Category: Conflict
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Intention and Assertion in Conflict
I did a presentation on conflict back in May this year wherein I spent time explaining the dual concern model. At the end of the presentation there was a question and answer session. One of the attendees asked how she could be move from the side of the model where she avoided conflict to the…
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Agnotology and the Colorado River
I recently read an article in the Los Angeles Times about the crisis level shortage of water in the Colorado River. Written by Ian James, the article describes years of warnings from the scientific community about how the dangers of drought and overuse of the river would lead to dire consequences. James is a thorough…
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Thoughts about Afghanistan
I never went to war while I was in the army. I was stationed in Korea during the first Gulf war. I cannot say with absolute certainty how the active duty and veterans who served in Afghanistan feel; I believe that I do have an idea about those feelings. The war in Afghanistan has cost…
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Violence and Nonviolence are a Choice
Violence is a Choice I was recently reminded of the idea that the commitment of any violent act is a choice. My years studying conflict resolution have led me to thinking that violence is a failure of the conflict resolution process. However, people can always choose to resort to violence, even as they go through…
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Articulate and Protect Your Interests
When asked what I do I often respond that I help people articulate and protect their interests. Most of the time the response I get is a puzzled look. I suppose it might be easier to say that I help people deal with conflict. However, that is not always true. What I do is help…
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Introducing the Dual Concern Model
The dual concern model is a model, one of many that exist, that is used to analyze reactions to conflict. I have mentioned this model in passing before. The dual concern model allows a person to gauge their own behaviors as well as the reactions of their counterparts on the other side of the conflict.…
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My First Lessons in Conflict Resolution
I first learned about conflict resolution in the United States Army. They didn’t call it conflict resolution in the army, they called it combat. The idea was that you win or you die. Confrontational? Yes. It has proven effective enough to make people think that their nation is doing something to be the go to…
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The Problem with Problem Solving
As a scholar in the field of conflict I spend a lot of time analyzing the dual concern model. One of the basic ideas of this model is that the actors in a conflict determine how important their goals are in relation to the other party’s concern for or against the same goal. Basically you are…
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Why Disagreement is Not Conflict
The best definition of conflict that I have ever heard was provided by Dr. Ariane David. I attended a training she gave on the topic of Non-Positional Thinking. She said, “You know you are involved in destructive conflict when you start feeling defensive.” It is the feeling that you are personally being attacked that makes…
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What is Conflict Resolution?
Conflict resolution is relatively easy to define. A conflict is a serious disagreement powered by the idea that one has something to lose. The threat of loss is sometimes real. In many cases the threat of loss is a perception of the parties and is powered by the emotional content of the disagreement, rather than…
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