what is a conflict resolution essay

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• What is Conflict Resolution, and How Does It Work?

How to manage conflict at work through conflict resolution

By Katie Shonk — on April 18th, 2024 / Conflict Resolution

If you work with others, sooner or later you will almost inevitably face the need for conflict resolution. You may need to mediate a dispute between two members of your department. Or you may find yourself angered by something a colleague reportedly said about you in a meeting. Or you may need to engage in conflict resolution with a client over a missed deadline. In organizations, conflict is inevitable, and good conflict management tools are essential.

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What is conflict resolution, and how can you use it to settle disputes in your workplace?

Conflict resolution can be defined as the informal or formal process that two or more parties use to find a peaceful solution to their dispute.

A number of common cognitive and emotional traps, many of them unconscious, can exacerbate conflict and contribute to the need for conflict resolution:

• Self-serving fairness interpretations. Rather than deciding what’s fair from a position of neutrality, we interpret what would be most fair to us, then justify this preference on the bases of fairness. For example, department heads are likely to each think they deserve the lion’s share of the annual budget. Disagreements about what’s fairlead to clashes.

• Overconfidence. We tend to be overconfident in our judgments, a tendency that leads us to unrealistic expectations. Disputants are likely to be overconfident about their odds of winning a lawsuit, for instance, an error that can lead them to shun a negotiated settlement that would save them time and money.

• Escalation of commitment. Whether negotiators are dealing with a labor strike, a merger, or an argument with a colleague, they are likely to irrationally escalate their commitment to their chosen course of action, long after it has proven useful. We desperately try to recoup our past investments in a dispute (such as money spent on legal fees), failing to recognize that such “sunk costs” should play no role in our decisions about the future.

• Conflict avoidance. Because negative emotions cause us discomfort and distress, we may try to tamp them down, hoping that our feelings will dissipate with time. In fact, conflict tends to become more entrenched, and parties have a greater need for conflict resolution when they avoid dealing with their strong emotions.

Given these and other pitfalls, how can you set up a constructive conflict resolution process when dealing with conflict at work and other realms? Conflicts can be resolved in a variety of ways, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and litigation.

• Negotiation. In conflict resolution, you can and should draw on the same principles of collaborative negotiation that you use in dealmaking. For example, you should aim to explore the interests underlying parties’ positions, such as a desire to resolve a dispute without attracting negative publicity or to repair a damaged business relationship. In addition, determine your best alternative to a negotiated agreement , or BATNA —what you will do if you fail to reach an agreement, such as finding a new partner or filing a lawsuit. By brainstorming options and looking for tradeoffs across issues, you may be able to negotiate a satisfactory outcome to your dispute without the aid of outside parties.

• Mediation. In mediation, disputants enlist a trained, neutral third party to help them come to a consensus. Rather than imposing a solution, a professional mediator encourages disputants to explore the interests underlying their positions. Working with parties both together and separately, mediators seek to help them discover a resolution that is sustainable, voluntary, and nonbinding.

• Arbitration. In arbitration, which can resemble a court trial, a neutral third party serves as a judge who makes decisions to end the dispute. The arbitrator listens to the arguments and evidence presented by each side, then renders a binding and often confidential decision. Although disputants typically cannot appeal an arbitrator’s decision, they can negotiate most aspects of the arbitration process, including whether lawyers will be present and which standards of evidence will be used.

• Litigation. In civil litigation, a defendant and a plaintiff face off before either a judge or a judge and jury, who weigh the evidence and make a ruling. Information presented in hearings and trials usually enters the public record. Lawyers typically dominate litigation, which often ends in a negotiated settlement during the pretrial period.

In general, it makes sense to start off less-expensive, less-formal conflict resolution procedures, such as negotiation and mediation, before making the larger commitments of money and time that arbitration and litigation often demand. Conflict-resolution training can further enhance your ability to negotiate satisfactory resolutions to your disputes.

What conflict resolution methods have you tried before? Leave us a comment.

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No Responses to “What is Conflict Resolution, and How Does It Work?”

4 responses to “what is conflict resolution, and how does it work”.

Conflict resolution arise due to dispute between two parties involved in any trade , it can be solved with fair negotiation or through Mediator or through arbitrator or through litigation.

Wondful work keep up pls.

Conflict resolution is way of settling misundestanding between two or more bodies on a matter through dialog.

Conflict Resolution can also be defined as a strong will and determination to create solution to a misunderstanding between two or more parties

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106 Conflict Resolution Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Conflict resolution is an essential skill that plays a crucial role in various aspects of our lives. Whether it is in personal relationships, the workplace, or even on a global scale, conflicts are inevitable. However, it is how we address and resolve these conflicts that determines the outcome and impact they have on our lives and the world around us.

Writing an essay on conflict resolution can provide a deeper understanding of this skill and its significance. To help you get started, here are 106 conflict resolution essay topic ideas and examples:

• The importance of conflict resolution in personal relationships.
• Conflict resolution techniques used in international diplomacy.
• The role of empathy in conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution strategies for parents and children.
• The impact of unresolved conflicts on mental health.
• Conflict resolution in the workplace: best practices.
• The role of effective communication in resolving conflicts.
• Conflict resolution in multicultural societies.
• The influence of gender on conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution and negotiation skills in business.
• The role of compromise in resolving conflicts.
• Conflict resolution in online communities.
• The impact of conflict resolution on organizational productivity.
• Conflict resolution and its effect on community building.
• The role of forgiveness in conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution in educational settings.
• Conflict resolution in the criminal justice system.
• The impact of cultural differences on conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution in the healthcare industry.
• Conflict resolution in sports teams.
• Conflict resolution and human rights.
• The role of power dynamics in conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution and social media.
• The impact of conflict resolution on economic development.
• Conflict resolution in environmental disputes.
• Conflict resolution and international cooperation.
• The role of mediation in conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution in the family business.
• The impact of conflict resolution on personal growth.
• Conflict resolution and social justice.
• Conflict resolution and restorative justice.
• The role of negotiation in conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution in political campaigns.
• The impact of conflict resolution on romantic relationships.
• Conflict resolution in the classroom.
• Conflict resolution and conflict prevention.
• The role of compromise in international conflicts.
• Conflict resolution and the media.
• Conflict resolution in the digital age.
• The impact of conflict resolution on community engagement.
• Conflict resolution and public policy.
• Conflict resolution and mental health stigma.
• The role of leadership in conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution in the family court system.
• Conflict resolution and peacebuilding.
• The impact of conflict resolution on employee satisfaction.
• Conflict resolution in the nonprofit sector.
• Conflict resolution and social inequality.
• The role of trust in conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution in the music industry.
• Conflict resolution in urban planning.
• The impact of conflict resolution on interpersonal relationships.
• Conflict resolution in the military.
• Conflict resolution and workplace diversity.
• The role of emotions in conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution and environmental conservation.
• Conflict resolution in international trade disputes.
• Conflict resolution and community policing.
• The impact of conflict resolution on team dynamics.
• Conflict resolution in diplomatic negotiations.
• Conflict resolution and conflict transformation.
• The role of dialogue in conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution and social change.
• Conflict resolution in healthcare teams.
• Conflict resolution and human rights violations.
• The impact of conflict resolution on organizational culture.
• Conflict resolution in online gaming communities.
• Conflict resolution and the justice system.
• The role of compromise in interpersonal conflicts.
• Conflict resolution and urban development.
• Conflict resolution in the tech industry.
• The impact of conflict resolution on workplace communication.
• Conflict resolution and gender equality.
• Conflict resolution in community organizations.
• Conflict resolution and sustainable development.
• The role of active listening in conflict resolution.
• Conflict resolution in international peacekeeping missions.
• Conflict resolution and social entrepreneurship.
• The impact of conflict resolution on employee well-being.
• Conflict resolution in the film industry.
• Conflict resolution and environmental justice.
• The role of negotiation in interpersonal conflicts.
• Conflict resolution in public health emergencies.
• Conflict resolution and poverty reduction.
• Conflict resolution in online dating.
• The impact of conflict resolution on family dynamics.
• Conflict resolution and international human rights law.
• Conflict resolution and workplace ethics.
• The role of compromise in political conflicts.
• Conflict resolution in the fashion industry.
• Conflict resolution and sustainable agriculture.
• Conflict resolution in international aid organizations.
• The impact of conflict resolution on organizational effectiveness.
• Conflict resolution in online marketing campaigns.
• Conflict resolution and racial justice.
• The role of empathy in interpersonal conflicts.
• Conflict resolution in disaster response efforts.
• Conflict resolution and social media activism.
• The impact of conflict resolution on team performance.
• Conflict resolution in international business transactions.
• Conflict resolution and sustainable tourism.
• Conflict resolution in humanitarian interventions.
• The role of compromise in environmental conflicts.
• Conflict resolution and sustainable energy.
• Conflict resolution in international sports competitions.
• The impact of conflict resolution on community empowerment.

These essay topics cover a wide range of areas where conflict resolution plays a significant role. Whether you are interested in personal relationships, international affairs, or social justice, there is a topic that suits your interests. Remember to conduct thorough research and provide examples to support your arguments. Good luck with your essay!

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What is conflict?

Causes of conflict in a relationship, how do you respond to conflict, conflict resolution, stress, and emotions, core skill 1: quick stress relief, core skill 2: emotional awareness, nonverbal communication and conflict resolution, more tips for managing and resolving conflict, conflict resolution skills.

Whatever the cause of disagreements and disputes at home or work, these skills can help you resolve conflict in a constructive way and keep your relationships strong and growing.

Conflict is a normal part of any healthy relationship. After all, two people can’t be expected to agree on everything, all the time. The key is not to fear or try to avoid conflict but to learn how to resolve it in a healthy way.

When conflict is mismanaged, it can cause great harm to a relationship, but when handled in a respectful, positive way, conflict provides an opportunity to strengthen the bond between two people. Whether you’re experiencing conflict at home, work, or school, learning these skills can help you resolve differences in a healthy way and build stronger, more rewarding relationships.

Conflict 101

• A conflict is more than just a disagreement. It is a situation in which one or both parties perceive a threat (whether or not the threat is real).
• Conflicts continue to fester when ignored. Because conflicts involve perceived threats to our well-being and survival, they stay with us until we face and resolve them.
• We respond to conflicts based on our perceptions of the situation, not necessarily to an objective review of the facts. Our perceptions are influenced by our life experiences, culture, values, and beliefs.
• Conflicts trigger strong emotions. If you aren’t comfortable with your emotions or able to manage them in times of stress, you won’t be able to resolve conflict successfully.
• Conflicts are an opportunity for growth. When you’re able to resolve conflict in a relationship, it builds trust. You can feel secure knowing your relationship can survive challenges and disagreements.

Conflict arises from differences, both large and small. It occurs whenever people disagree over their values, motivations, perceptions, ideas, or desires. Sometimes these differences appear trivial, but when a conflict triggers strong feelings, a deep personal need is often at the core of the problem. These needs can range from the need to feel safe and secure or respected and valued, to the need for greater closeness and intimacy.

Think about the opposing needs of a toddler and a parent. The child’s need is to explore, so venturing to the street or the cliff edge meets that need. But the parent’s need is to protect the child’s safety, a need that can only be met by limiting the toddler’s exploration. Since these needs are at odds, conflict arises.

The needs of each party play an important role in the long-term success of a relationship. Each deserves respect and consideration. In personal relationships, a lack of understanding about differing needs can result in distance, arguments, and break-ups. In the workplace, differing needs can result in broken deals, decreased profits, and lost jobs.

[Read: Tips for Building a Healthy Relationship]

When you can recognize conflicting needs and are willing to examine them with compassion and understanding, it can lead to creative problem solving, team building, and stronger relationships.

Speak to a Licensed Therapist

BetterHelp is an online therapy service that matches you to licensed, accredited therapists who can help with depression, anxiety, relationships, and more. Take the assessment and get matched with a therapist in as little as 48 hours.

Do you fear conflict or avoid it at all costs? If your perception of conflict comes from painful memories from early childhood or previous unhealthy relationships, you may expect all disagreements to end badly. You may view conflict as demoralizing, humiliating, or something to fear. If your early life experiences left you feeling powerless or out of control, conflict may even be traumatizing for you.

If you’re afraid of conflict, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you enter a conflict situation already feeling threatened, it’s tough to deal with the problem at hand in a healthy way. Instead, you’re more likely to either shut down or blow up in anger.

Healthy and unhealthy ways of managing and resolving conflict

Conflict triggers strong emotions and can lead to hurt feelings, disappointment, and discomfort. When handled in an unhealthy manner, it can cause irreparable rifts, resentments, and break-ups. But when conflict is resolved in a healthy way, it increases your understanding of the other person, builds trust, and strengthens your relationships.

If you are out of touch with your feelings or so stressed that you can only pay attention to a limited number of emotions, you won’t be able to understand your own needs. This will make it hard to communicate with others and establish what’s really troubling you. For example, couples often argue about petty differences—the way she hangs the towels, the way he slurps his soup—rather than what is  really bothering them.

The ability to successfully resolve conflict depends on your ability to:

• Manage stress quickly while remaining alert and calm. By staying calm, you can accurately read and interpret verbal and nonverbal communication.
• Control your emotions and behavior. When you’re in control of your emotions, you can communicate your needs without threatening, intimidating, or punishing others.
• Pay attention to the  feelings being expressed as well as the spoken words of others.
• Be aware of and respect differences. By avoiding disrespectful words and actions, you can almost always resolve a problem faster.

To successfully resolve a conflict, you need to learn and practice two core skills:

• Quick stress relief: the ability to quickly relieve stress in the moment.
• Emotional awareness: the ability to remain comfortable enough with your emotions to react in constructive ways, even in the midst of a perceived attack.

Being able to manage and relieve stress in the moment is the key to staying balanced, focused, and in control, no matter what challenges you face. If you don’t know how to stay centered and in control of yourself, you will become overwhelmed in conflict situations and unable to respond in healthy ways.

Psychologist Connie Lillas uses a driving analogy to describe the three most common ways people respond when they’re overwhelmed by stress:

Foot on the gas. An angry or agitated stress response. You’re heated, keyed up, overly emotional, and unable to sit still.

Foot on the brake. A withdrawn or depressed stress response. You shut down, space out, and show very little energy or emotion.

Foot on both gas and brake. A tense and frozen stress response. You “freeze” under pressure and can’t do anything. You look paralyzed, but under the surface you’re extremely agitated.

How stress affects conflict resolution

Stress interferes with the ability to resolve conflict by limiting your ability to:

• Accurately read another person’s body language .
• Hear what someone is really saying.
• Be aware of your own feelings.
• Be in touch with your own, deep-rooted needs.
• Communicate your needs clearly.

Is stress a problem for you?

You may be so used to feeling stressed that you’re not even aware you  are stressed. Stress may pose a problem in your life if you identify with the following:

• You often feel tense or tight somewhere in your body.
• You’re not aware of movement in your chest or stomach when you breathe.
• Conflict absorbs your time and attention.

Learn how to manage stress in the moment

One of the most reliable ways to rapidly reduce stress is by engaging one or more of your senses—sight, sound, taste, smell, touch—or through movement. You could squeeze a stress ball, smell a relaxing scent, taste a soothing cup of tea, or look at a treasured photograph. We all tend to respond differently to sensory input, often depending on how we respond to stress, so take some time to find things that are soothing to you. Read: Quick Stress Relief .

Emotional awareness is the key to understanding yourself and others. If you don’t know how or why you feel a certain way, you won’t be able to communicate effectively or resolve disagreements.

[Read: Improving Emotional Intelligence]

Although knowing your own feelings may sound simple, many people ignore or try to sedate strong emotions like anger, sadness, and fear. Your ability to handle conflict, however, depends on being connected to these feelings. If you’re afraid of strong emotions or if you insist on finding solutions that are strictly rational, your ability to face and resolve differences will be limited.

Why emotional awareness is a key factor in resolving conflict

Emotional awareness—the consciousness of your  moment-to-moment emotional experience—and the ability to manage all of your feelings appropriately, is the basis of a communication process that can resolve conflict.

Emotional awareness helps you to:

• Understand what is really troubling other people
• Understand yourself, including what is really troubling you
• Stay motivated until the conflict is resolved
• Communicate clearly and effectively
• Interest and influence others

Assessing your level of emotional awareness

The following quiz helps you assess your level of emotional awareness. Answer the following questions with:  almost never, occasionally, often, very often, or  almost always . There are no right or wrong responses, only the opportunity to become better acquainted with your emotional responses.

What kind of relationship do you have with your emotions?

• Do you experience feelings that flow, encountering one emotion after another as your experiences change from moment to moment?
• Are your emotions accompanied by physical sensations that you experience in places like your stomach or chest?
• Do you experience distinct feelings and emotions, such as anger, sadness, fear, and joy, which are evident in different facial expressions?
• Can you experience intense feelings that are strong enough to capture both your own attention and that of others?
• Do you pay attention to your emotions? Do they factor into your decision-making?

If any of these experiences are unfamiliar, your emotions may be “turned” down or even off. In either case, you may need help developing your emotional awareness. You can do this by using Helpguide’s free Emotional Intelligence Toolkit.

When people are in the middle of a conflict, the words they use rarely convey the issues at the heart of the problem. But by paying close attention to the other person’s nonverbal signals or “body language,” such as facial expressions, posture, gestures, and tone of voice, you can better understand what the person is really saying. This will allow you to respond in a way that builds trust, and gets to the root of the problem.

[Read: Nonverbal Communication and Body Language]

Your ability to accurately read another person depends on your own emotional awareness. The more aware you are of your own emotions, the easier it will be for you to pick up on the wordless clues that reveal what others are feeling. Think about what you are transmitting to others during conflict, and if what you say matches your body language. If you say “I’m fine,” but you clench your teeth and look away, then your body is clearly signaling you are anything but “fine.” A calm tone of voice, a reassuring touch, or an interested facial expression can go a long way toward relaxing a tense exchange.

You can ensure that the process of managing and resolving conflict is as positive as possible by sticking to the following guidelines:

Listen for what is felt as well as said. When you really listen, you connect more deeply to your own needs and emotions, and to those of other people. Listening also strengthens, informs, and makes it easier for others to hear you when it’s your turn to speak.

Make conflict resolution the priority rather than winning or “being right.” Maintaining and strengthening the relationship, rather than “winning” the argument, should always be your first priority. Be respectful of the other person and their viewpoint.

Focus on the present. If you’re holding on to grudges based on past conflicts, your ability to see the reality of the current situation will be impaired. Rather than looking to the past and assigning blame, focus on what you can do in the here-and-now to solve the problem.

Pick your battles. Conflicts can be draining, so it’s important to consider whether the issue is really worth your time and energy. Maybe you don’t want to surrender a parking space if you’ve been circling for 15 minutes, but if there are dozens of empty spots, arguing over a single space isn’t worth it.

Be willing to forgive. Resolving conflict is impossible if you’re unwilling or unable to forgive others. Resolution lies in releasing the urge to punish, which can serve only to deplete and drain your life.

Know when to let something go. If you can’t come to an agreement, agree to disagree. It takes two people to keep an argument going. If a conflict is going nowhere, you can choose to disengage and move on.

Using humor in conflict resolution

You can avoid many confrontations and resolve arguments and disagreements by communicating in a humorous way . Humor can help you say things that might otherwise be difficult to express without offending someone. However, it’s important that you laugh with the other person, not at them. When humor and play are used to reduce tension and anger, reframe problems, and put the situation into perspective, the conflict can actually become an opportunity for greater connection and intimacy.

More Information

• CR Kit - Covers causes of conflict, different conflict styles, and fair fighting guidelines to help you positively resolve disagreements. (Conflict Resolution Network)
• 12 Skills Summary - A 12-step conflict resolution training kit. (Conflict Resolution Network)
• Effective Communication - The art of listening in conflict resolution. (University of Maryland)
• 10.3 Causes and Outcomes of Conflict – Organizational Behavior . (n.d.). Retrieved May 25, 2022, from Link
• Başoğul, C., & Özgür, G. (2016). Role of Emotional Intelligence in Conflict Management Strategies of Nurses. Asian Nursing Research , 10(3), 228–233. Link
• Corcoran, Kathleen O’Connell, and Brent Mallinckrodt. “Adult Attachment, Self-Efficacy, Perspective Taking, and Conflict Resolution.” Journal of Counseling & Development 78, no. 4 (2000): 473–83. Link
• Yarnell, Lisa M., and Kristin D. Neff. “Self-Compassion, Interpersonal Conflict Resolutions, and Well-Being.” Self and Identity 12, no. 2 (March 1, 2013): 146–59. Link
• Tucker, Corinna Jenkins, Susan M. Mchale, and Ann C. Crouter. “Conflict Resolution: Links with Adolescents’ Family Relationships and Individual Well-Being.” Journal of Family Issues 24, no. 6 (September 1, 2003): 715–36. Link

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131 Conflict Resolution Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on conflict resolution, ✍️ conflict resolution essay topics for college, 👍 good conflict resolution research topics & essay examples, 🌶️ hot conflict resolution ideas to write about, 💡 simple conflict resolution essay ideas, ❓ essay questions on conflict resolution.

• Conflict Resolution Techniques
• Conflict Resolution at Walmart
• Parent-Child Conflict Resolution: Communication Problem
• Compromise and Collaboration in Conflict Resolution
• Team Building and Conflict Resolution at Workplace
• Negotiations and Conflict Resolution
• Concept of Saving Face in Conflict Resolution
• Conflict Resolution Techniques In terms of the topic, the notions of conflict types, conflict resolution strategies, and conflict resolution skills will be taken into consideration.
• Conflict Resolution at Walmart The paper concerns conflict resolution at Walmart. It analyzes the challenges that Walmart needs to overcome and the application of management theories.
• Parent-Child Conflict Resolution: Communication Problem The psychological view upon the problem of the parent-child conflict covers many aspects explaining the nature of generations’ contradictions.
• Compromise and Collaboration in Conflict Resolution The choice of conflict resolution approach depends on the situation. Compromise and collaboration are the most popular approaches with their own benefits and disadvantages.
• Team Building and Conflict Resolution at Workplace Teamwork is recognized more as a collaborative effort by the members for the mutual benefits of corporation and organization employee relations resulted as cooperation among the team members.
• Negotiations and Conflict Resolution The paper discusses the statement: Negotiators who frame a conflict as ‘winner takes all’ will have a harder time than those who believe it is possible for everyone to win.
• Concept of Saving Face in Conflict Resolution Human beings are flesh and blood with emotion and words can scar one for life. Before one opens their mouth to confront another party they should think about their words.
• Conflict Stages and Its Resolution in Healthcare The purpose of this paper is to describe the case related to the development of a conflict in a healthcare setting, identify its type and discuss four stages of a conflict.
• Conflict Resolution in Nursing Sufficient conflict resolution is an essential component of any organization’s successful performance because conflicts occur in any sphere where human interaction is involved.
• Nurse Manager’s Role in Conflict Resolution The causes of conflicts can range from simple misunderstandings and communication failures to more profound clashes of values, personalities, or objectives.
• Conflict Resolution in a Healthcare Setting The senior management of a healthcare setting must find a way to resolve a conflict in order not to undermine employees’ productivity and the quality of the provided care.
• Conflict Resolution Case: Details and Stages There are many options for resolving various conflict situations. To use them, it is necessary to think soberly and sometimes even predict possible conflicts.
• Conflict Resolution Between Nurse and Patient This paper discusses the case of intense disagreement between a nurse and a patient regarding the use of antibiotics as a treatment method for a viral infection.
• Role Play on Conflict Resolution Conflict resolution within an organization is one of the most critical leadership skills that foster cohesion, enhances work relationships, and improve the overall outlook of products.
• Advanced Practice Registered Nurse’s Role Conflict Resolution The APRN role conflict is pervasive within interdisciplinary teams. The most appropriate approach in resolving the APRN role conflict is the collaborative style.
• Team-Building Activities and Conflict Resolution Team building is an important instrument that assists organizations in building teams that are able to accomplish objectives and tasks which are defined by organizations.
• “Disgrace” by John Maxwell Coetzee: Conflict Resolution This is a literary analysis of Disgrace by Coetzee that demonstrates conflict resolution styles of David and Lucy Lurie differ due to their social environments and sexual genres.
• Effective Conflict Resolution Strategies & Theories There are five behavior strategies in a conflict, such as withdrawal, coercion, compromise, concession, and cooperation.
• Conflicts and Resolution at Engineering Companies The purpose of the current exploration is to discuss the cases of internal and external conflicts in a project team, with a special focus on the engineering context.
• Nurse-Physician Conflict and Resolution Nurses communicate with a variety of health professionals. When it comes to nursing, conflicts in the workplace can have serious effects on patient health.
• Healthcare Conflict Resolution Case This paper dwells on the details of the conflict in a Healthcare Setting between Kimberly and Jade and describes the stages of the conflict.
• Conflicts: Main Reasons and Resolution Conflict resolution is a complex issue that implies numerous points of view on the same problem and the ability to find the main reason for confrontation.
• Conflict Management in Nursing Practice This paper explores the nature of conflict in the context of patient care, its four stages, and suggests the best strategy for resolving the conflict.
• Conflict Resolution: A Constructive Approach The lack of strategic vision and poor group management in an organization can result in low commitment and conflict situations, lack of understanding, and satisfaction.
• Gender and Cultures in Conflict Resolution The conflict resolution measures should not solely end conflicts, but should also help to restore the fighting communities together.
• Evidence-Based Conflict Resolution Strategies in Healthcare This paper aims to discuss an evidence-based example of a conflict situation in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the best conflict resolution strategies.
• Conflict Resolution and Action Plan in Hospital In this assignment, a recurring conflict in a hospital setting in Miami will be discussed for the purpose of developing an effective action plan for subsequent conflict resolution.
• Conflict Resolution Strategies and Organizational Behavior The phenomenon of organizational conflict and its impact on the performance of organizations has generated increasing attention from organizational scholars.
• Conflict Self-Assessment and Resolution In this article, the author considers various conflict situations, ways to resolve them and methods of conflict Self-Assessment.
• Conflict Resolution at the Workplace Mutual conversation among employees is one of the critical factors which result in good relationships among the workers.
• Correlation Between Negotiation and Conflict Resolution The paper describes the goals of dialogue communication during the negotiation process, types of negotiations, stages, and factors for successful negotiations.
• Communication and Conflict Resolution Ways A destructive conflict is that which is fanned by various destructive attitudinal elements, creating an escalation in disagreement and offering no platforms to solving the issue.
• Conflict Resolution: Compromise and Collaboration Conflicts are usually caused by the incompatibility of principles, aims, interests, or experiences. The success of conflict resolution depends on the selected strategy.
• Theories of Conflict Resolution There are two types of theories that are useful in analyzing relationship conflict in human services: needs theory and attribution theory.
• The Conflict Resolution Process Conflicts exist everywhere in day-to-day activities and are inevitable. Whether in families, social relationships, or workplaces, they are bound to arise at any time.
• Conflict in Nursing: Conflict Resolution in a Healthcare Setting This paper aims to evaluate a recurring conflict taking place among the nurses of a hospital setting in Miami, which had an adverse influence on the practice of nurses.
• Effective Communication and Conflict Resolution in Nursing The paper presents an overview of a conflict situation that I observed at nursing work, along with due attention to stages of conflict and strategies for conflict resolution.
• Conflict Resolution in Business The function of a conflict is drawing attention to the problems that exist within a group of people and catalyze its resolving.
• Applying Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Knowledge Any negotiation situation has two or more sides involved. Needs and desires of the parties may not match at all or the sides may pursue absolutely opposite final goals.
• Conflict Resolution for Hospital Leadership The healthcare setting can be a high-stress environment hence the need for conflict management techniques which should equip workforce with accurate skills.
• Emotional Intelligence in Conflict Resolution Emotional intelligence is a vital skill that can be applied in a variety of situations. This paper discusses how leadership can be exercised to promote emotional intelligence.
• Conflict Resolution: Video Analysis The video on conflict resolution skills shows an individual who is instigating a conflict by complaining about a range of things.
• FlipHarp Company’s Conflict Resolution The conflict at FlipHarp Company involved team members who had different working styles. Some employees wanted external direction, while others needed no support from their leader.
• Communication Issues and Conflict Resolution Communication has assisted in the growth of trust and the generation of solutions with your stakeholders and corrective action.
• Conflict Resolution. A Values-Based Negotiation Model The basic types of conflict are goal disagreement, which is characterized by incompatible outcomes, and cognitive differences.
• Conflict Resolution: Conflict Prevention Methods This essay aims to analyze the two different conflict situations and apply the proposed resolution process to them.
• Difficult Interactions and Conflict Resolution Conflict is defined as a confrontation or disagreement between people because of differences in attitudes, interests, perceptions, or needs.
• Workplace Conflict Resolution by a Human Resource Manager Training employees to use mediation techniques in conflict resolution can enable them to resolve disputes effectively.
• Conflict Resolution Strategies Training Program Conflicts happen between people who have different points of view and different approaches to the same situation.
• The Understanding of the Conflict Nature and Resolution in the Nursing Area This course prepares to conflict identification and resolution based on effective communication strategies and understanding critical issues pertinent to the nursing sphere.
• Miami Hospital’s Nursing Conflict Resolution This essay will describe a recent conflict in one of the Miami hospitals and discuss potential strategies for dealing with work-related quarrels in health organizations.
• Conflict Resolution in a Care Delivery Setting Some hospitals have good leaders and managers who are able to identify problems and predict negative outcomes.
• The Conflict Resolution and Moral Distress in Nursing It could hardly be doubted that conflicts in the workplace have a considerably negative impact on the overall efficiency of any given organization.
• Conflict Resolution: The Nursing Context In the healthcare setting, conflict resolution is necessary to consider as confrontational situations occur on a regular basis.
• Professional Conflict Resolution Skills in Nurses There are a lot of ways to resolve the conflicts that occur between the co-workers and mitigate their negative impact on the working performance of the group.
• Document Conflict: Alternative Dispute Resolution The source of the dispute is an insufficiently precise document, which was incorrectly interpreted by one of the parties that signed the corresponding agreement.
• European Union Mediation Directive for Conflict Resolution The study will attempt to explicitly review the implementation of European Union mediation as a means for conflict resolution and its effectiveness across the borders of Europe.
• Workplace Conflict Resolution and Team Building This paper provides several recommendations for resolving a number of conflict situations in the workplace and creating an effective team.
• Conflict Resolution for Nurses and Other Providers Arguments between nurses and other healthcare providers may be inevitable but can be solved by the methods of conflict resolution.
• Effective Conflict-Resolution Strategies in Healthcare Effective conflict-resolution strategies can provide the involved parties with an opportunity to improve the observed situation and make issues escalate.
• Conflict Resolution Skills in Nursing The conflict scenario involves the lead nurse and the hospital administrator on prioritizing expenditure in fall management equipment and training of nurses.
• Conflict Resolution in Healthcare Workplace Health administrators should use adequate measures to address every challenge. This discussion describes a conflict that has occurred in healthcare working environment.
• Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner in Conflict Resolution The present paper is devoted to a case study of the Psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) involvement in conflict resolution.
• Nursing Leadership and Conflict Resolution The paper unveils the working mechanism of the qualities of a leader, and the ability of the leader uses an array of strategies to mitigate conflicts at the working place.
• Conflict Resolution in Healthcare Establishments Helthcare conflicts occurrence can be prevented or even turned into an advantage by applying proper leadership skills and techniques after the conflict is properly identified.
• Conflict Resolution Decision in Healthcare Institutions Disputes may arise because of unfair or unsatisfactory working conditions or because of poor performance of some employees.
• Conflict Resolution by the African Union The article “After 50 years of the OAU-AU: Time to Strengthen the Conflict Intervention Framework” provides insightful information on the mechanisms provided by the African Union to address conflict.
• Conflict Resolution in Professional Nurse Activity The complaint from the patient was the following. The nurse, who was responsible for his recovery, did not perform her professional duties well enough.
• Employee Conflicts Resolution and Ethical Dilemmas Any workplace is an environment in which many people have to interact with each other; as a result, there is a possibility of conflicts between employees.
• Conflict in Nurse Work and Its Resolution Conflict is an inevitable part of nurse-patient relationships. This paper analyzes the conflict issue and determines the main aspects of its resolution.
• Hospital Setting Miami: Conflict Resolution Conflict is commonplace in many lines of work, especially those that deal with high levels of stress and responsibility. The situation occurred in the nurses’ lounge area.
• Conflict Resolution in Hospital Setting Miami The particular conflict that needs to be described in the given paper involves two participants – nurse leader and one of the new employees working in the hospital.
• Conflict Resolution in Libraries of St. Lucie County The paper identifies the lack of social skills among the staff members and the unwillingness to resolve conflicts as a problem in the libraries of St. Lucie County.
• Conflict Resolution for Nurses in Acute Care Unit The conflict that will be discussed in this paper happened between several nurses working in the acute care unit and produced negative effects on several patients.
• Conflict Resolution in the Miami Hospital The paper describes in detail the particularities of the conflict between the nurse and nurse manager and outlines the stages of their conflict.
• Nursing Conflict Resolution Strategies The growing diversification of nurse responsibilities can lead to the emergence of conflicts, some of which cannot be resolved with immediate intervention.
• Conflict Resolution Strategies in Nursing Settings The targeted conflict occurred in the institution’s pediatric ward. The issue emerged when one of the female nurses in the ward indicated that the nurse manager (NM) was unfair.
• Renegotiation and Conflict Resolution in Relational Contracting
• Conflict Resolution and Resolving Workplace Conflicts
• Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Skills
• Conflict Resolution for Successful Work Teams
• Social Networking and Interpersonal Communication and Conflict Resolution Skills Among College Freshmen
• Brainstorming, Conflict Resolution, and Team Dynamics
• Conflict Resolution and Crime Surveillance in Kenya: Local Peace Committees and Nyumba Kumi
• Project Management Conflict Resolution
• Team Dynamics and Conflict Resolution Strategies Assignment
• Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation: An Irish Perspective
• Interpersonal Communication and Conflict Resolution
• Conflict Resolution, Mediation, and Negotiation
• Toddlers, Preschool Children and Conflict Resolution
• The Need for Academic Integrated Conflict Resolution in Education
• The Conflict Resolution on the Land Use Conflict
• Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Reconstruction in the International
• Stress Management and Conflict Resolution
• Decision-Making and Conflict Resolution
• Models for Conflict Resolution in Ecosystem Management
• Problem-Solving and Conflict Resolution for Children
• Parent-Teacher Conflict Resolution Interview
• Conflict Resolution and Civil Society: Experiences of Nepal in Post-Maoist Revolution
• What Are the Direct and Indirect Messages That Society Teaches Children About Conflict Resolution?
• How Can Constructive Tension and Negotiation Be Used in Conflict Resolution?
• Which Strategies for Conflict Resolution Would You Employ in Cases of Violent Ethnic Conflict?
• How Does Culture Influence Conflict Resolution?
• What Are the Conflict Resolution Strategies?
• Why Is Conflict Resolution Important?
• How Can Game Theory Be Viewed as a Conflict Resolution?
• What Is the Most Effective Way of Conflict Resolution?
• How Should Managers Handle Conflict Resolution and De-escalation in the Workplace?
• What Are the Steps in Conflict Resolution?
• How May Conflict Resolution and Conflict Management Approaches Be Applied in Educational Settings?
• What Is the Importance of Conflict Resolution?
• How Can Conflict Resolution Be Improved?
• What Type of Skill Is Conflict Resolution?
• How Can Enhancing Awareness Serve as a Means to Conflict Resolution?
• What Tools Can We Use in Conflict Resolution?
• Is There the Ethical Approach for Conflict Resolution and Mediation?
• What is Conflict Resolution and How Does It Work?
• Does the Childhood Maltreatment Modulate the Impact of Negative Emotional Stimuli on Conflict Resolution?
• What Are the Most Effective Workplace Conflict Resolution Strategies?
• Is Bringing Involved Parties Together to Talk the Most Effective Way of Conflict Resolution?
• Which Are the Best Techniques for Conflict Resolution?
• How to Improve Conflict Resolution Skills?
• What Are the Main Steps in Conflict Resolution According to Dr. Robert Bolton?
• What Are the Conflict Resolution Systems in Ireland and Sweden?

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These essay examples and topics on Conflict Resolution were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on December 27, 2023 .

What Makes Conflict? How Are Conflicts Resolved?

Couples do best when both partners have strong conflict resolution skills..

Posted November 14, 2012 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

Why Conflict Is Healthy for Relationships By Elizabeth Dorrance Hall Ph.D.

Conflict is a term that refers to situations in which two or more sides appear to be pulling or pushing in opposing directions.. If the participants stay calm and friendly, we might refer to their way of dealing with the conflict as shared problem-solving . If tensions emerge or anger escalates, the terms arguments or fights may be a better fit.

In these sensitive situations, do you sometimes find yourself insisting on what you want? Do you hold back from verbalizing your perspective on some issues for fear that the conflict will erupt into a fight?

This article explains how to address differences, ie, to deal with conflict, in a way that yields satisfaction for everyone involved. This same collaborative conflict resolution strategy can be used at home, at work, with friends, in business, in politics —in any venue where both parties would prefer to convert their conflicts into effective win-win problem-solving.

Where do conflicts emerge?

As I explain in my book From Conflict to Resolution , conflicts can emerge in any of three realms:

(1) within oneself (which therapists refer to as intrapsychic conflict),

(2) between oneself and one or more others, and

(3) between oneself and a circumstance (e.g., illness, financial difficulties).

Often a conflict has aspects in two or even all three of these realms. For instance, If "Joe" feels conflicted about whether to leave his job, he is likely to experience conflicts within himself—his current salary is great and at the same time, the hours are too long. If a loved one wants Joe to stay and he wants to leave his current job, the conflict has become interpersonal. And if Joe develops an illness, what he wants and the realities of what he needs to do to heal his health problem may conflict.

What causes conflicts to yield fights?

Collaborative dialogue skills are essential to the resolution process. Without the necessary skills, adversarial stances, tension, and anger can make a win-win outcome unlikely.

Bickering, arguing, or getting insistent indicate someone who is unskilled at handling conflicts in a collaborative way. So does going silent about your perspective. Talking in an irritated tone of voice, becoming insistent on your way, ignoring what the other person says, blaming, attacking, and using anger to bully others into doing what you want or, heaven forbid, going to war, all indicate collaborative dialogue skill deficits.

Conflict resolution also takes knowledge of the three-step resolution process. Without clarity about these three steps, participants are likely to end up in a tug-of-war for whose way will win and who will lose. This kind of adversarial process gets settled by who has more power, unlike the win-win plan of action that is the goal of collaborative conflict resolution.

How can you tell when there is a conflict afoot?

Emotional discomfort—that is, negative emotions—alert you to the reality that a situation of conflict is occurring.

Any time two or more people need to pick a shared course of action, they are at risk for experiencing conflict. Decisions, therefore, are one danger point .

Similarly, seeing a situation differently and/or wanting different outcomes can also provoke conflict.

Fortunately, there are ways to disagree that prevent conflicts from emerging in these situations. (I write about these in my post " How To Disagree Agreeably. "

The 3 Steps of Collaborative Conflict Resolution

To settle a disagreement without getting mad, sad, or anxious , take the following three steps:

• Recognize that there is a problem that needs to be solved by noting differing ideas of what to do.
• Explore the underlying concerns.
• Create a mutually agreeable solution.

For this 3-step process to proceed effectively, participants need to feel as if they are sitting on the same side of the table facing the problem rather than as opponents sitting across from each other. Sustaining a friendly and cooperative attitude is essential.

What would these steps of conflict resolution look like for addressing a real problem?

Jim and Barbara were a couple in my therapy practice who disagreed about what to do on their summer vacation. Their usual disagreement strategy had been to argue over my, way, no my way until one gave up, gave in, and was left feeling depressed and resentful. Collaborative conflict resolution was new for them.

STEP 1: Note Differing Ideas of What to Do

Recognize that there is a problem that needs to be solved. Usually, that recognition comes when two or more people are each advocating for different action plans.

To begin a process of conflict resolution, Jim and Barbara had to recognize that they had hit a conflict. The conflict had arisen because they need to make a decision together. Becoming irritated, Jim was tempted to continue in bickering mode. Jim responded positively though when I suggested that the rising tension indicated an opportunity to use their new three steps of conflict resolution.

Jim: Let’s take a trip to Peking this summer. I want to travel and explore.

Barbara: (Feeling alarmed) That's what I was afraid you would say. Not me. Travel sounds totally unappealing to me. I'd prefer to just stay home.

Jim : So where do we go from here? If I want to travel and you want to stay home, we're stuck already.

Thus the first step in moving forward toward resolving a conflict consists of both sides saying what is initially on their minds with regard to what they want to do. Both sides speak and both listen to the other, even though what they want seems to be in conflict.

Danger: Participants who at this point head straight for the third step, finding solutions, will find themselves locked in a tug-of-war, a power struggle over whose way will prevail. Far better to note the conflicting ideas and therefore proceed immediately to step two.

STEP 2: Explore the Underlying Concerns.

This second step requires a shift from talking about actions—the solution that each participant has proposed—to exploring the underlying concerns . Concerns are the factors that have motivated each person's initial suggestions. Concerns are desires, fears, and other factors that matter to you in a given situation.

All the concerns, that is, the concerns of both or all the participants, go on one list. Any concern of one party that way becomes a shared concern.

Jim: I was thinking of an exploring vacation because I want to be physically active during our time off. At my job, I sit at my desk all day. On my vacation, I'd like to move around, to walk long distances, to meet new people. Besides, seeing new places and meeting new people feels invigorating, fun.

Barbara: That makes sense to me, that you want physical activity. And I agree that new is often fun. As for me, I want to stay home because I've been working such long hours. I want to rest. I want to relax, slow down, and recuperate. I also would love time to read, since I have so little time to read most of the year.

STEP 3: Create a Mutually Agreeable Solution

Finding solutions can be launched by summarizing aloud all the items on the concerns list.

Each participant then offers a modification of their original suggested solution, or new ideas altogether, so that the plan of action is responsive to their concerns and also to the partner's concerns.

The resolution brings a sense of calm, closure, and mutual satisfaction when a plan of action includes elements responsive to each and all of the underlying concerns of both parties.

Jim: So I want to be able to move around a lot, walk, see new sights, and meet new people. You want to be able to sit still, read, and relax. How about if we go to a beach resort? You can sit and relax on the beach; I can do beach sports like surfing or volleyball and take long suns along the shoreline. You can relax alone in the sun. I can meet the people participating in sports with me. We can go to a place that is new for us, and with a lot of activity options which I would like. That way we could stay in one place which you would prefer. and where you can do activities that are restful for you.

Barbara: Sounds perfect! Sometimes I'd be glad too to go for long walks with you. And I would be okay with flying to a new place if once we arrive I can mostly just sit on the beach. That actually sounds even better than staying home.

Note that even though this couple's eventual solution was different from the initial suggestions of either of them, because the plan of action was responsive to the concerns of both people, it felt good—better even for both of them than either of their first ideas. That is, the solution was “win-win”—not because one or both of them "got their way," but because the solution was responsive to the underlying concerns of both of them.

Conclusions

While the dilemma above was a relatively simple conflict to resolve, the same three steps apply to any conflict, simple or complex. Note too that the three steps described above apply to solving conflicts that have occurred within any of the three potential conflict realms: within one person’s wishes, fears, or values; between people; or between people and difficult circumstances.

Staying on pathways of collaborative communication keeps the conflict resolution process moving forward. Communication errors like blame, criticism or dismissive listening can throw the process off track. Similarly, slippage into a tone of voice that conveys a negative attitude—for example, contempt, irritation, sarcasm, or anger—also risks triggering a stance of adversarial conflict.

Collaborative dialogue plus cooperative conflict resolution skills make people more effective and productive at work and enable them to live more harmoniously as families, They create a peaceful and harmonious way of living in the world. Sound worth a try?

To learn more about how to handle conflict in ways that enhance your relationships, check out Dr. Heitler's books and website .

Susan Heitler, Ph.D ., is the author of many books, including From Conflict to Resolution and The Power of Two . She is a graduate of Harvard University and New York University.

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At any moment, someone’s aggravating behavior or our own bad luck can set us off on an emotional spiral that threatens to derail our entire day. Here’s how we can face our triggers with less reactivity so that we can get on with our lives.

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How to Write an Essay on Conflict

How to Write a Motif Paper

In both real life and in fiction, conflict describes an enduring struggle between two opposing forces. Whether you're watching a cartoon or reading a serious literary tome, conflict is a key component of plot. Writing an essay on conflict requires a focus, clarity, and an understanding of the different types of conflict presented in a story.

Identify the Type of Conflict

While most people think of conflict as a fight between two characters, it can be categorized as internal or external or both. Conflict can present itself in four primary ways: externally, as man versus man, man versus society, or man versus nature and internally, as man versus self, as exemplified by the tragic struggle of Shakespeare’s Hamlet trying to avenge his father’s murder.

Find Supporting Evidence

Whether you’re analyzing a piece of literature or a clash between two nations, you’ll first need to identity the two opposing forces that comprise your central argument, and then find evidence to support your claim. For example, if your central conflict is man versus nature – think Sebastian Junger’s “The Perfect Storm” – you’ll want to find specific examples of where the sea rises up against the sailors. As with any analytical essay, analyzing conflicts requires you to look for specific quotes, phrases or parts of dialogue that reinforce your position.

Draft Your Thesis

Once you've figured out your protagonist and antagonist and the type of conflict to address in your essay, narrow your focus and write a concise thesis statement that states the central conflict you plan to address. For example, If you’re analyzing “man versus society” in your essay, such as when Atticus Finch fights against a racist society in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” you could state, "In 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' Harper Lee uses Atticus Finch’s defense of Tom Robinson to both illustrate and combat the rampant racism that has infected his Southern town." Your thesis statement will provide you with a road map for the rest of your paper and will help you decide upon the main points of your paper. Your thesis should be the very last sentence in your introduction.

Start Writing

Once you’ve found your examples and written your thesis, write your first draft. Remember to start your essay with a “hook” – a question, a quote, or a statistic, for example that will introduce the conflict you’ll be analyzing. Start each body paragraph with a topic sentence that states a main point, and then support that point with three or four of your examples from your initial research. Repeat this process for each remaining body paragraph. Within the body of the paper, address whether the conflict was resolved, and how. In your conclusion, summarize your main points and restate -- but don’t repeat verbatim -- your thesis.

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Jennifer Brozak earned her state teaching certificate in Secondary English and Communications from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., and her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Pittsburgh. A former high school English teacher, Jennifer enjoys writing articles about parenting and education and has contributed to Reader's Digest, Mamapedia, Shmoop and more.

Essays About Conflict in Life: Top 5 Examples and Prompts

Conflict is a broad and gripping topic, but most struggle to write about it. See our top essays about conflict in life examples and prompts to start your piece.

Conflict occurs when two people with different opinions, feelings, and behaviours disagree. It’s a common occurrence that we can observe wherever and whenever we are. Although conflicts usually imply negative aspects, they also have benefits such as stronger relationships and better communication.

To aid you in your paper, here are five examples to familiarize you with the subject: 

1. Useful Notes On 4 Major Types Of Conflicts (Motivational Conflict) By Raghavendra Pras

2. encountering conflict by julius gregory, 3. complete guide to understanding conflict and conflict resolution by prasanna, 4. analysis of personal conflict experience by anonymous on gradesfixer, 5. personal conflict resolving skills essay by anonymous on ivypanda, 1. conflict: what is and how to avoid it, 2. conflicts in our everyday lives, 3. review on movies or books about conflicts, 4. actions and conflicts , 5. conflicts at home, 6. conflicts that changed my life, 7. my personal experience in covert conflict, 8. cascading conflicts, 9. how does conflict in life benefit you, 10. the importance of conflict management.

“Conflict… results when two or more motives drive behaviour towards incompatible goals.”

Pras regards conflict as a source of frustration with four types. Experimental psychologists identified them as approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, approach-avoidance, and multiple approach-avoidance. He discusses each through his essay and uses theoretical analysis with real-life examples to make it easier for the readers to understand.

“The nature of conflict shows that conflict can either push people away or bring them into having a closer, more comfortable relationship.”

The main points of Gregory’s essay are the typical causes and effects of conflicts. He talks about how people should not avoid conflicts in their life and instead solve them to learn and grow. However, he’s also aware that no matter if a dispute is big or small, it can lead to severe consequences when it’s wrongly dealt with. He also cites real-life events to prove his points. At the end of the essay, he acknowledges that one can’t wholly avoid conflict because it’s part of human nature.

“…it is important to remember that regardless of the situation, it is always possible to resolve a conflict in some constructive or meaningful way.”

To help the reader understand conflict and resolutions, Prasanna includes the types, causes, difficulties, and people’s reactions to it. She shows how broad conflict is by detailing each section. From simple misunderstandings to bad faith, the conflict has varying results that ultimately depend on the individuals involved in the situation. Prasanna ends the essay by saying that conflict is a part of life that everyone will have to go through, no matter the relationship they have with others. 

“I also now understand that trying to keep someone’s feelings from getting hurt might not always be the best option during a conflict.”

To analyze how conflict impacts lives, the author shares his personal experience. He refers to an ex-friend, Luke, as someone who most of their circle doesn’t like because of his personality. The author shares their arguments, such as when Luke wasn’t invited to a party and how they tried to protect his feelings by not telling Luke people didn’t want him to be there. Instead, they caved, and Luke was allowed to the gathering. However, Luke realized he wasn’t accepted at the party, and many were uncomfortable around him.

The essay further narrates that it was a mistake not to be honest from the beginning. Ultimately, the writer states that he would immediately tell someone the truth rather than make matters worse.

“To me if life did not have challenges and difficult circumstances we were never going to know the strength that we have in us.”

The essay delves into the writer’s conflicts concerning their personal feelings and professional boundaries. The author narrates how they initially had a good relationship with a senior until they filed for a leave. Naturally, they didn’t expect the coworker to lie and bring the situation to their committee. However, the author handled it instead of showing anger by respecting their relationship with the senior, controlling their emotion, and communicating properly.

10 Helpful Prompts On Essays About Conflict in Life

Below are easy writing prompts to use for your essay:

Define what constitutes a conflict and present cases to make it easier for the readers to imagine. To further engage your audience, give them imaginary situations where they can choose how to react and include the results of these reactions. 

If writing this prompt sounds like a lot of work, make it simple. Write a 5-paragraph essay instead.

There are several types of conflict that a person experiences throughout their life. First, discuss simple conflicts you observe around you. For example, the cashier misunderstands an order, your mom forgets to buy groceries, or you have clashing class schedules. 

Pick a movie or book and summarize its plot. Share your thoughts regarding how the piece tackles the conflicts and if you agree with the characters’ decisions. Try the 1985 movie The Heavenly Kid , directed by Cary Medoway, or Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism by philosopher Alvin Plantinga.

In this essay, describe how actions can lead to conflict and how specific actions can make a conflict worse. Make your essay interesting by presenting various characters and letting them react differently to a particular conflict.

For example, Character A responds by being angry and making the situation worse. Meanwhile, Character B immediately solves the discord by respectfully asking others for their reasons. Through your essay, you’ll help your readers realize how actions significantly affect conflicts. You’ll also be able to clearly explain what conflicts are.

Your home is where you first learn how to handle conflicts, making it easier for your readers to relate to you. In your essay, tell a story of when you quarreled with a relative and how you worked it out.  For instance, you may have a petty fight with your sibling because you don’t want to share a toy. Then, share what your parents asked you to do and what you learned from your dispute.

If there are simple conflicts with no serious consequences, there are also severe ones that can impact individuals in the long run. Talk about it through your essay if you’re comfortable sharing a personal experience. For example, if your parents’ conflict ended in divorce, recount what it made you feel and how it affected your life.

Covert conflict occurs when two individuals have differences but do not openly discuss them. Have you experienced living or being with someone who avoids expressing their genuine feelings and emotions towards you or something? Write about it, what happened, and how the both of you resolved it.

Some results of cascading conflict are wars and revolutions. The underlying issues stem from a problem with a simple solution but will affect many aspects of the culture or community. For this prompt, pick a relevant historical happening. For instance, you can talk about King Henry VIII’s demand to divorce his first wife and how it changed the course of England’s royal bloodline and nobles.

People avoid conflict as much as possible because of its harmful effects, such as stress and fights. In this prompt, focus on its positive side. Discuss the pros of engaging in disputes, such as having better communication and developing your listening and people skills.

Explain what conflict management is and expound on its critical uses. Start by relaying a situation and then applying conflict resolution techniques. For example, you can talk about a team with difficulties making a united decision. To solve this conflict, the members should share their ideas and ensure everyone is allowed to speak and be heard.

Here are more essay writing tips to help you with your essay.

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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Beyond Intractability

The Hyper-Polarization Challenge to the Conflict Resolution Field: A Joint BI/CRQ Discussion BI and the Conflict Resolution Quarterly 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.

Follow BI and the Hyper-Polarization Discussion on BI's New Substack Newsletter .

Hyper-Polarization, COVID, Racism, and the Constructive Conflict Initiative Read about (and contribute to) the  Constructive Conflict Initiative  and its associated Blog —our effort to assemble what we collectively know about how to move beyond our hyperpolarized politics and start solving society's problems. 

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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Peace and Conflict Resolution: External Intervention Essay

Introduction, rwanda genocide, libya crisis.

In the world there have been many conflicts in human interactions. These usually result from struggle for getting access and control over various natural resources such as land, minerals and water among others and due to differing political interests. There are usually disagreements between the parties involved which sometimes lead to wars.

When these wars arise, sometimes the member parties require external intervention in bringing it to an end. There are various means of preventing arise of conflicts. The method of approach to each conflict is usually different from each other.

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 whole. Thus in undertaking any intervention, it is good to observe the best way out of the conflict.

This paper seeks to look into peace and conflict resolution taking critical analysis of the cases in Rwanda and Libya. It is to evaluate whether intervention by external organizations such as the UN was necessary citing the similarity and differences in both cases.

The Rwandan genocide was as a result of conflict between the Hutus and the Tutsi. There had been power competition in Rwanda with the tribe in power being oppressive. It was easy to identify the ethnicity of a person from the national identification card. There had been other conflicts before the genocide that left many people dead. They played significant role in dividing the people in ethnic lines.

Rwanda was a dictatorial country by the end of 1980’s. There were even regulations restricting interaction between the Hutus and Tutsi for example in the military forces. There were many refugees outside Rwanda who were denied access back to their mother country.

This led them to organize themselves into various groups and find their way back. These troops such as the Rwandan patriotic front attacked Rwandan government from outside the country in 1990-1992. This led to the rise of more ethnic tensions, displacement and the death of so many Tutsi.

The death of the Rwandan president in 1994 from an assassination led to the eruption of the massacre. The Hutus attacked the Tutsi killing them. In response to the attacks, the Rwandan patriotic front fought for about three months to overcome the Hutus. This led to more than half a million people dying. There were meeting on how to settle the disagreement in Tanzania before the genocide.

France was observed to take side in support of the government. The international intervention to stop the genocide was not present despite the information about the planning. This led to the killings of many civilians in respect to the tribe they belonged to. This was because there was information about the planning of the massacre yet nothing significant was done.

Muamar Gaddafi has been the leader in Libya for over forty years. During this time he has strengthened his political strength by appointing selected member to be in charge of crucial sectors of his government. There has been uneven distribution of resources and power. This led to the emergence of rival groups. The country is well developed.

There have been the revolution movements in most of the North African nations aimed at initiating change in the governance but stopped when it landed on Libya. There was a delay in provision of housing by the government to the citizens and allegations of misuse of power that led to the protest.

In response to the protest Gadaffi used his military on the civilians. The rebels on the other hand started fighting aiming to capturing the oil towns. This has led to the death of many in the struggle for power.

The civil fighting in Libya has attracted the intervention of the western country. These countries have deployed military intervention in Libya to help in calming the situation. The military intervention was backed up by the United Nations. This intervention has led to the destruction of many properties.

In the case of Libya, other means of solving the problem could have been used with the military intervention being the last option. Despite the intervention bringing peace in the country, there are many other repercussions that follow. This is evident in cases of Iraq and Afghanistan.

There have been intentions by the some countries arming the rebels with more weapons. This step is not right as it is likely to encourage the continuous persistent and development of the war. This means that more people are to lose their lives and that this will create more and more separation (Simpson 1).

The civil wars in Rwanda and Libya have similarity. In both there were specific persons who were at power and denied the others their rights. This led to the emergence of opposition and eventually civil war which caused loss of lives to many. In the Rwanda genocide, there was no intervention by the United Nations despite the information about the planning. In the Libya crisis, the United Nation intervention was very fast.

It has taken sides and though intervention is good, on the other side it has its repercussions. The bloodshed in Libya is less than that of the Rwandan genocide with both parties armed with warfare machinery such as grenade and missile launchers.

The intent of civil war in Rwanda was due to ethnical differences which is not the case in Libya. There are argument that the quick intervention is based on the oil that is present in Libya and the lack of cooperation between Gaddafi and the west.

Rwanda. Rwanda: How the genocide happened . BBC, 2008. Web.

Simpson, John. Halt to rebel advancing creates Libya divide . New Africa, 2011. Web.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, December 20). Peace and Conflict Resolution: External Intervention. https://ivypanda.com/essays/peace-and-conflict-resolution-essay-2/

"Peace and Conflict Resolution: External Intervention." IvyPanda , 20 Dec. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/peace-and-conflict-resolution-essay-2/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Peace and Conflict Resolution: External Intervention'. 20 December.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Peace and Conflict Resolution: External Intervention." December 20, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/peace-and-conflict-resolution-essay-2/.

1. IvyPanda . "Peace and Conflict Resolution: External Intervention." December 20, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/peace-and-conflict-resolution-essay-2/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Peace and Conflict Resolution: External Intervention." December 20, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/peace-and-conflict-resolution-essay-2/.

• Genocide in the "Ghost of Rwanda" Documentary
• Genocide in Rwanda: Insiders and Outsiders
• Muammar Gaddafi’s Death: Scene and Dilemma
• History and current state of nuclear proliferation in Asia
• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
• Conflict between India, Pakistan, China and Kashmir
• Humanitarian Intervention in Libya
• The United Nations in Africa