes to one’s personality and psychology, the latter is connected with social norms and influences of other people.
• Amazon Labor Union: Conflict Description Before the formation of the union, Amazon was not as open to negotiations as the workers, which is why the union was formed.
• Law Obedience and Moral Obligation Conflict This means that the duty to obey the law applies to all the individuals that exist within the jurisdiction of the law.
• Karl Marx’s Sociology and Conflict Theory Thus, in Marx’s opinion, Capitalism causes the alienation of the masses and the constantly growing indignation of the proletariat for being exploited by the bourgeois.
• Peace and Conflict Resolution: External Intervention This is mainly due to the root cause of the conflict in reference to internal and external factors and the possible consequences of the intervention to the parties involved, citizen and the world as a […]
• Conflict: Theories and Examples The needs and problems of individuals in a society have to be understood and addressed so that the issues that preoccupy the groups and people lose significance and therefore conflict can be resolved.
• Singapore Airlines Conflict Management and Negotiation The study will entail analysis of the policies used by Singapore Airlines to manage conflicts among employees, the ethical dilemma facing the HR staff, and the alternative solutions.
• Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest”: Function of Conflict Through the external conflicts between Jack and Algernon’s opposing beliefs of love and honesty, their continuous disagreements about marriage and romance, and the fixation of the name Earnest between the men and their love interests, […]
• Non-Violence Approach to Conflicts The rarity of success of non-violence approach to conflicts is a clear indicator that there is the need for further analysis of both the failure and success of non-violent movements.
• Youth Crime in Functionalism and Conflict Theories The analysis will focus on determining factors contributing to youth engagement in criminal acts, examining the types of delinquencies they are likely to commit, and establishing the socio-psychological facets associated with the teenagers in the […]
• The Conflict-Positive Organization: It Depends Upon Us Therefore, the integration of the conflict management into the organizational culture can provoke the improvement of the business performance and increase the competitive advantages of the company.
• Schneider National Inc.’s Conflict Management Lofgren believes that task conflict will help the company in mediating the points of conflict in the company by making sound decisions that help in the growth of the business.
• Conflict of Gender Roles in Munro’s “Boys and Girls” Munro’s “Boys and Girls” is a story about a puzzled girl who struggles to find the balance between the battles of her inner female-housewife side, like her mother, and a boyish character who likes to […]
• Rondell Data Corporation Growth and Conflict The company has a blame driven culture and this is because of the organization structure that it relies on to execute its business.
• Gaza-Israel Conflict: History and Portents The Gaza-Israel conflict took a new dimension following the election of the Hamas Party in 2005. The topic “History of the Gaza-Israel Conflict” will focus on the issues surrounding the conflict experienced in Gaza.
• Conflict Analysis and Resolution Procedures This essay explores the conflict phenomenon with a specific focus on the analysis and application of the conflict resolution procedures that exist in the conflict ethos to real life.
• Thanatos, Eros and Oedipal Conflict in the Story “Rapunzel” by Grimm Brothers This indicates that the life of the two is a mixture of both the feelings of eros and Thanatos at the same time.
• Constructive Conflict Management in Tesco Tesco’s internal conflict with its employees has so far been dealt inappropriately resulting in the escalation of tension and the company’s perception by both employees and consumers has suffered.
• Conflict of Generations in Smoke Signals and “Two Kinds” Obviously addressing the young generation with the message of understanding and reconciliation, the movie is set in a form of narration that highlights the key stages in the process of accepting the father’s mistakes.
• Internal Managerial Conflicts: Jones and Shephard Accountants, Inc. The success of projects will to a large extent rely on the interests, support, and commitment of the senior management. A deep analysis of the organizational structure of Jones and Shephard Accountants, Inc.is prone to […]
• Wal-Mart’s 2005 Channel Conflict and Resolution Overall, it is evident that Wal-Mart can leverage channel power because it keeps track of latest trends in the industry and has access to many resources.
• Cross-Culture Conflicts in the Corning-Vitro Venture Inc demonstrated that, the need to access foreign markets was one of the factors that prompted it to look for joint ventures with foreign companies.
• Racial and Ethnic Conflicts in “The Help” Film The theories developed by the researchers help individuals to better understand the complex nature of the environment they live in. The phenomena will be analyzed in the context of the movie “The Help”.
• Conflicts in the “Finding Forrester” Movie In his opinion, Jamal wants to help the other student and he hints to the students to say his name as the answer to the question asked by the teacher.
• Walt Disney Company’ Conflict This situation also strained the relationship between the CEO and the company’s stakeholders. This dispute between the CEO and the two members of the board also affected the company’s performance.
• NIKE – Channel Conflict The success of the proposed solutions can be evaluated through analyzing the behavioral performance of the channels and distinguishing forewarning signs of unacceptable performance within the channels.
• Israel Palestine Conflict The next phase of the conflict ranged from the year 1948 to the year 1967-a phase that was marked by the time the state of Israel was declared and the time the six days war […]
• Inequality in Society: Conflict and Functionalism Theories Functionalism theory views inequality as unavoidable and important to the society while conflict theory considers inequality to result from conflict and coercion in the social system.
• Effects of Conflicts in a Country Further, it is of importance to note that whenever there is a war or a conflict within a country; so many sufferings are experienced especially by the women, children, and the elderly.
• Arab-Israeli Conflict At the time, Palestine was still under the Ottoman Empire and the success of the Jews settled in the area was determined largely on the policies of the empire.
• Contact and Comparison of Types of Conflicts in White’s Charlotte’s Web and Munsch’s The Paper Bag Princess The conflict can be identified at the beginning or in the middle of the story, and it is usually solved at the end. The actions and thoughts of the main characters lead to the resolution […]
• Durkheim’s Functionalism and Marx’s Conflict Theory According to Durkheim, there is vital interconnectivity of all the elements of any society that share common ideas and principles, and the sum of these elements is not as great as the society itself.
• “Revisiting America: Readings in Race, Culture, and Conflict” by S. Wyle The diversity in the social and societal background of the United States cannot go without the trends for the historical basis of the nation.
• Family Conflict in Unigwe’s, Kwa’s, Gebbie’s Stories Coincidentally, “The kettle on the boat” seems to communicate the same theme that Dipita illustrates in the “honor of a woman”.
• Functionalist, Conflict, and Interpretive Theories The overview of the mass society theory connotes the influence of industrialization on independence, the deterioration of religious principles, and the significance of propaganda.
• Conflict of Interest Trying to define the problem of the conflict of interests within the professional of a chemical researcher, the specific examples are going to be considered with the possible ways of solving those situations.
• Industrial Relations: Conflict and Cooperation State regulations: the state play an important role in the determination of the management control strategy to be adopted by an organization.
• Internal Conflict in the “King of the Bingo Game” For the protagonist to win the jackpot, he has to press a key linked to a spinning wheel. As the protagonist is standing on the stage, forcing the wheel to continue spinning, he discovers that […]
• Conflict Management in “The Avengers” Movie This character trait is often sought after by managers in their employees since this often indicates that this individual is more willing to work with others and will do as they are told for the […]
• The Conflict Between Behaviourism and Rationalism in Linguistics The theory regards as areal’ the various aspects of language that are addressed in the quest made by the theory. The nature of mind is closely related to that of the language.
• The Sarah Celeb vs. Star Weekly Conflict Statement I request the court acknowledge that the conflict between Sarah Celeb and the magazine Star Weekly that published information from her diary stolen without her permission violates Plaintiff’s privacy rights by posting the information from […]
• Contrast, Conflict and Tension in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams As soon as it appears clear the fact that the play’s author is engrossed in the action the audience experience the first display of tension.
• Person vs. Society Conflict in Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” This is the best description of the person vs.society conflict; it allows the reader to understand, analyze the handmaid’s feelings and emotions, and come to a logical definition of the subject of this confrontation.
• Conflicts Between Nursing Ethics and Law Revealing a patient’s information can lead to adverse effects on the patient’s autonomy and welfare in the community. According to the Journal of Surgery, nurses encounter conflicts between law and ethics when treating adolescents.
• Conflict Management in Japanese Culture Japan and its culture truly represent the cultural compromise that determines the development of the entire Japanese spiritual tradition.
• Conflict Communication in Family Relationships People in conflict have to be ready to analyze their situations and problems to achieve the goals and come to a certain conclusion.
• General Hospital’s Conflict Resolution Harding has also refused to meet separately with the dissenting group of workers or the physicians as the problems caused by their rigidity in spending affects the entire institution.
• A Brief History of the Conflict Between India and Pakistan This essay gives a brief history of the conflict between India and Pakistan, with special coverage on the genesis of the conflict, historical wars and efforts, which have been witnessed in finding a lasting solution […]
• Organisational Conflict: Unitarist vs. Pluralist Views Ethical issues and the need to adhere to the ethical code of the company may lead to the intrapersonal conflict. The supervisor can be the mediator who guides and improves the communication that leads to […]
• Imagery and Conflict in Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” Short Story In the excerpt, the narrator translates the emotions through imagery, emphasizing his stress and anxiety and later showing the internal and external conflict connected to Sonny and his friend.
• Interpersonal Conflict: Definition and Analysis Therefore, the notion of a conflict encompasses a rather broad range of issues in personal interactions, from a misunderstanding to the feeling of mutual resentment. Typically, conflicts occur as a result of a mismatch in […]
• Charting a Course for Conflict Resolution – “It’s a Policy” The situation under analysis is an evident interpersonal and intergroup conflict between managers of the two non-related hospital departments.
• Conflict and Marriage Satisfaction To manage solving differences effectively, individuals in a marriage relationship should learn the thinking and positive and negative behaviors of their partners and have a positive perception towards these partners. This leads to unresolved conflicts […]
• Personal Conflict Resolving Skills To my knowledge one needs to have the capabilities to understand his or her situation and the kind of problems they are faced with and then the ultimate impact of them on their lives and […]
• Orientalism and East and West Conflicts Today, the lines are blurred as to determine whether it should be an east or west conflict as it could also be any form of war against one ethnic group by a whole nation or […]
• Educational Administration: Conflict Management and Resolution Therefore, it will take the energy of a strong character to sort out the conflict between people. This also makes the other person in conflict to perceive the conflict as imaginary and of no consequence.
• Experience of Interpersonal Conflicts I believe that my case is closely related to the course materials and scholarly articles because the newly obtained knowledge might be beneficial for determining the appropriate model of communication with my parents and coping […]
• Sources of Conflict Between Parents and Teenagers One of the recurrent themes linked to dress codes and the conflict between parents and adolescents is the adherence to cultural norms.
• Intragroup Conflict in a Nursing Environment The misbehavior continued to affect the morale of the workers in the institution. However, the leader of the team began to ignore the needs and expectations of his followers.
• Conflict Theory and Politics in Criminology The criminological basis of the conflict theory is contingent on the limitations of the social order and the inequalities that are inherent in the ideological perceptions of the society.
• Using Workplace Conflict to Good Effect Conflicts can lead to growth and change in the organization as time goes by and this should be capitalized on for a good effect. Coworkers are bound to have problems and conflicts in the workplace […]
• Conflict Resolution Field’s Stages of Development Stage one Failure to control the eruption of the First World War led to people coming up with ways to avert reemergence of wars in the future.
• Work-Study Conflict in University Life This research objectives include: to observe the extent to which students of property and construction are devastated from burnout; to establish a model of the work-study connection, describing the relationship between time commitment to paid […]
• Stages of the Conflicts Resolving The importance of confrontation, confirmation, and comprehension can be discussed with references to the case of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. The concept of comprehension can also be actively applied to the conflict between Martin […]
• Consulting Service-Client Problematic Cooperation: Communication & Conflict According to the Wilmot-Hocker Conflict Assessment Guide, the problem under analysis can be evaluated through the identification of its nature, being the quality of consultant service and prejudiced attitude of the client to the company. […]
• Conflict in the Public Sector: Management and Resolution This occurs due to the varying attitudes of people and understanding among the different clients; considering all these facts, the public sector needs to design strategies that would prove to be helpful in dealing with […]
• Conflicts in the “American Factory” Documentary American and Chinese workers will be more motivated to do their best if they feel the company is meeting their needs.
• Culture and Conflict Reflection Essay It is crucial to learn mental flexibility, disposing of the dual dividing concept – good-bad considering the world as a unity of all forms and states.
• Conflict and Social Change The primary differences of views between Weber, Durkheim, and Marx are based on the sources and approaches regarding social change and conflict.
• Managing Conflict Situations in Nursing In this case, it is necessary to use a collaborative conflict management style that is said to be one of the most useful variants.
• Ivan Turgenev: Intergenerational Conflict in “Fathers and Sons” In the first half of the novel, Turgenev demonstrates father son dynamic which exhibits the separation between the son and his father’s world views.
• Kenya and Brazil: Comparing Environmental Conflict This loss of habitat has contributed to the species loss already aggravated by illegal hunting and open armed conflict in the region.
• Competitiveness and Intercultural Conflict in Qatar With a clear knowledge concerning different cultures and the way they apply in partnerships, the paper also shows why Saran and other women of her caliber can be effective in Qatar and other parts of […]
• Ethnic Conflicts According to Humanistic Theory The proponents of the humanistic theory hold that cultural diversity is not a justification for conflict but a chance to learn how to appreciate other people’s culture so that if all different cultural experiences are […]
• Cultural Differences and Conflicts In return, I had expected to assume the role of a sales agent in the company’s call center but I was surprised to learn that, the company’s expansion plans led to the establishment of a […]
• The United States Preparing to Future Conflicts The degree of technological development in the United States encourages obvious and hidden adversaries to attack the country in the realm of cyberspace to disrupt the operations of financial institutions, government websites, or law enforcement […]
• Common Conflict Areas in Marital and Couple Relationships Measure of sexual intimacy among spouses maybe a possible cause of frequent conflicts between partners in a serious relationship. Disagreement in issues concerning how many children to have and how to raise them leads to […]
• Social Conflicts in “Animal Farm” by George Orwell This is the only way for the animals to establish equality and create a flourishing, happy and wealthy society.”Animal Farm” by Orwell is a description of the metamorphoses that happen within a freedom movement turning […]
• Sisters of Gion: A Conflict of Value Systems This is one of the main issues that can be distinguished. This is one of the main points that can be made.
• Intergroup Conflicts in Organisations In using a political approach, the management has to understand the different kinds of power, the sources of power and the impact they have on the employees.
• Conflict of the Sexes in Play “Medea” by Euripides The man cannot understand that things mean nothing to a woman if her family is being destroyed. Thus, Jason’s biggest mistake is that he thinks Medea simply wants to remain his only wife.
• “King of the Bingo Game”: Internal Conflict The first paragraphs introduce the conflict between the Northern and Southern parts of the country, between black and white people, between the rich and the poor.
• Israel and Palestine: Conflict Resolution This essay will discuss the perceptions that both the Arab and the Israel people have towards conflict, how they have tried to solve it, the barriers that they have encountered and what can be done […]
• Southwest Airline Company: Unresolved Conflict The purpose of this report is to explore unresolved conflict at Southwest Airlines Company and provide an alternative creative solution to resolve the conflict.
• Overview of Conflict Management In order to understand the significance and role of conflict in organizational management, as well as the causes of disagreements in the employed environment, conflict definitions should be identified.
• Conflict in Everyday Use In the very beginning of the story one can already see the reason why Tuten disapproved of Dee’s actions and supported the desire of Mama and Maggie to continue with their way of life.
• Reflection: Is Culture a Source of Conflict? I cannot wholly agree with the quote because I believe that in modern society, culture can become a tool for synergy and the unification of people among themselves.
• Ethical Analysis of Conflict of Interest in Prison If the evaluation of an inmate at the request of the prosecutor’s office takes place in the presence of the inmate, that is, I will have to talk to him about the situation and take […]
• Conflicts Related to Ethnic Differences: Summary of Articles The existence of conflicts between groups with different goals, values, and identities is a building block in human history as it leads to the formation and reshaping of the world.
• Multicultural Conflict in Psychological Practice As a professional, I always consider the importance of applying the best approaches and guidelines to minimize the possible impacts of the witnessed cultural conflict.
• Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode and Its Components Conflict resolution in an organization is key to the harmonious working of staff and the firm’s success; therefore, avoidance and accommodation modes may be essential in conflict resolution.
• Solving Conflicts and Frustrations in Healthcare The boss should also hold a conference with all employees and allow each to mention all challenges faced at work. The supervisor is supposed to ensure a good relationship between staff and leaders to avoid […]
• Cultural Identity Formation and Inner Conflicts In the case of Steve, in addition to American Indian and Hawaiian cultures, a third culture is, in fact, present: a modern Western mass culture along with Christianity.
• Value Conflicts: Impact on Relationships To handle internal values and value conflicts, you must prioritize your core values and make difficult choices to build and manage relationships with yourself and others.
• Applying the Biopsychosocial Model in a Stressful Social Conflict In the last four decades, the use of psychological and social factors and biological aspects has become a common approach in addressing human health and wellness. Ben considers the social and cultural factors likely to […]
• The Role of Women in the Conflict Transformation Process Women’s social status and roles in the country threaten them in light of the ongoing armed conflict. The main purpose is to identify the role of women in conflict transformation in the context of Myanmar.
• Nursing Management: Conflict Management Styles In other words, the core objective of conflict resolution for nursing professionals is to have a positive outcome, which is possible only if constructive methods are utilized.
• Resolving Conflict of Interest in Marriage The quality of their family communication seems to be a source of concern for Rick, who believes they are deficient in this area.
• Exploring Factors and Influences in Workplace Conflict Workplace conflict can be impacted by a number of factors related to the role of gender, cultural differences, perception, and power.
• Conflict Resolution Policy in the Redeemed Christian Church of God Church administration is the management of the resources and activities of the Church, including its finances, personnel, and programs. The audited financial statements are published in the Church’s annual report and presented to the Church’s […]
• The Risk Concept and Conflict Theory The concept of ‘risk’ in the video is used to demonstrate the negative impacts associated with the kidnapping of women and the torture associated with it.
• The Issue of Religious Conflict and Violence The origins of religious conflict and violence are complex and multifaceted. Through the use of education, legislation, and interfaith dialogue, we can promote religious tolerance, respect, and understanding, while also protecting religious minorities and reducing […]
• Religious Conflicts and Violence However, religious conflict and violence may be minimized and eventually addressed via a thorough grasp of the underlying reasons and potential remedies.
• Social Worker Profession and Conflict Theory I find social work fascinating because it requires me to be stress-tolerant and motivated to help those in need, and my work data is based on reading a journal of articles written by experts in […]
• Perceptions of Parties in Conflict Individual perceptions can only be addressed during conflict management by listening to the concerns and issues raised by conflicting parties. Individual perceptions can be addressed during the conflict management process by actively listening to involved […]
• Causes and Conflict of the Peloponnesian Wars While each of the four issues deserves attention, the desire of Athens to control all the other states of Greece seems to have served as the major impetus for the Peloponnesian Wars outbreak.
• Communication Failure, Lack of Motivation, and Conflicts as Common Workplace Issues Poor communication can lead to a lack of understanding and awareness, resulting in a breakdown of the relationship between employees, managers, and colleagues.
• Event Management and Evaluation With Conflict Theory As such, the event and the performance of the staff and the managerial team worked in accordance to appropriately provide for them.
• Religious Impact on Cultural Conflicts Numerous conflicts in the modern world include a religious component. The conflict between the colonists and the natives resulted as a result.
• Thrive Skilled Pediatric Care: The Nurse Manager’s Conflict The example of the conflict situation was related to the relationships between the clinician and nurse. It was vital for the manager to be ready to persuade both sides to show respect and readiness to […]
• Colonialism in the Case of Conflict Between Wet’Suwet’en and Coastal GasLink The example of the conflict between Wet’suwet’en and Coastal GasLink is indicative of the ongoing colonization of indigenous settlements in Canada.
• Managing a Sexual Harassment Conflict at Sony In Sony, as in any other company, conflicts also occur, and managers strive to establish a common language between all sides involved, though the result of the conflict may be disappointing for one of the […]
• Conflict of Interest vs. Code of Ethics A code of ethics differs from a conflict of interest because it is a set of guidelines established to regulate professional conduct. The commission acts as the representative of public interests in overseeing and implementing […]
• Workplace Conflicts of Interest The alignment of interest increases the chance of accurate perception, and conflict of interest raises the probability of erroneous perception. Evidently, the interest of a buyer, in this case, is to purchase the goods that […]
• Culture and Individualism: The Conflict Analysis The described stance is supported by a range of philosophical and cultural perspectives, including the notions of multiculturalism, cultural relativism, and the theory of rational choice, to name just a few. Therefore, active cross-cultural communication […]
• Conflicts in the Workplace: The Role of Leaders Leaders should know how they handle conflicts, foster a collaborative workplace culture, and take conflict resolution courses. Training leaders is essential for corporate culture by boosting staff motivation, raising participation and output, lower employee burnout, […]
• The Kashmir Conflict Between India and Pakistan Both countries need to prioritize the people of Kashmir; otherwise, their moral dignity will plummet, and they will indulge in immoral actions violence.
• Family Counseling: Resolving Conflict and Promoting Wellness The discipline of bio-psychosocial psychiatric study emphasizes the relevance of the connection between biological, psychological, and social aspects of distress and the requirement of considering all of these elements when assessing the complete patient.
• Workplace Conflict Gap Analysis The issue caught the attention of the management and an investigation was launched into the matter by conducting interviews among all the members of the team.
• The Balfour Declaration of 1917: Beginning of the Israel-Palestine Conflict Despite the passing of the century, the main ideas of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 still govern the US foreign policy in the Middle East. The first signs of the possible conflict were in the […]
• The Gender Conflict Theory and Martineau’s Approach to Social Analysis To understand the prevalence of modern biases in the relations between men and women, two theories are essential to explore the gender conflict theory and Martineau’s approach to social analysis. The latter explores the unjust […]
• Interpersonal Conflict Among AGC Corp.’s Employees In the case study team, the Canadian, Mexican, and Chinese cultures might have posed difficulties in communication and sharing beliefs and practices. The priority is to communicate with the team to address the issue.
• Uses of Stand4 App in the Peace and Conflict Resolution Field If someone from anywhere in the world shares a message on peace and conflict resolution in the app, that message will spread to as many users as possible.
• Sociology and Theory of Conflict On the other hand, my friend who got bitten by a dog in the past may now only think of these animals with fear and resentment. The best example of functional perspective is religion and […]
• Counseling for Family Conflicts Resolution Family conflicts are considered in the project, and it is expected that the intervention will lead to a decreased incidence of the given phenomenon.
• Gender-Based Conflicts in Relationships Indeed, gender-based conflicts occur often, and it causes individuals to discuss relationships between males and females. The article is dedicated to conflicts between women’s and men’s interests.
• Colonial Style and Post-Colonial Ethnic Conflict in Africa Colonization of Africa is a historically formed process, the purpose of which was the development, conquest, and use by the colonizers of the entire territory of the continent.
• The Human Body as a Site of Active Conflict The paramount, major conclusion is that the hypothesis that the simulation of pre-industrial conditions associated with nutrition, fasting, and physical activity can stimulate insulin sensitivity and improve metabolism is true.
• Pediatric Operating Room: Conflict Management Strategies For example, in the pediatric care unit, when the patient needs long-term care, conflict occurs mainly between the parents and the care team due to differences in the religious and cultural beliefs of the parents.
• Post-Conflict State Building in Sierra Leone Obtain practical data related to the functioning of the state mechanisms in Sierra-Leone. Outline the key enablers and barriers of post-conflict state building in Sierra-Leone
• IT Systems Theories: Conflict Resolution in the Workplace It is the responsibility of the supervisor to determine the true scope of the problem within the business organization. The scheme will assist to examine the issue, areas consequential in the problem like the structural […]
• Conflict Resolution Among Children It is essential to ensure that the children understand the meaning of conflict. It is essential to discuss the techniques involved in the fair settlement of disagreements.
• Arab-Israeli Conflict’s Cultural and Political Context In response to international criticism, a coalition made up of France, Great Britain, and Israel attacked Egypt and took control of the canal zone. At the end of the conflict, Israel controlled a sizeable portion […]
• Researching of Conflict Styles Understanding the four conflict styles and the use of conflict management techniques is essential to effective communication as it enables the person to navigate challenging situations and select the best possible strategies for specific situations […]
• Addressing Interprofessional Team Conflict The next step at the organizational level is to review and change the policies or practices of the interdisciplinary team if a problem is discovered.
• Interpersonal Conflict: Causes, Outcomes, and Resolutions Conflicts are caused by various reasons and can differ on the basis of severity, the groups affected and the event that triggered it.
• The Role of Workplace Mediation in Conflicts In particular, the mediator did her best to ensure that Trevor and Sue were ready to meet and discuss the issue.
• Intergroup Conflict at Primerica Company A lack of adequate supervision and precise goals can lead to poor business performance because of the consecutive and reciprocating dependency in a banking and insurance firm such as Primerica.
• State-Building, Expansion and Conflict Many of the consequences are seen today, including the relations between Europe, North America, China, and Russia, the US influence in other countries, and the expansion of military power and nuclear threat.
• How to Handle a Conflict in the Workplace
• The Ongoing Ukrainian Conflict: Historical Context and International Response
• Discussion: Managing Conflict of Interest
• Conflict and Reconciliation in South Sudan
• The US, Russia, and China Cybersecurity Conflict
• Women and Girls in Armed Conflicts
• The Conflicts in Organizations: Experiences in the Kindergartens
• The Specific Expectation: Adopting a Problem-Solving Approach to Conflict
• Medical Care Crisis From Conflict Perspective
• Russo-Japanese War and American-Japanese Conflicts in the Pacific
• Conflict Resolution at Workplace
• Five Conflict Management Styles
• Analysts, Securities Firms, and Conflicts of Interest
• Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Conflict and Its Consequences
• Communication Skills for Conflict Resolution
• Post-Conflict State-Building: Approaches and Strategies
• Cultural Differences and Origins of Conflict
• Conflict Management in the Healthcare Workplace
• The Business Conflict: Red-Holdings Case
• Conflict Resolution for the Helping Professions
• Discussion of Conflict Capability
• Impact of Conflict Resolution for Best Conversations
• Transformative Mediation: Conflict Management
• The Moral Conflict in Antigone: The Familial Values Against the Law
• Resolution of Conflicts of Heirs to an Estate
• Machiavelli’s Views on Free Will and Class Conflict
• The Work Conflict and Its Influence on the Future Reactions to Conflicts
• Culture Lag and Conflict Theory of Change
• Resolving Conflicts in the Healthcare Setting
• Conflicts in the Workplace: Solving and Decision-Making
• Interpersonal Conflicts in the Workplace
• Conflicts in Social Work Depicted in Movies
• Communication Conflict and Climate in Relationships
• Free Speech vs. Anti-Discrimination Practices Conflict
• Win-Win Solutions in a Potential Conflict Scenario
• Withdrawal as Conflict Solving Technique
• Racial Conflict in Ferguson
• Interpersonal Conflict: Management, Economics and Industrial Organization
• Sociological Perspectives: Functional, Conflict, or Symbolic Interaction
• Workplace Conflicts and Resolution in Nursing
• Theories in Have a Nice Conflict by Scudder et al.
• Criminal Justice Inequality in Conflict Theory
• The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
• Age Diversity and Conflicts in the Workplace
• Organizational Behavior: Employees Conflict
• COVID-19 Pandemic and Conflict Theory
• Exploring Workplace Problems, Issues, or Conflicts: Managing Complex Healthcare Systems
• Conflict Theory: The Basic Principles
• Fundamental Analysis of Regional Conflicts on Dubai Financial Markets
• Conflict Management as a Study Subject Reflection
• How Climate Change Affects Conflict and Peace
• Third Party Intervention in Conflict
• Successful Negotiation in Conflict
• The Nature of Power in Conflict
• Communication and Moderating Conflict
• Communication and Conflict Styles
• Deviances Viewed by Labeling, Conflict, and Merton’s Strain Theories
• Conflict of Interests at the Workplace
• Cross-Functional Teams Conflicts
• Manifestation of Strategic Cultures in Cyber Conflict
• The Karabakh Conflict: True Causes and the Role of Mediation
• Irregular Warfare: Asymmetric Conflicts in Recent Years
• Psychology of Conflict Communication
• Conflict: The Cutting Edge of Change in a Medical Team
• Conflict and Change in Medical Teams
• Edwards Engineering Inc. and Kiel A.G. Conflict
• Conflict as a Result of an Ineffective Leadership Style
• Social Networks: Functional Analysis and Conflict Theory
• Conflict Management in Human Services
• Conflicts of Police Officers With the Members of the Minority Groups
• Emotional Intelligence and Conflict-Handling Styles in Nurses
• Cultural Property and Its Protection in Armed Conflicts
• Ethical Conflict in Nursing
• Negotiation Strategies: Investor-Government Conflicts
• Conflict Management: Styles, Strategies, and Their Effect
• Conflicts Between Ethics and the Law in Healthcare
• Principles of Conflict Resolution
• Conflict Scripts and Styles Learnt in Childhood
• Conflict Between Research and Ethics
• Factortame Litigation: Conflict Over Fishing Waters Legislation
• Aerial Experiment Association & Wright Brothers Conflict
• Adverse Drug Reactions Reporting Conflict
• Effectiveness of European Regime Vs English Common Law System in Conflict of Law
• European Regime Approach to Jurisdiction in Conflict of Laws
• Conflict Management Efficiency in Team Leaders
• Cultural Diversity and Conflict in the Health Care Workplace
• Researching Conflict of Laws
• Study-Work Conflict and the Risk of Burnout
• The Conflict Between Banks and Financial Speculation
• Communication and Conflict Management
• Conflicts That Nurses Encounter in Their Practice
• Activities Coordinator and a Conflict of Interest Situation at Cooinda Nursing Home
• The Parallel Between Crime and Conflicts in Africa, Asia and Latin America
• Conflict and and Crisis in the Neovida Research Hospital
• Theories and Styles of Conflict Resolution
• Assessing the Role of Conflict in the Health Care Environment
• Humor Application in Conflict Management: Facilitating and Regulating Communication
• Methods of Conflict Resolution: Solving the Disagreements
• Stages of History, Capitalism, Class Conflict, and Labor Theory in Adam Smith’s Writings
• The Israel and Palestine Conflict: One Land Two Claimants
• Peace and Conflict in Film Adaptation of Book “Hungry Games” by Collins
• Major Conflict Between Britain & Their US Colonies
• Environment and Land Conflict in Brazil
• Syrian Conflict and Women Rights: Way to Equality or Another Discrimination
• Conflict Resolution Plan Draft and Strengthening the Team
• Internal Conflicts Within the Ottoman Empire During the Era of Decline
• Mediation and Arbitration: Ways of Resolving Conflicts
• Communication Techniques as a Way to Resolve Conflicts
• Applying Constructive Conflict Management to a Conflict
• The Impact of Improper Conflict Resolution
• The Impact of Global and Regional Conflicts on Infrastructure in the US
• Ethnicity and Religion as Sources of Conflict
• Effective Business Meetings and Conflict Management
• Opening Scene of a Play: Conflict, Intrigue, Suspense
• International Journal of Conflict Management Critique
• Using Conflict in Organizations Written by C.K.W De Dreu and E.V. De Vliert
• The Conflict Within “Incident” by Countee Cullen
• Conflicts of Interest in Governmental Contracting
• Gulf War Deterrence. The Most Viable Way of Dealing With Conflicts
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Key Issues at Stake
• Teamwork Dynamics, Motivation, Conflict Resolution, and Leadership
• The Conflict Between Two Key Employees
• “The Final Failure” and “Crisis and Conflict”: Credibility of the Sources and Contents
• Inter-Jurisdictional Conflict Management
• Conflict Management Concepts Implementation and Outcomes
• Intergroup Conflict and Its Management
• Causes of Conflict and Its Resolution
• PSDM Model Usage in Solving Family Conflicts
• Orbit Limited: Conflict Resolution
• Conflict Resolution: Definition of Problem, Criteria for Effective Solution, Root Causes
• Collective Bargaining and Conflict
• Theory Definition, Building, and Conflict with Practice
• Conflict and Its Resolution Within the U.S. Military and Department of Defense
• Eros, Thanatos, and the Oedipal Conflict, Adam and Eve Themes or Patterns
• Conflict in Breaking Smith’s Quarter Horse: The Story Full of Chaos, Unrest, and Deceit
• Identity Based Conflict: Zamri and Gordon
• Rwandan Conflict as a Deep-Rooted and Identity-Based Conflict
• How Did the Movie “Life as We Know It” Demonstrate the Conflict in a Family Institution?
• Human-Wildlife Conflict: Vehicle Collisions With Animals
• Socialization Process and Conflict Resolution
• Responding to Conflict Creatively
• Civil Peace as Absence of War or Physical Conflict
• The Political and Social Conflicts Between the French and the English
• The Conflict Between Fate and Free
• Culture War in Australia: Conflict Between the Conservatives and Liberals
• Personal Conflict of King Lear in Play by Shakespeare
• Child Soldiers Use in an Armed Conflict Is Justified
• Natural Resources and Conflicts in Asian Countries
• Understanding Conflict Management
• Conflict and Collaboration: Workforce Investment Act
• Conflict Resolution Strategies and Relationships
• Conflict and Culture, Based on Articles’ Analysis
• Conflict in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by C. Perkins Gilman
• The Profound Social Conflict and Social Forces in USA
• Matters of Social Conflicts
• Conflict Theory: Gender Differences in Cultural Capital and Educational Opportunities
• The Right Side in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
• Israeli-Palestine Conflict and US-China Relationship
• Religious Conflict in the History: The Key Causes of Conflicts
• Communication at Work: Discussion, Relational Development, Conflict
• Conflict Management in Empyrean Company
• Diversity and Conflicts in Education in Idaho
• Conflict of Poor and Wealth From Two Perspectives
• Strategies to Handle Conflict
• Conflict Management and Negotiations
• Culture and Conflict: Yanomami Conflict
• The Israel-Lebanon Conflict: Media Opinion
• The Northern Ireland Conflict or “The Troubles”
• Interracial Conflicts: Issue Histrory
• A Conflict Theory: Term Definition
• HRM Skills of Communication and Conflict Resolution
• Conflict Resolution Tactics and Bullying
• Science and Technology Conflict Between the United States and Japan in the Late 1980s
• The Wars of Weak and Strong: Asymmetrical Conflict
• Workplace Overview Conflict Between Two Engineers
• Conflict Between Lobby Groups and UK Retailer
• Human Communication and Conflict Management in Family
• Conflict Theory: Racial Profiling
• Psychology: Conflict Resolution and Leadership
• Conflict Resolution and Cross-Cultural Negotiation
• Internal Conflict in Business: Greenway Industries
• Conflict Management Challenges in Trade Unions
• Mass Communications: History and Review of the Profit vs. Duty Conflict
• Israelis and Palestinians Ethical Conflict
• Geography. Australia’s and New Zealand’s Conflicts
• Conflicts in European History: Relations Between the Individual and the Government
• Culture and Its Effects on Ethnic Conflict: Theoretical Comparisons
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Policy Recommendation
• Enron vs. Andersen: Ethical Issues and Conflicts of Interests.
• Implications of Religious Conflicts in Present World
• The Role of the USA in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• Chechnya and Russia: A History of Conflict
• Ethnic Conflict in Somalia Analysis
• The Conflict Between Individualism and Community in Andersen’s “Hands”
• The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Origins and Evolution
• Final Take Home Exam: The Arab-Israeli Conflict
• Conflict as an Aspect of Managing People
• Sociology of Ethnic Conflict Analysis
• The Iranian Revolution: Conflicts Between Leaders
• Covert Conflicts in Business Organizations
• Yugoslav Wars: Ethnic Conflicts and the Collapse of Power
• Do the Structures of Global Governance Deal With the Drivers of Conflict in Fragile States?
• Mergers, Acquisitions, and Cultural Dilemmas
• World Political Science Discussion: Conflict Analysis
• Conflicts Between Japanese Americans and Chinese Americans During the 1920s-1940s Period
• Military Conflicts at the Civil War
• Diversity and Conflict: Working Approaches
• Conflict Management Styles Applied in Healthcare
• Conflicts in the UAE’s Governmental Organizations
• Co-Development and Racial Conflict in “Kindred” by Butler
• Conflict Management: Gender Pay Gap in Hollywood
• Theater Stage Manager’s Conflict Resolution
• Overt vs. Covert Conflict
• Conflicts and Disputes at Workplace, and Their Resolution
• Parental Responsibilities and Related Conflicts
• Conflict in a Multicultural Context
• Organizational Behavior: Conflicts and Negotiations
• Conflict Resolution Style: Thomas-Kilmann Assessment
• Organizational Behavior: Conflicts in the Workplace
• Hate Speech in “The Office”: Mitigating Conflicts
• Workplace Conflicts and Their Sources
• Conflicts and Disagreements Between Co-Workers
• Managing Organizational Conflict: Rahim’s Meta Model
• Post-Soviet Eurasia’s Conflicts and Reconciliation
• “Nash in Najaf”: Game Theory in Iraqi Conflict
• Conflict & Crime Control vs. Consensus & Due Process Model
• Negotiation, Pricing and Conflict Resolution
• Ethical Issues and Conflicts of Interest in the Company
• The Class on Cross Cultural and Conflict
• Containing Violence Conflict: Peacekeeping
• The Scholarship Coordination Office: Conflict and Leadership
• Teams and Conflict at Riordan Manufacturing
• Interpersonal Communication: Relationship Climate and Conflict
• Leader’s Mood Impact on Conflict Resolution
• Workplace Conflicts and Effective Communication
• Conflict in the “Wanda’s Visit” Play by Durang
• Martyrdom Culture in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• The Rwandan Conflict and Social Network Approaches
• Personal Communication and Conflict Styles
• Custom Chip Inc.’s Management Issues and Conflicts
• Conflict Analysis: Suitable Negotiation Process
• Donaldson’s Type 1 Conflict and Its Resolution
• Employee Empowerment and Conflict Resolution
• Interpersonal Conflict Resolution at the Workplace
• Intergenerational Conflict at the Workplace
• Tucker Company’s Restructuring for Conflict Resolution
• African Union Military Force in Darfur Conflict
• Motivation and Conflict: Analysis and Design Methods
• Concourse Equity Inc.’s Conflict Management
• Cultural Conflicts in Fadiman’s “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”
• Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism’s Conflict Management
• Etisalat Company’s Conflict Management Practices
• Masdar City Project and Conflict Management
• Male-Female Conflict in Education System
• Justice and Conflict & Cooperation and Competition
• Anxiety and Cultural Models in the Conflict
• Inner Conflicts in Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
• Personality Conflicts in Professional Relationships
• Arab National Identity in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• Conflict Perspective of the Immigrants
• Religious Conflicts in Rational Choice Theory
• Hybrid Channel Conflict in the Business
• International Court Punishing Rape in Armed Conflict
• The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Theory and Analysis
• Conflict Management in Nursing Decision-Making
• Incentive Conflicts Caused by Communication Disruption
• Stress, Conflict and Misunderstandings in the Workplace
• The 1994 Major League Baseball Strike and Conflict
• Functional Conflict, Its Sources and Resolution Styles
• Empire and Democracy Conflict by Thucydides
• Sunni–Shia Religious Conflict in Iraq
• Principal’s Conflict Defusing Technique
• History of Yemen Conflict
• The Current Conflict Between Sunni and Shia
• Qatar and GCC Countries Conflict
• Benchmarking and Creativity’s Conflict
• Gender and Conflict in Prisons
• Conflict in Hobbes’, Marx’s, Rousseau’s, Plato’s Works
• The Arab-Israeli Conflict Analysis
• Unnecessary Conflict in the Workplace: NDC Company
• Man-Animal Conflict: “To Build a Fire” by Jack London
• Multicultural Conflict in the Engineering Setting
• Interracial Conflict in “Dutchman” by LeRoi Jones
• Engineering Ethics and Conflict of Interests
• American Involvement in African and Eastern Conflicts
• Empathy in Conflict Resolution
• Interweaving Conflict in “Star Wars” Series’ Plot
• Adolescent Development, Changes and Conflicts
• Nile River Conflict Between Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan
• Complementary Conflict Patterns in Families
• Conflicts and Negotiations in the Real World
• Middle Eastern Conflicts and Regional Factors
• International Business Conflicts Resolution
• Native Americans and Colonists’ Conflict
• Conflict Criminology and Crime Causation Theories
• Conflict Management: Importance and Implications
• Western Media Portrayal of the Arab‐Israeli Conflict
• Conflict in South Sudan and Its Influence
• Ethnic Conflicts in “A Different Mirror” by Takaki
• Business Protocols and Personal Values Conflict
• SEC vs BlackRock: Conflict of Interest Case
• Ancient Rome: Visigoths’ and Rome’s Conflict
• Sudan Conflict: Historical Stages and Events
• The Balfour Declaration: Israel Creation and Palestinian Conflict
• The Spratly Islands and Maritime Conflict
• The UAE’s Reaction to Yemeni Political Conflict
• Organizational Conflict: Pros, Cons, Prevention
• Cultures in Conflict and Modernity
• Group Conflicts in Business Organizations
• Conflict of The Beatles and the Religious Far Right
• The South Sudanese Inter-Ethnic Conflicts
• War and Conflict in North Africa and Southwest Asia
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Optimistic Prognosis
• Conflict Resolution in Management Teams
• Conflicts in Anglophone and Francophone Africa
• Conflict Resolution Theory in Arab-Israeli Issue
• Uppsala Conflict Data Program’s Report for 2012
• Asia Pacific Regional Cooperation and Conflicts
• Project Success and Interpersonal Conflicts
• Maritime Conflict: Offshore Political Geography
• Ethnicity Significance in the Post-World War Conflicts
• Life Conflict: “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy
• The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: History and Concept
• Race Conflict in London: Mark Duggan Case
• Battle of the Holy Land: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• The Conception of Conflict Between Iran and the US
• Global Conflict and Poverty Crisis
• The Police Agency’ Conflict Management
• Class Conflict: Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin Ideas
• Customer Service Conflict Management Strategies
• “Divine Intervention” Film: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
• Bahrain Conflict: Historical and Analytical Study
• Conflict and Anxiety by Psychoanalysts and Behaviourists
• Ethnic Conflicts and Misrepresentation of Rwandan Hutus
• Water Related Conflicts in Africa
• Basic Conflict in Antigone by Sophocle
• Early Scholars’ Views on the Internet
• Family Conflicts Assessment
• When Ethics and Euthanasia Conflict?
• Employee Motivation, Conflict and Personnel Management
• Prejudice, Aggression and Social Conflict
• Human Security in International Conflicts
• Conflict Over Human Rights
• Dealing With Political Conflicts: Strengths and Weaknesses
• Ethno-Religious Nationalisms in Conflict in Bosnia
• Organisational Conflict Resolution
• Riordan Manufacturing: Diversity and Conflict Management
• Effective Leadership: Coaching and Conflict
• Role of Coaching in Conflict Management
• Structural Functionalism and Social Conflict Theories
• Managing Conflicts: U.S. Harvest Scandal
• Asian Studies: The Palestine-Israel Conflict Origin
• The US and Britain Role in the Middle East Conflict
• Conflicts in the South China Sea
• Cultural Differences and Conflicts in the Workplace
• Conflict Between Palestine and Israel
• ‘Guidelines for Resolving Conflict as a Counselor’
• Religious and Cultural Conflicts in Syria
• ALM Unlimited and the Trump Organization. Business Conflict
• Middle East Conflicts
• Conflict in Cyprus and in Northern Ireland
• Conflict and Resolution Concepts
• The Conflicts and Complexities in the Early Christianity
• Why Has the Arab-Israeli Conflict Over the Gaza Blockade Gone on for So Long?
• Prime Suspect: The Peculiarities of the Conflicts
• Three Major Sources of Interpersonal and Intergroup Conflict
• Kosovo Conflict: Richard Holbrooke’s “To End a War”
• Can Culture Be a Hurdle to Conflict Resolution?
• Workplace Group Problems: Conflict Management and Dynamics
• Social World Conflicts and Its Resolution Styles
• Conflicts in the Business Communication
• Selina Lo’s Conflict Management in Ruckus Wireless Company
• Dick Spenser’s Sources of Conflict
• Approaches to Resolving Conflicts
• Global Marketing’s Legal Conflicts
• Conflict at Walt Disney Company: A Distant Memory?
• Conflict in Syria: Opportunity for Future Democratisation?
• Conflicts in Syria Present No Opportunity for Future Democratization
• The Conflict Between Boston Charter Schools and School Districts
• Effectiveness of Various Conflict Management Practices
• Conflict Management in Organizational Teams
• Moving Beyond Simple Conflict of Interest
• China’s Media Regulations and Its Political Right to Enforce: Conflict With Foreign Correspondents
• Change Management and Conflict Resolution in Communities
• Market Research and Value Conflict
• CIA. Operations and Intelligence: A Potential for Conflict?
• Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhalese Ethnic Groups: Ethnic Conflict
• Childhood Assumptions in Conflict Resolution
• Literature Review on Intergroup Conflicts in Organisations
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: Civil War or Religious Conflict and the Role of Women
• Interpersonal Conflict in the Workplace
• Conflict in The Age of Innocence and Manhattan Transfer
• Managing Conflict: Decision-Making Process in Organizations
• Conflict, Decision Making and Organizational Design
• Conflict Resolution in a Team Building
• The Usefulness of the Concept of Structural Violence in Analyzing and Understanding International Conflicts
• Law-Ethics Conflict: Jaffee vs. Redmond
• Managing Conflict in People in Organizations
• Conflicts and Their Effects on Group Performance
• International Relations Theories: The Conflict between Macedonia and Greece
• Tesco PLC Constructive Conflict Management
• Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
• Managing Internal and External Conflicts
• Organizational Behavior, Motivation and Conflict Management
• Organizational Conflict
• Effective Conflict Management in Planning
• Effects of Conflict or Nuclear Materials on Environment and Society
• Conflict in the Work Team
• Syrian Conflict and Its Effect on the Power Balance
• Level of Task Independence Acceptable Between Teams and the Impact of Interteam Conflict on Departmental Performance
• Timeless Lessons Learnt From Previous U.S. Conflicts
• The Effectiveness of Marriage Conflict Resolution Programs in the USA
• The Conflict Between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Uppsala Model of International Expansion
• International Law and the ‘Non-International Armed Conflict’ in Syria
• International Policy Responses Toward the Threats of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Regional Conflict
• Conflict Resolution: Causes, Factors, and Strategies
• Social Theories in Conflict and Examples of Application
• Crisis Communication and Conflict Management in Health Care Environment
• Conflict between India, Pakistan, China and Kashmir
• Conflict Management and Organizational Roles
• Do Justice Perceptions Influence Styles of Handling Conflicts With Supervisors?
• Peace and Conflict Resolution in “The Fog of War” Movie
• Negotiation Process and Conflict Resolution
• International Conflict Analysis and the Main Actors
• Effects of the Arab Spring and the Conflict in the Middle East
• Conflict Essence in the Management Setting
• Work-Family Conflict and Career Satisfaction
• Mental Conflict Situation in a Dilemma
• “Organizational Communication and Conflict Management” by Kenan Spaho
• Human Resource Management and Conflict Resolution
• The Mediating Role of Trust: Conflict Management Styles in Managers
• Concept of Marital Conflict
• Why Are There So Many Conflicts in the Middle East?
• Ethnic Conflicts in International Relation Policies

❓ Essay Questions on Conflict

• Are Science and Religion in Conflict?
• Can the Functional and Conflict Theories Help Us Understand Change?
• Does Ideology Cause Conflict or Is It Just an Exacerbating Factor?
• Does Nationalism Inevitably Breed Rivalry and Conflict?
• Does Nuclear Deterrence Work in Preventing Conflict?
• How Does Class Conflict Affect Society and What Are Its Consequences?
• How Does Lloyd Jones Present the Setting, and Use It to Develop Conflict?
• How Does Lofgren Manage Conflict?
• How Modern and Ancient Military Conflict Differs?
• What Are the Five Main Causes for Conflict?
• How the London Docklands Conflict With Its Current Development?
• How Would Conflict Theory Explain Homelessness?
• What Are Conflict and Functionalist Perspectives?
• What Are Some Types and Sources of Channel Conflict?
• What Are the Causes of Ethnic Conflict?
• What Are the Factors That Caused the Northern Ireland Conflict?
• What Causes Conflict in History?
• What Are the Historic and Current Factors Contributing to the Palestinian Conflict?
• What Causes Conflict Between Adolescents and Their Parents?
• When Does Ethnic Diversity Turn Into Ethnic Conflict?
• Why Have Nuclear Weapons Not Been Used in Conflict since 1945?
• What Was the Greatest Conflict in History?
• What Is Ideology Conflict?
• Which Two Ideology Were Involved in a Conflict during the Cold War?
• What Conflicts Is the US Currently Involved In?
• What Is the Biggest Conflict Right Now?
• What Are the Causes of Conflict in Europe?
• What Are the Major Conflicts in Africa?
• Public Relations Titles
• Ethical Dilemma Titles
• Cultural Psychology Ideas
• Family Relationships Research Ideas
• Forgiveness Essay Ideas
• Problem Solving Essay Ideas
• Sociological Perspectives Titles
• Team Management Paper Topics
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Bibliography

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Beyond Intractability

The Hyper-Polarization Challenge to the Conflict Resolution Field We invite you to participate in an online exploration of what those with conflict and peacebuilding expertise can do to help defend liberal democracies and encourage them live up to their ideals.

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By John Paul Lederach

Originally Published October 2003; "Current Implications" section added April 2017 by Heidi Burgess.  

Current Implications

This essay was written 14 years ago, but the concepts presented are just as relevant today as they were then and are particularly important as we try to figure out what to do with all the very intractable conflicts that are facing us. Resolution -- of the political conflicts in the US and Europe, of the violent identity conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, of the clashes over sovereignty and borders in Asia -- seems pretty much impossible. More...

Introduction[1]

I have been using the phrase "conflict transformation" since the late 1980s. I remember that timeframe because it came on the heels of intensive experience in Central America. When I arrived there my teaching vocabulary was filled with the terminology of conflict resolution and management. But I soon found that many of my Latin colleagues had questions, concerns, even suspicions about what such concepts meant.

Their worry was that quick solutions to deep social-political problems would not change things in any significant way. "Conflicts happen for a reason," they would say. "Is this resolution idea just another way to cover up the changes that are really needed?" Their concerns were consistent with my own experience.

The ideas that inform much of my work arise out of the Anabaptist-Mennonite religious framework. This framework emphasizes peace as embedded in justice, the building of right relationships and social structures through a radical respect for human rights , and nonviolence as way of life. In the course of my work in finding constructive responses to violent conflict, I became increasingly convinced that much of what I was doing was seeking constructive change. I recall that by the late 1980s I would talk about this work as a process of transformation .

However, this notion of transformation raised new questions. Despite its problems, the term "resolution" was more well-known and widely accepted in mainstream academic and political circles. "Transformation," on the other hand, was regarded by many as too value-laden, too idealistic, or too "new age." But for me, the term was accurate, scientifically sound, and clear in vision.

Conflict transformation is accurate because the core of my work is indeed about engaging myself in constructive change initiatives that include and go beyond the resolution of particular problems. It is scientifically sound because the writing and research about conflict converge in two common ideas: conflict is normal in human relationships and conflict is a motor of change. And transformation is clear in vision because it brings into focus the horizon toward which we journey, namely the building of healthy relationships and communities, both locally and globally. This process requires significant changes in our current ways of relating.

In this essay, I will engage a creative tension between the metaphors of resolution and transformation in order to sharpen understanding. However, this is not done to minimize or degrade the term "resolution" or the many individuals who creatively prefer it as the best prism for understanding their work. My purpose is to add a voice to the ongoing discussion and search for greater understanding and clarity in human relationships.

But the question remains, what is this transformation stuff? This essay is an attempt to share my understanding of conflict transformation as an orientation, an approach and a framework. It describes transformation as a lens and a strategy for approaching conflict.

The Lenses of Conflict Transformation

In common everyday settings we experience social conflict as a time when a disruption occurs in the "natural" discourse of our relationships. As conflict emerges , we stop and take notice that something is not right. The relationship in which the difficulty is arising becomes complicated, not easy and fluid as it once was. We no longer take things at face value, but rather spend greater time and energy to interpret what things mean. As our communication becomes more difficult, we find it harder and harder to express our perceptions and feelings. We also find it more difficult to understand what others are doing and saying, and may develop feelings of uneasiness and anxiety. This is often accompanied by a growing sense of urgency and frustration as the conflict progresses, especially if no end is in sight.

If someone uninvolved in the situation asks what the conflict is about, our initial explanations will typically be framed in terms of the specific issues the parties are dealing with. This is the content of the conflict, the immediate problems that must be resolved through problem solving and negotiation .

However, the transformational approach addresses this situation somewhat differently. This is because conflict transformation is more than a set of specific techniques. It is about a way of looking and seeing, and it provides a set of lenses through which we make sense of social conflict. These lenses draw our attention to certain aspects of conflict, and help us to bring the overall meaning of the conflict into sharper focus.

Before proceeding further, I should describe what I mean by a lens as a transformational tool. I recently purchased a set of glasses that have what are called progressive lenses. This means that in my eyeglasses I have three different lens types in the same frame. One lens helps bring into focus things at a great distance that would otherwise be a blur. A second brings objects that are at mid-range into a clear picture. The third helps me read a book or thread a fish line through a hook.

It is interesting to note three things about my new glasses and how they relate to a transformational view. First, if I try to use the close-up lens to see at a distance, the lens is counterproductive and useless. Each lens has its function and serves to bring a specific aspect of reality into focus. But when it brings that layer of reality in focus, other layers are placed in a blur. If you look through a camera with a telephoto lens or through a microscope at a slide of bacteria you can find this happening in dramatic fashion.

Second, no one lens is capable of bringing everything into focus. Rather, I need multiple lenses to see different aspects of a complex reality, and cannot rely exclusively on one lens to see the multiple layers of complexity.

Third, the three lenses are held together in a single frame. I need each of the different lenses to see a particular portion of reality, and I need them to be integrated to see the whole picture. Thus, we need lenses that help us address specific aspects of conflict as well as a framework that holds them together in order to see the conflict as a whole.

So what are useful lenses that bring varying aspects of conflict complexity into focus and at the same time create a picture of the whole? This essay will suggest three.

• First, we need a lens to see the immediate situation.
• Second, we need a lens to see past the immediate problems and view the deeper relationship patterns that form the context of the conflict. This goes beyond finding a quick solution to the problem at hand, and seeks to address what is happening in human relationships at a deeper level.
• Third, we need a lens that helps us envision a framework that holds these together and creates a platform to address the content, the context, and the structure of the relationship. From this platform, parties can begin to find creative responses and solutions.

Conflict Transformation: A Simple Definition

Although the definition is relatively short, its various components lend it a degree of complexity. To better understand conflict transformation, an explanation of each component is needed. Together, these components attempt to capture the attitudes and orientations we bring to creative conflict transformation, the starting point of such an approach, and the various change processes involved in such an approach.

To Envision and Respond : A transformational approach begins with two pro-active foundations: 1) a positive orientation toward conflict, and 2) a willingness to engage in the conflict in an effort to produce constructive change or growth. While conflict often produces long-standing cycles of hurt and destruction, the key to transformation is the capacity to envision conflict as having the potential for constructive change. Response, on the other hand, suggests a bias toward direct involvement and an increased understanding that comes from real-life experience. Both "envision" and "respond" represent the ways we orient ourselves toward the presence of conflict in our lives, relationships, and communities.

Ebb and Flow: Conflict is a natural part of relationships. While relationships are sometimes calm and predictable, at other times events and circumstances generate tensions and instability. A transformational view, rather than looking at isolated conflict episodes, seeks to understand how these particular episodes are embedded in the greater pattern of human relationships. Change is understood both at the level of immediate issues and the broader patterns of interaction.

Life-Giving Opportunities : On the one hand, this phrase suggests that life gives us conflict, and that conflict is a natural part of human experience and relationships. Rather than viewing conflict as a threat, the transformative view sees conflict as a valuable opportunity to grow and increases our understanding of ourselves and others. Conflict helps us stop, assess and take notice. Without it, life would be a monotonous flat topography of sameness and our relationships would be woefully superficial. This phrase also suggests that conflict creates life and keeps everything moving. It can be understood as a motor of change that keeps relationships and social structures dynamically responsive to human needs.

Constructive Change Processes : This notion emphasizes the capacity of the transformational approach to build new things. Conflict transformation begins with a central goal: to build constructive change out of the energy created by conflict. By focusing this energy on the underlying relationships and social structures, constructive changes can be brought about. The key here is to move conflict away from destructive processes and toward constructive ones. The primary task of conflict transformation is not to find quick solutions to immediate problems, but rather to generate creative platforms that can simultaneously address surface issues and change underlying social structures and relationship patterns.

Reduce Violence and Increase Justice : Transformation must be able to respond to life's on-the-ground challenges, needs, and realities. How do we address conflict in ways that reduce violence and increase justice in human relationships? To reduce violence we must address both the obvious issues and content of any given dispute and also their underlying patterns and causes. To increase justice we must ensure that people have access to political procedures and voice in the decisions that affect their lives.

Conflict transformation views peace as centered and rooted in the quality of relationships. This includes both face-to-face interactions and the ways in which we structure our social, political, economic, and cultural relationships. In this sense, peace is a "process-structure," a phenomenon that is simultaneously dynamic, adaptive, and changing. In essence, rather than seeing peace as a static "end-state," conflict transformation views peace as a continuously evolving and developing quality of relationship. It is defined by intentional efforts to address the natural rise of human conflict through nonviolent approaches that address issues and increase understanding, equality, and respect in relationships.

Direct Interaction and Social Structures: The above concerns about violence and justice suggest that we need to develop capacities to engage in change processes at the interpersonal, inter-group, and social-structural levels. One set of capacities points toward direct, face-to-face interaction between people or groups. The other set underscores the need to see, pursue, and create change in our ways of organizing social structures, from families, to complex bureaucracies, to structures at the global level. This requires a capacity to understand and sustain dialogue as a fundamental means of constructive change.

Indeed, many of the skill-based mechanisms that reduce violence are rooted in communicative capacities to exchange ideas, find common definitions, and move toward solutions. But dialogue also plays a crucial role in the maintenance or change of social structures. Through dialogue, these structures can be modified to be more responsive and just.

Human Relationships: Relationships are at the heart of conflict transformation.

Rather than concentrating exclusively on the content and substance of the dispute, the transformational approach suggests that the key to understanding conflict and developing creative change processes lies in seeing the less visible aspects of relationship . While the issues over which people fight are important and require creative response, relationships represent a web of connections that form the broader context of the conflict. It is out of this relationship context that particular issues arise and either become volatile or get quickly resolved.

Conflict and Change

Both conflict and change are a normal part of human life. Conflict is continuously present in human relationships, and the fabric of these relationships is constantly adapting and changing. Before discussing practical approaches to conflict transformation, it is important to better understand the link between conflict and change.

There are four central modes in which conflict impacts situations and changes things:

• the personal,
• the relational,
• the structural, and
• the cultural.[2]

In addition, we can think about these changes in response to two questions. First, from a descriptive view, what does conflict change? And second, from the standpoint of responding to conflict as it arises, what kind of changes do we seek? In the first arena, we are simply acknowledging the common patterns and impact of social conflict. In the second, we recognize the need to identify what our values and intentions may be as we actively seek to respond, intervene, and create change.

The personal dimension refers to changes effected in and desired for the individual. This includes the cognitive, emotional, perceptual, and spiritual aspects of human experience over the course of conflict. From a descriptive perspective, transformation suggests that individuals are affected by conflict in both negative and positive ways. For example, conflict affects our physical well-being, self-esteem, emotional stability, capacity to perceive accurately, and spiritual integrity. Prescriptively, (i.e., relating to what one should do) transformation represents deliberate intervention to minimize the destructive effects of social conflict and maximize its potential for individual growth at physical, emotional, and spiritual levels.

The relational dimension depicts the changes affected in and desired for the face-to-face relationships. Here issues of emotions, power, and interdependence, and the communicative and interactive aspects of conflict are central. Descriptively, transformation refers to how the patterns of communication and interaction in relationships are affected by conflict. It looks beyond visible issues to the underlying changes produced by conflict in how people perceive, what they pursue, and how they structure their relationships. Most significantly, social conflict makes explicit how close or distant people wish to be, how they will use and share power, what they perceive of themselves and each other, and what patterns of interaction they wish to have. Prescriptively, transformation represents intentional intervention to minimize poorly functioning communication and maximize mutual understanding. This includes efforts to bring to the surface in a more explicit manner the relational fears, hopes and goals of the people involved.

The structural dimension highlights the underlying causes of conflict, and stresses the ways in which social structures, organizations, and institutions are built, sustained, and changed by conflict. It is about the ways people build and organize social, economic, and institutional relationships to meet basic human needs and provide access to resources and decision-making. At the descriptive level transformation refers to the analysis of social conditions that give rise to conflict and the way that conflict affects social structural change in existing social, political and economic institutions.

At a prescriptive level, transformation represents efforts to provide insight into underlying causes and social conditions that create and foster violent expressions of conflict, and to promote nonviolent mechanisms that reduce adversarial interaction and minimize violence. Pursuit of this change fosters structures that meet basic human needs ( substantive justice ) and maximize people's participation in decisions that affect them ( procedural justice ).

The cultural dimension refers to the ways that conflict changes the patterns of group life as well as the ways that culture affects the development of processes to handle and respond to conflict. At a descriptive level, transformation seeks to understand how conflict affects and changes cultural patterns of a group, and how those accumulated and shared patterns affect the way people in a given context understand and respond to conflict. Prescriptively, transformation seeks to uncover the cultural patterns that contribute to violence in a given context, and to identify and build on existing cultural resources and mechanisms for handling conflict.

The Big Picture: Connecting Resolution and Transformation

Thus far we have discussed the concepts that make up the various components of conflict transformation. We now want to move from the concept of transformation to the practice of transformation. We must therefore establish an operative frame of reference for thinking about and developing the design of transformational approaches. Our starting point requires the development of an image of our purpose, or what I call the "big picture." Since intractable conflicts are usually quite complex, developing a "big picture" helps us to develop a purpose and direction. Without it, especially in the arena of intractable conflict, we can easily find ourselves responding to a myriad of issues without a clear understanding of what our responses add up to. We can solve lots of problems without necessarily creating any significant constructive social change at a deeper level.

Creating a Map for Conflict Transformation

It is common in the study of conflict to develop a map that helps us to engage in conflict assessment and analysis. Similarly, it is useful to have a map of what we mean by transformation. Figure 1 provides a shortcut overview of such a map, which can help us to visualize the development of a strategy to constructively transform conflict.

This transformational framework has three components, each of which represent a point of inquiry in the development of a response to conflict:

• the presenting situation,
• the horizon of preferred future, and
• the development of change processes linking the two.

The movement from the present toward the desired future is not a straight line, but rather a set of dynamic initiatives that set in motion change processes and create a sustained platform to pursue long-term change. Such a framework emphasizes the challenge of how to end something not desired and how to build something that is desired.

Inquiry 1: The Presenting Situation

The first point of inquiry is the presenting situation, the conflict episode that provides an opportunity to look both at the content of the dispute and the patterns of relationship in the context in which the dispute is expressed. This is graphically represented in Figure 1 as a set of embedded circles or spheres.

A transformational view raises two important questions: What are the immediate problems that need to be solved? What is the overall context that needs to be addressed in order to change destructive patterns? In other words, transformation views the presenting issues as an expression of the larger system of relationship patterns. It moves beyond the "episodic" expression of the conflict and focuses on the relational and historical patterns in which the conflict is rooted.

Put another way, presenting issues connect the present with the past. The patterns of how things have been in the past provide a context in which the issues in a dispute rise toward the surface. But while they create an opportunity to remember and recognize, presenting issues do not have the power to change what has already transpired. The potential for change lies in our ability to recognize, understand, and redress what has happened, and create new structures and ways of interacting in the future.

Inquiry 2: The Horizon of the Future

The second point of inquiry is the horizon of the future, the image of what we wish to create. It asks us to consider what we would ideally like to see in place.

However, this is not simply a model of linear change, in which there is movement from the present situation to the desired future. While the presenting issues act as an impetus toward change, the horizon of the future points toward possibilities of what could be constructed and built. It represents a social energy that informs and creates orientation. Thus, the arrow points not only forward to the future, but also back toward the immediate situation and the range of change processes that may emerge. This combination of arrows suggests that transformation is both a circular and a linear process, or what we will refer to here as a process structure .

Inquiry 3: The Development of Change Processes

The final major inquiry is the design and support of change processes . This broader component requires that we think about response to conflict as the development of change processes that attend to the web of interconnected needs, relationships, and patterns. Because the change processes should address both the immediate problems and the broader relational and structural patterns, we need to reflect on multiple levels and types of change rather than focusing on a single operational solution. Change processes must not only promote short-term solutions, but also build platforms capable of promoting long-term social change.

Taken as a whole, this big picture provides a lens that permits us to envision the possibilities of immediate response and longer-term constructive change. It requires a capacity to see through and beyond the presenting issues to the deeper patterns, while at the same time seeking creative responses that address real-life issues in real time. However, to more fully understand this approach we need to explore in greater depth how platforms for constructive change are conceptualized and developed as process structures.

Process Structures: Platforms for Transformation

We come now to the operational side of transformation. The key challenge is how to support and sustain a platform with a capacity to adapt and generate ongoing desired change while at the same time responding creatively to immediate needs. To engage this challenge we have to think about platforms as process structures.

In modern physics, process structures are natural phenomena that are dynamic, adaptive and changing, and yet at the same time sustain a functional and recognizable form and structure.[3] Margaret Wheately refers to them as "things that maintain form over time yet have no rigidity of structure."[4] The two terms that make up this term, "process" and "structure," point to two interdependent characteristics: adaptability and purpose. Transformational change processes must feature both of these characteristics. They must be both linear and circular.

In simple terms, linear means that things move from one point to the next in a straight line. It is associated with a rational-logical understanding of events in terms of cause and effect. However, in the social arena, events are likely moving along broad directions not always visible from a short-term perspective. In this arena, a linear perspective asks us to stand back and take a look at the overall direction of social conflict and the change we seek. It requires us to articulate how we think things are related and how movement is created. Specifically, it asks us to look at the patterns of interaction, not just the immediate experience, and understand the changes in these broad patterns.

Circular understanding suggests that we need to think carefully about how social change actually develops. This notion of circularity underscores some defining elements of transformational change processes. First, it reminds us that things are connected and in relationship. Second, it suggests that the growth of something often "nourishes" itself from its own process and dynamic. In other words, it operates as a feedback loop. Third, and most critical to our inquiry, an emphasis on circularity makes it clear that processes of change are not unidirectional. Figure 2 represents change as a circle, featuring four experiences common to those in the midst of a difficult conflict.

• There are times when we feel as if desired change is happening. Things move forward and progress, and what we hope to build seems to be in sight.
• At other times, we feel as if we have reached an impasse or "hit a wall." Nothing is happening or all pathways forward seemed blocked.
• Sometimes we feel as if the change processes are going backwards, and what has been achieved is being undone. In worst-case scenarios we hear language like, "In a single stroke, years of work have been set back." Common to the change process is the feeling that we are "swimming against the tide" or headed upstream.
• Finally, we sometimes feel like we are living through a complete breakdown. It seems as if everything is falling apart and collapsing. These periods tend to be deeply depressing, and are often accompanied by the repeated echoes of "we have to start from ground zero."

All of these experiences are integral parts of the change process and provide us with some important insights about change. First, no one point in time determines the broader pattern. Rather, change encompasses different sets of patterns and directions. Second, we should be cautious about going forward too quickly. Sometimes going back may create more innovative ways forward, and falling down may create new opportunities to build. Third, we should be aware that life is never static and that we must constantly adapt.

Figure 3 represents a simple process structure, which features a web of dynamic circles that create an overall momentum and direction. One might think of this as a rotini, a spiral made up of multi-directional internal patterns that create a common overall movement. It features both the purpose associated with linearity and the feedback loops associated with circularity.

The key to create a platform for transformation in the midst of social conflict lies in holding together a healthy dose of both circular and linear perspectives. A transformational platform is essentially this: The building of an on-going and adaptive base at the epicenter of conflict from which it is possible to generate processes that create solutions to short-term needs and provide a capacity to work on strategic long-term constructive change in systemic relational context.

We can visualize this idea in Figure 4 by adding to our process-structure the rising escalation of conflict episodes. In order to understand a transformational platform, we need to visualize the idea of an on-going base from which processes can be generated. The escalation of conflict creates opportunity to establish and sustain this base. From the transformational view, developing a process to provide a solution to the presenting problem is important but not the key. Central to transformation is building a base that generates processes that 1) provide adaptive responses to the immediate and future iterations of conflict episodes, and 2) address the deeper and longer-term relational and systemic patterns that produce violent, destructive expressions of conflict.

In other words, a conflict-transformation platform must be short-term responsive and long-term strategic. The defining characteristic of such a platform is the capacity to generate and re-generate change processes responsive to both immediate episodes and the relational context. It is in this way an adaptive process-structure, one that can produce creative solutions to a variety of problems.

Practices For Transformational Strategies

In earlier sections, I described conflict transformation as a set of lenses that combine to create a way to look at social conflict and develop responses. Here I explore how to make this framework applicable by outlining several core practices that are useful in addressing social conflict from a transformational approach.

Practice 1: Develop a capacity to see presenting issues as a window

A transformational approach relies on a capacity to see the immediate situation without being overwhelmed by the demands of presenting issues, the urgency that pushes for a quick solution, and the anxieties that often develop as conflict escalates. The pursuit of broader transformational goals requires us to look beyond the immediate problems and to see these issues as a window. Just as we look through the glass, focusing our attention on what lies beyond the window, we look through the immediate issues to discover the relational context and the underlying causes of conflict. This is what some authors have called the capacity to see the difference between content of a conflict and its emotional and relational context.[5]

Practice 2: Develop a capacity to integrate multiple time frames

Approaching the immediate situation as a window also involves the ability to think about change without being constrained by a short-term view of time. This is not to say that short-term perspectives are never appropriate. The key is the ability to recognize the needs of multiple time frames and create strategies that integrate short-term response with long-term change. Addressing immediate episodes and broader relationship patterns requires processes with different time frames. Processes that will be effective in one case are not likely to be effective in another. For the transformation-oriented practitioner, the key capacity is an ability to recognize what sorts of processes and time frames may be needed to address the different kinds of change.

Practice 3: Develop a capacity to pose the energies of conflict as dilemmas

Posing conflicts as dilemmas involves shifting from an either/or frame of reference to a both/and frame of reference. In settings of sustained violence, we sometimes face what appear to be impossible decisions that involve outright contradictions. For example, those of us working in relief and aid agencies in Somalia in the early 1990s struggled with choices about where to put our energies and responses when none of the apparent options seemed adequate. Should we send food and relief aid even though we know armed groups will take advantage of it to continue the war, or should we not send food but then feel helpless about the enormous humanitarian plight? Far too often how we framed our questions limited our strategies. Framing choices in rigid either/or terms made it difficult to handle complexity .

A shift in thinking emerged when we reframed our questions to reflect the legitimacy of different but not incompatible goals. Rather than accepting a frame of reference that posed our situation as choosing between one important goal or another, we reframed the questions in terms of interdependent goals. How can we build capacities for peace in this setting and at the same time create responsive mechanisms for the delivery of humanitarian aid? The formula is this: How can we address "A" and at the same time build "B"? This way of formulating the question creates a capacity to recognize different but interdependent aspects of a complex situation and develop integrative responses. The capacity to reframe conflict in this way enables us to more clearly identify our goals and seek innovative options for action.

Practice 4: Develop a capacity to make complexity a friend, not a foe

In conflicts, especially when there has been a long history of patterns and episodes that were not constructively addressed, people feel overwhelmed. It may seem that that situation is just too complicated, that there are too many things going on to even try to explain it. At times of escalated conflict, complexity describes a situation in which we feel forced to live with multiple and competing frames of reference about what things mean. We are also faced with lots of things happening at multiple levels, between different sets of people, all at the same time. This often leads to a sense of ambiguity, which produces three feelings: we feel insecure about what it all means, we are not sure where it is going, and we feel as if we have little or no control over what happens. This often leads people to seek escape or to find a quick solution.

But in order to constructively deal with complexity, we must make it a friend rather than a foe and recognize its potential for building desired change. One of the great advantages of complexity is that change is not tied exclusively to one thing, action or option. The first key is to trust the capacity of systems to generate options and avenues for change. Second, we must pursue those options that appear to hold the greatest promise for constructive change. Third, we must not lock rigidly onto to one idea or approach. The potential avenues of change generated in complex systems are numerous. Complexity is especially a friend when cycles and episodes of conflict seem to narrow toward the same outcomes every time. It is here that paying careful attention to the multiplicity of options can create new ways to look at old patterns.

Practice 5: Develop a capacity to hear and engage the voice of identity and relationship

We have mentioned time and again the need to look for and see the patterns in the context that underpin the presenting situation. This involves an ability to recognize and then develop response processes that engage the deeper core of the conflict. Two central "root causes" of social conflict are identity and relationship.

Identity is best understood as a relational dynamic that is constantly being redefined. It is not primarily about negotiating an agreement to solve a material problem, but rather is about protecting a sense of self and group survival. While it is rarely explicitly addressed, identity shapes and moves the expression of conflict. At the deepest level it is lodged in the narratives of how people see themselves, who they are, where they come from, and what they fear they will become. It is also deeply rooted in their relationships with others.

A central challenge for transformation is how to create spaces and processes that encourage people to address and articulate a positive sense of identity in relationship to others but not in reaction to them. This can be accomplished in three ways.

• First, be attentive to language, metaphors, and expressions that signal the distresses of identity. In order to deal with core issues of identity, one must acknowledge them as issues.
• Second, move toward appeals to identity rather than away from them. Acknowledge that the conflict requires a process that more explicitly addresses issues of identity and relationship. Generating solutions to immediate problems is not enough.
• Third, design transformation processes as dynamic platforms that create repeating patterns of exchange and exploration rather than produce immediate negotiated solutions.

Three guiding principles that characterize this process of exchange and exploration: honesty, iterative (i.e. repeating and cumulative) learning, and appropriate exchange .

• First, we should work toward the creation of spaces where people feel safe enough to be deeply honest with themselves and others about their fears, hopes, hurts and responsibilities. Honesty reflects parties' sense of safety and builds trust .
• Second, we must create multiple points of access and repetitive examination for addressing identity. The negotiation and definition of identity is a complex process that requires processes of interaction with others as well as inner reflection about self. Identity work is not a one-time decision-making process, but rather an ongoing learning process about self and other. This requires an iterative platform for addressing identity concerns within a framework of broader constructive change.
• Third, appropriate exchange calls attention to the need to design work on identity in ways that respect people. Beyond direct face-to-face dialogue , there are many ways that learning and deepening understanding about identity and relationship can occur. This includes dialogue-as-music, dialogue-as-sport, and dialogue-as-shared-work to preserve old city centers, parks and mountains. All of these may do more than traditional dialogue to advance learning and understanding.

In addition, it is important to be attentive to people's perceptions of how identity is linked to power and the definition of the systems and structures that organize and govern their relationships. This is particularly important for people who feel their identity is eroded, marginalized or under deep threat. When addressing identity-based concerns, processes must strive to understand the roots of people's perceptions and address the systemic changes needed to assure access and respectful participation.

Conclusions

The lenses of conflict transformation focus on the potential for constructive change emergent from and catalyzed by the rise of social conflict. Because the potential for broader change is inherent in any episode of conflict, from personal to structural levels, the lenses can easily be applied to a wide range of conflicts.

A key advantage to this framework lies in its capacity to think about multiple avenues of response. To use our earlier comparison, we suggested that transformation builds on and integrates the contribution and strengths of conflict-resolution approaches. A transformational approach inquires about both the specifics, immediately apparent in the episode of conflict, as well as the potential for broader constructive and desired change.

Clearly there are arenas in which transformation is limited and a quick and direct resolution of the problem is more appropriate. In disputes where parties need a quick and final solution to a problem and do not have a significant relationship, they typically appeal to negotiation and mediation . In such cases the exploration of relational and structural patterns are of limited value. For example, a one-time business dispute over a payment between two people who hardly know each other and will never have contact again is not a context to explore a transformational application.

However, in cases where parties share an extensive past and have the potential for significant future relationships, and where the episodes arise in an organizational, community or broader social context, simple resolution approaches may be too narrow. Though they may solve the immediate problems, they miss the greater potential for constructive change. This is even more significant in contexts where there are repeated and deep-rooted cycles of conflict episodes that have created destructive and violent patterns. In such cases, avenues to promote transformational change should be pursued.

Conflict transformation places before us some big questions: Where are we headed? Why do we do this work? What are we hoping to contribute and build? Increasingly, I am convinced that those in the alternative dispute-resolution field and the vast majority of people and communities who wish to find more constructive ways to address conflict in their lives were drawn to the perspectives and practices of conflict resolution because they wanted change. They wanted human societies to move from violent and destructive patterns toward the potential for creative, constructive and nonviolent capacities to deal with human conflict. This means replacing patterns of violence and coercion with respect, creative problem-solving, increased dialogue , and nonviolent mechanisms of social change. To accomplish this, a complex web of change processes under-girded by a transformational understanding of life and relationship is needed.

This essay was written 14 years ago, but the concepts presented are just as relevant today as they were then and are particularly important as we try to figure out what to do with all the very intractable conflicts that are facing us. Resolution -- of the political conflicts in the US and Europe, of the violent identity conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, of the clashes over sovereignty and borders in Asia -- seems pretty much impossible. Transformation of the conflicts from destructive to less so, perhaps even to constructive engagements is certainly more feasible and much better than "giving up."

Note also Lederach's use of "multiple lenses" and multiple "change strategies."  Both are essential parts of dealing with the complexity of today's very complex and rapidly changing conflict landscapes.  Rather than becoming outdated, I would argue that this conflict transformation approach is needed even more now than when this essay was originally written.  --Heidi Burgess, Feb. 2017

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[1] This essay is an excerpt from John Paul Lederach's book "The Little Book of Conflict Transformation, published by Good Books, 2003. Conflict Research Consortium graduate student Michelle Maise condensed the 70+ pages of material in the original draft of that manuscript (with John Paul's and the publisher's permission) into this essay.

[2] See Preparing for Peace (Syracuse University Press, 1995) and Building Peace (US Institute of Peace Press, 1999).

[3] See Margaret Wheatley's discussion of this in reference to learning organizations in Leadership and the New Sciences , San Francisco: Barrett-Koehler, Publishers, 1994.

[4] Wheately, 1994:16.

[5] See Hocker and Wilmot's discussion of content and relationship in Interpersonal Conflict or Edwin Friedman's discussion of anxiety, emotional process and symptomatic content in Generation to Generation .

Use the following to cite this article: Lederach, John Paul. "Conflict Transformation." Beyond Intractability . Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: October 2003 < http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/transformation >.

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