Moderating and Minimizing Conflict - Essay Example

Conflict can be interpreted in two dimensions: the theorist’s perspective of the conflict and the environment where the conflict takes place (Strasser & Randolph, 2004, p.4). The environment may include conflict between individuals or families or nations. The conflict can also be inter-psychic in which the conscious mind and the unconscious mind conflict with each other. How the mediators interpret conflict and its resolution paves the way to their selection of an appropriate approach towards reconciliation.

Mediator’s perspectives and how they look at the situation shapes the mediation approach and the resolution process. My conflict style is collaborative. I believe that communication is the best way to resolve a conflict (Cupach et al., 2010) at all levels: personal, cultural, political, organizational or international. I do not like asserting my viewpoints and perspectives on others; instead, I like to listen to other people’s beliefs and disbeliefs. This way, I give the other persosn the opportunity to make their points clear.

I invite them to share their views with me. I do not want them to feel ignored or un-listened. This empowers them and at the end, this makes them respect the solution I come up with because they know that I have listened to them and have made them participate in the decision-making process. I will quote two examples from my personal life here. Once, my younger brother, Joe, started to hang out with his friends late night. He had made up a routine of coming home late night and this would upset my parents and I because we did not want him to do stuff none of his elders ever did.

My parents are both authoritarians in their parenting style and they do not want to argue with kids. This even awoke more aggression in Joe because he knew that Mom and Dad were not going to understand him. One day, I called him and sat down with him. I started to communicate with him- something Mom and Dad had never did. I asked him what made him come home late and why he wanted to disobey and upset his parents. After listening to him, I told him the bad consequences that might happen if he constantly stayed absent from home till late night.

And I got my results. He understood me. We figured a middle way out in which I gave him enough space about hanging out but made sure that he returns before 9 pm. At another day, I came across two of friends, Mike and Bob, fighting and yelling at each other. Mike said that Bob had stolen his notebook that he had prepared after one year’s efforts; while Bob said that he knew nothing about the notebook. The argument went so serious that both of them were ready to punch each other at faces. After much struggle, I cooled them down and made them sit at the desk and talk about the issue.

First, I made Mike present his perspective and then I told Bob to clarify himself. I made them ‘talk’ to each other and listen to each other’s views. After about half an hour of real sound arguments, both of them resolved the issue. Mike was remembering that he had handed the notebook over to the professor one day and he had not returned that yet. Thus, the conclusion was that communication made him remember things that he was forgetting. On concluding note, I am very much pleased with my conflict style.

I love collaborating and communicating