RECURRENT THEMES IN CONFLICT DIAGNOSIS I:The Seven Steps of Social Behavior, Seven steps to diagnose conflict

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Conflict Management HRM624

Lesson 7

RECURRENT THEMES IN CONFLICT DIAGNOSIS I

Quotation

"No doubt there are other important things in life besides conflict, but there are not many other things so

inevitably interesting. The very saints interest us most when we think of them as engaged in a conflict with

the Devil." Robert Lynd

Nelson Mandella had been in conflict through out his life and now he is one of the most respected persons

in the world.

In this lecture we will try to understand the circumstances in which human beings misperceive, misinterpret,

and mistreat during interpersonal conflict.

Understanding and diagnosing interpersonal conflict

Interpersonal conflict is part of everyday life. It exists when there is incompatibility of goals. It occurs in

every type of relationship. In interpersonal conflict, what we think we see is often not what really goes on.

Also what the other disputant is responding to is often not what we think he or she is responding to.

Conflict is not necessarily a negative phenomenon; it also plays a positive role in everyday life. When we see

some relationship prima facie without conflict, it can not necessarily be taken as good or healthy

relationship. There must be some hidden conflicts which may be more harmful for a relationship as

compared with some known conflict. These relationships may include workplace relationships, business

relationships, family relationships, or relationships among friends. Hostility and resentment can destroy

interpersonal relationships whereas conflict may be productive if taken positively. Disputants may solve the

problems by resolving the conflicting issues.

Sources of conflict are usually hidden

Opposing needs, ideas, goals and interests may be the sources of conflict. Conflicts may be real and/or

perceived (Corvette, 2007). Conflict is a very complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Most of the time, it is

not what we see or perceive rather it is something else and somewhere else. It is often heard that perception

is more important than reality. Our perceptions affect most of the part of our behavior and attitude.

Social and cognitive psychology provides a cognitive structure to understand complex and paradoxical ideas.

For better understanding and diagnosis of the conflict one must be fully aware of the predisposition of the

issue.

Conflict is never quite what it

seems

Interpersonal conflict is like...

An iceberg

Funny glasses

A tornado

Conflict is like a tornado it's very disorienting and disturbing.

Conflict Management HRM624

B. Disputants use one another's conduct to diagnose conflict. It leads to ever-widening errors of

perception and judgment by parties in conflict.

What Is The Other

Disputant Thinking?

Result: My beliefs

about his or her

motives

My preconceived

notions and beliefs

about the conflict and

disputant

My observations of

the other disputant

during the conflict

The Seven Steps of Social Behavior

Developmental and basic psychological theories can provide a step by step model of conflict response.

Conflict is based on subjectivity and perception. Many opportunities for error exist in all social interactions.

Experience is greatly subjective (based on personal beliefs or feelings rather than facts). Hence interpersonal

conflict is subjective. Accordingly its understanding is difficult. That is why ADR is useful for

understanding conflict. Perceptual distortions are very important for ADR.

ADR depends upon perceptions of parties. Negotiation process actually addresses perception and brings

Seven Steps of Conflict Diagnosis

1. Social stimulus

2. Disputant receives

stimulus

3. Stimulus

7. Disputant acts; new

interpretation

stimulus created

4. Option generation

5. Weighing options

6. Disputant chooses

an option

Conflict Management HRM624

people closer in their views.

Seven steps to diagnose conflict

1. Social Stimulus

A stimulus is something in one's environment that stimulates a reaction.

A social stimulus is a stimulus emanating from another individual or from the social setting or situation.

Social stimuli can be verbal, nonverbal (e.g., body language) or contextual (e.g., where and when behavior

took place).

2. Disputant receives the social stimulus with his or her senses

Remember that receiving the stimulus is only the first part of perception the other essential part is

interpretation. Stimulus reception can be prone to error.

3. Disputant interprets what he or she has seen/heard/sensed

What is it? It's the assigning of meaning to a received stimulus by the observer.

This is the second half of perception. This important half of perception often goes unrecognized

perception is often misunderstood as an "objective" rendering of a real-world event. But in reality,

perception can be very subjective. "Error" occurs during interpretation because virtually every received

stimulus has ambiguous components.

During interpersonal conflict, the disputants will tend to use one another's behavior to make guesses and

draw conclusions about one another's motivations and likely next moves. The stress of interpersonal

conflict worsens the tendency to make errors.

Specific sources of interpretational error:

a. Actor did not intend his or her actions.

b. Use of a heuristic. It is defined as mental shortcuts that facilitate the interpretational phase of perception

c. Negative heuristics that tend to be associated with escalated conflict.

d. Self-fulfilling-prophecy behavioral responses to application of a heuristic by the observer.

e. Application of heuristics is associated with high levels of stress and reduced mental and emotional

resources (as during conflict).

f. Influenced by individual contextual factors and motivational factors.

4. Disputant generates options for responding.

Option generation will be more or less abbreviated or detailed, depending on the importance of the

situation, the stress and arousal level of the observer, and the cognitive resources of the observer.

5. Disputant weighs the options.

If more than one option is generated, the observer will have to choose which action to take, and at some

level he or she will do this by weighing the costs and benefits of each.

Sources of cost-benefit assessments used in analysis:

Factors that influence weights given to options:

i. Factors that influence availability of mental resources such as complexity, fatigue, emotional arousal

ii. Salience of particular issues in the present context

iii. Blueprints about interpersonal conflict and how it should be resolved

iv. Personal values assigned to the likely possible outcomes of the options (both positive and negative)

v. The weighing of options is often wholly or partially unconscious.

Conflict Management HRM624

6. Disputant chooses an action

Stable source is perceived self-efficacy whereas transient source include time limitations, cognitive overload,

and attention robbing factors.

7. Disputant acts, creating a new social stimulus.

1. Because of deficiencies in actual self-efficacy (proficiency), the action that occurs may not be the one

intended.

2. Proficiency is not a stable trait and it is impaired by stress.

3. Even proficiently executed tactics sometimes fail.

4. Due to errors in interpretation or judgment made by the disputant about the situation.

5. Due to mistaken beliefs about the effectiveness of various blueprints and their tools.

6. Due to changes in the situation.

7. Due to chance the tactic may carry a known risk that was assumed by the actor.

8. Actions become social stimuli.

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