Dispute Resolution: Nature of Conflict & Its Role in Society

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 1 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY

NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY

Dianne Allen, May 1997

Contents NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY ............................................................ 1

ABSTRACT: .............................................................................................................................. 5

1. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: ........................................................................................... 5

1.1 GENERAL COMMENTS: ....................................................................................... 5

1.2 PREVIOUS WORK .................................................................................................. 7

1.3 FOCUS IN THIS ASSIGNMENT ............................................................................ 9

1.4 SOME QUESTIONS RAISED: ................................................................................ 9

1.4.1 Some Fundamental Considerations: .......................................................... 9

1.4.2 The "mental processes" component: ........................................................ 10

1.4.3. Other constructs; Other paradigms: ........................................................ 10

1.4.4 Conflict: the "given": ............................................................................... 10

2. NATURE OF CONFLICT AND ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY (FROM THE LITERATURE) 11

2.1 GENERAL REMARKS: ......................................................................................... 11

2.2 REFLECTIONS ON THIS OVERVIEW: ........................................................ 12

2.3 DEFINITIONS OF CONFLICT/ DEFINING THE NATURE OF CONFLICT ..... 13

2.4 SOURCES OF CONFLICT .................................................................................... 13

2.5 ARENAS OF CONFLICT INTERACTION ........................................................... 14

2.6 THE ROLE OF CONFLICT IN SOCIETY ............................................................ 15

2.7 THE RESOLUTION OF CONFLICT..................................................................... 16

2.7.1 General Remarks ..................................................................................... 16

2.7.2 The Course of Conflict ............................................................................ 16

2.8 OTHER INDICATIONS OF WHERE TO FIND WHAT THE LITERATURE

SAYS: ............................................................................................................... 17

2.8.1 Basic Psychology Material ...................................................................... 18

2.8.2 Material on the Nature of Conflict & Its Role in Society........................ 18

3. APPLICATION OF CURRENT KNOWLEDGE TO THE PRACTICE OF DISPUTE

RESOLUTION: ............................................................................................................ 19

3.1 GENERAL REMARKS: ......................................................................................... 19

3.2 KNOW THYSELF .................................................................................................. 21

3.3 KNOW OTHERS ................................................................................................... 21

3.4 COGNITIVE APPROACH TO INTERACTIONS ................................................ 21

3.5 DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT WORKPLACE .... 22

3.5.1 One-on-One Situation .............................................................................. 22

3.5.2 One-in-a-Group Situation ........................................................................ 23

3.5.3 Group-to-Group Situation ........................................................................ 24

3.6 PARTICULAR APPLICATION TO CURRENT SITUATION: ............................ 25

4. CONCLUDING REMARKS: ............................................................................................... 26

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 27

SECTION 1: 1.1 ........................................................................................................... 27


NOTE 1: THE ISSUE OF KNOWING/ KNOWLEDGE: EPISTEMOLOGY ............. 27

NOTE 2: KNOWLEDGE & LANGUAGE & THE FUNCTIONING OF THE DEAF 28

1.2 ................................................................................................................................. 29

1.4 ................................................................................................................................. 29

NOTE 3: The "mental processes" component .............................................................. 29

NOTE 3A: JUNG & DICHOTOMIES ......................................................................... 32

NOTE 4: Other constructs; Other paradigms ............................................................... 33

NOTE 5: Conflict: the "given" ..................................................................................... 34

SECTION 2: 2.1 ........................................................................................................... 36

2.2 ................................................................................................................................. 36

NOTE 6: BIBLIOGRAPHIC SEARCH & SOURCES ................................................. 36

2.3 ................................................................................................................................. 38

NOTE 7: DEFINITIONS OF CONFLICT/ DEFINING THE NATURE OF CONFLICT

.......................................................................................................................... 38

2.4 ................................................................................................................................. 40

NOTE 8: SOURCES OF CONFLICT .......................................................................... 40

2.5 ................................................................................................................................. 42

NOTE 9: ARENAS OF CONFLICT INTERACTION ................................................. 42

2.6 ................................................................................................................................. 43

NOTE 10: THE ROLE OF CONFLICT IN SOCIETY ................................................ 43

2.7 ................................................................................................................................. 45

2.7.2 .............................................................................................................................. 46

NOTE 11: THE COURSE OF CONFLICT .................................................................. 46

2.8 ................................................................................................................................. 49

SECTION 3: 3.1 ........................................................................................................... 49

3.2 ................................................................................................................................. 49

3.3 ................................................................................................................................. 50

3.4 ................................................................................................................................. 50

NOTE 12: THE NATURE OF THE MEDIATION PROCESS ................................... 50

3.5 ................................................................................................................................. 50

3.6 ................................................................................................................................. 52

NOTE 13: IDENTITY FROM THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE AREA

.......................................................................................................................... 52

3.6.4 .............................................................................................................................. 52

NOTE 14: THE NATURE OF STRATEGIC THINKING ........................................... 52

ATTACHMENTS .................................................................................................................... 56

ATTACHMENT 1: ABSTRACTS FROM PREVIOUS ASSIGNMENTS .................. 56

ATTACHMENT 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION-

WHAT INSIGHTS THE LITERATURE MAY PROVIDE TO DEAL WITH

THIS TASK ...................................................................................................... 60

ATTACHMENT 3: EXTRACT FROM EQUIPPING STAFF TO HANDLE

DISPUTES EFFECTIVELY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ATTACHMENT

12: ..................................................................................................................... 62

ATTACHMENT 4: THE BIBLICAL CONSTRUCT DEALING WITH CONFLICT: 67

ATTACHMENT 5: 5.1 KNOW THYSELF FINDINGS:........................................... 77

5.1 KNOW THYSELF FINDINGS ......................................................................... 77

1. Music and study & work ............................................................................... 77


2. Deliberately "not thinking about it" .............................................................. 77

3. Internal verbal scenario testing ..................................................................... 78

4. Walking and thinking/ testing thinking and other kinesthetic elements....... 78

5.2 NOTES: REFLECTIONS FROM RECOLLECTIONS: ......................................... 79

5.3 INFLUENCES: ....................................................................................................... 80

5.4 AWARENESS OF EXPERIENTIAL INFLUENCES: ........................................... 84

5.5 PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF GROUPS: ........................................................... 85

5.6 PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF APPROACHES TO INFORMALLY

FACILITATING GROUP EFFECTIVENESS: ................................................ 86

5.7 MY FRAMEWORK IN UNDERTAKING STUDIES IN DISPUTE

RESOLUTION:................................................................................................. 93

ATTACHMENT 6: PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS IN UNDERSTANDING THE

NATURE OF CONFLICT AND ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY ............................. 95

ATTACHMENT 7: BIBLIOGRAPHIC SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON THE

NATURE OF CONFLICT .............................................................................. 101

ATTACHMENT 8: INDICATIONS OF CONTENTS OF SPECIFIC ITEMS

SIGHTED/CITED ........................................................................................... 103

8.1 GENERAL TREATMENTS: .................................................................... 103

8.2 COMPETITION - A COMPONENT........................................................ 113

8.3 INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT .............................................................. 114

8.4 CONFLICT IN ORGANISATIONS ......................................................... 116

8.5 COMMUNICATIONS .............................................................................. 117

8.6 ROLE IN SOCIETY ................................................................................. 118

ATTACHMENT 9: PARTICULAR APPLICATION TO CURRENT SITUATION 120

ATTACHMENT 10: MATERIAL USED FOR AND OUTCOMES OF

SHELLHARBOUR CITY COUNCIL'S STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS:

STAGE 1 ......................................................................................................... 127

ATTACHMENT 11: SHELLHARBOUR CITY COUNCIL LOCAL GOVERNMENT

AREA: RELATIONSHIP WITH WOLLONGONG CITY AND KIAMA

COUNCILS ..................................................................................................... 127

ATTACHMENT 12: MATERIAL DEVELOPED IN THE CONTEXT OF PREVIOUS

CONSIDERATIONS OF THE ISSUE OF AMALGAMATION: ................... 127

ATTACHMENT 13: RECOMMENDATIONS TO SHELLHARBOUR CITY

COUNCIL RE STAFF TRAINING: ............................................................... 128

13.1 RECOMMENDATIONS FROM "EQUIPPING STAFF TO HANDLE

DISPUTES EFFECTIVELY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT": ............. 128

13.2 RECOMMENDATIONS FROM "ISSUES IN TRAINING IN

NEGOTIATION SKILLS FOR AN ORGANISATIONAL SETTING":

EXPLORING A PREFERRED PROCESS TO UNDERTAKE BASE

NEGOTIATION TRAINING AT SHELLHARBOUR COUNCIL:.... 129

13.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FROM "FACILITATION: THE USE OF

MEDIATION TECHNIQUES & PROCESSES IN RESOLVING

DIFFERENCES IN GROUP DECISION-MAKING" ......................... 131

13.4 RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THIS STUDY: ................................... 132

PRESENTATION: ................................................................................................................. 134

PRESENTATION HANDOUT:CONCLUSIONS FROM PREVIOUS STUDY WHICH

STIMULATE THIS APPROACH: ............................................................................. 135



ABSTRACT:

This assignment seeks to explore the basic psychological concepts illuminating an

understanding of the nature of conflict and its role in society.

The stimulus for this choice comes from my personal focus on the theme of the training

required to equip people to handle disputes effectively, and takes up a part of the challenge of

Astor and Chinkin to explore one of the basic theoretical issues underpinning the study of

dispute resolution.

The constraints of the assignment mean that the theoretical study is limited and relies heavily

on current literature in this area.

The task of applying this understanding is also addressed, with particular reference to the

local government workplace. In this way it builds on previous work. Some specific aspects

of application have been dealt with a bit more fully, with the results indicated in the

bibliographic notes and attachments.

The assignment concludes with a brief review of the implications of these findings for the

training of people involved in handling disputes as a part of their workplace (etc) function.

Explanatory Note:

The constraints of the assignment have meant that some of the material which

"started out" in the body of the assignment have been "sidelined" to the bibliography

and the attachments.

As such they did not further the "argument" in the assignment, but have been an

important part of the learning process for me, and my objectives in these studies.

The relevant sections are 1.4.2-1.4.4; 3.2 detail; and 3.6 detail.

1. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS:

1.1 GENERAL COMMENTS:

Psychology is the systematic study of mental processes and behaviour. (Westen, 1996, p.3)

In his introductory text on psychology Westen goes on to say that "to understand psychology

requires a constant movement between the micro-level of biology and the macro-level of

culture".


The micro-level of biology and biological theory provides understandings for elements of the

mental processes:

• the mechanisms of the nervous system, and the brain;

• the conditions for optimal mental performance and

• the physiological causes of dysfunction, where physiological causes are

functioning

• the concepts and principles of evolution - a theory to explain diversity - natural

selection; the survival of the fittest; the development of diversity in behaviour

and adaptation to variations in environment; and the matching of physiology

and behaviour to meet the exigencies of a particular environment.

The macro-level of culture (anthropological studies) provides understandings for mental

patterns developed by acculturation:

• learned behaviour in a particular cultural setting; and

• diversity in behaviour.

Human behaviour is generally understood to be more flexible than animal behaviour.

The development of language and a complex neocortical capacity in thinking allows for the

development of metaphors, and new and different metaphors.

Such metaphors facilitate the process of being able to adapt more readily to changes in

environment. It is these metaphors that are the "cultural" "constructs" of our world, giving us

readily applicable solutions to recurring problems. It is these metaphors that are open to

"paradigm change", to generate a different, more effective metaphor.

This capacity for change, more quickly than the "normal" process of change by natural

selection of the fit, over many generations of the species, offsets the disadvantage of a longer

time lapse between generations, a function related to the complexity of the organism, and its

developmental processes from conception to maturity. This time factor is much more

critical when environmental changes are occurring over a short time-span.

(One bacteria, reproducing every hour, produces 24 generations and 16.7 million individuals

in a day, and obviously manages to provide a greater pool of genetic diversity from which the

fittest manage to survive a changed environment, passing on that genetic fitness to the next

generation: mutation and adaptation to the new environment of the antibiotic produces new

antibiotic resistant strains.)

The "problem" of "psychology" as a study, like the problem of studying other elements of

dispute resolution, like "negotiation", or "communication", or "perception", or any other

"interpersonal skills", is that much of our knowledge, at least, at an operational level, of these

things, is "embedded".

SEE NOTE 1 IN BIBLIOGRAPHY

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 7 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY Both the "mental processes" and the "behaviour" are, more often than not, implicit and

intuitive.

They are utilitarian (survival) patterns, many of which were established, at least in part,

before language development, and are only able to be exposed, to become explicit and able to

be applied in a deliberate way, once we have learned language, and metaphors, and

mechanisms of rational explanation.


As noted by Folger, Poole & Stutman (1993) "Good theory has a duty to seem

commonsensical once it is explained and ... this parsimony is at the heart of science."

Psychology, as a study of mental processes and behaviour, has, therefore, much to say to us

about conflict, and dispute resolution.

[So too does: social psychology, sociology, political science and other narrower and broader

fields of study.]

1.2 PREVIOUS WORK

In my studies in Dispute Resolution to date, I have endeavoured to explore the material under

a particular topic in a way that seeks to extend my current level of "technical knowledge", and

also to apply it to a matter of concern, at hand, more often than not, in my workplace, in local

government.

SEE ATTACHMENT 1 FOR DETAILS OF THE ABSTRACTS OF THESE EARLIER

ASSIGNMENTS AND ATTACHMENT 12 FOR THE CONCLUSIONS OF SOME

1.2.1 Equipping Staff to Handle Disputes Effectively in Local Government

Part of the conclusion to my initial research paper for Dispute Resolution, which dealt with

the topic "Equipping Staff to Handle Disputes Effectively in Local Government", involved the

identification of areas of skill and knowledge development required for such a process.

"3. The key areas, where the development of theoretical understanding is

needed, for effective dispute handling are:

3.1 nature of conflict and its role in society

3.2 nature of power

3.3 nature of human beings

3.4 nature of learning "


(Items 3.1-3.3 come from Astor & Chinkin, (1992), p.221)

SEE ATTACHMENT 2 & 3 FOR DETAILS

It seems to me then, that an appropriate response to that conclusion would be to use this

assignment to explore the issue of the "nature of conflict and its role in society" - at least for

my own edification/ learning processes.

(Indeed, the area of "psychology and dispute resolution" would be a useful base

for looking at any one of the above four "theoretical underpinnings". The

limits of the assignment, and the expansiveness of any one of the above issues,

mean that I can only reasonably tackle one, and, even for that one, the material

may well turn out to be relatively "summary", if not superficial.)

1.2.2 Issues in Training in Negotiation Skills for an Organisational Setting

Another thrust of my studies, to date, has involved a more detailed consideration of the issues

involved in training, when that training is dealing with "embedded" knowledge.

Negotiation is an interpersonal interaction. As such, "mental processes and behaviour" play

an integral (intimate) part.

The question of change, if it is required, of current interpersonal "mental processes and

behaviour" for folk, if their present "mental processes and behaviour" are dysfunctional, was

addressed in a preliminary way in that assignment.

I expressed my concerns in that assignment, as noted in the abstract.

SEE ATTACHMENT 1 FOR DETAILS

1.2.3 Facilitation: The Use of Mediation Techniques & Processes in Resolving

Differences in Group Decision-making

My third assignment took me into the study of groups, group behaviour, and the task of

assisting in situations involving conflict in such a context.

As such, this study exposed me to current theory involving "communication" as a critical

element in the interactions in groups.

SEE ATTACHMENT 1 FOR DETAILS AS PROVIDED IN THE ABSTRACT


1.3 FOCUS IN THIS ASSIGNMENT

Consequently, as noted above, I am seeking, in this assignment, to make some inroads into

the study of the "nature of conflict" and "its role in society", and to do so from the perspective

of psychology. Then I would hope to apply some of this to a current concern in my

workplace.

I find that such a study (if it were to be thorough-going) is well beyond the present constraints

of this assignment.

So, I will restrict my approach to some sort of summary of the current state of the art of

knowledge of these things, as displayed in the literature that I have been able to lay hands on,

and take some note of.

Then I will indicate where else one might go for additional information in this area - again

limiting myself to current bibliographic sources.

1.4 SOME QUESTIONS RAISED:

In the course of my readings and preparations for this assignment other considerations have

arisen.

In attempting this assignment, some of these are dealt with, some are left open, and from my

point of view, open and worthy of further consideration, perhaps at another time, in another

context.

I note them here, now, to convey something of the perplexities that this assignment, in

opening up to this area of study, has raised for me.

1.4.1 Some Fundamental Considerations:

1.1 Is "conflict" fundamentally an "intrapsychic" phenomenon?

1.2 If so, what are then the implications for practitioners in dispute resolution?

1.3 If so, or if not, Are there other fundamental "psychological" sources of

"conflict"?

1.4 What are those likely sources, and what are then the implications for

practitioners in dispute resolution?

1.5 What, if any, are the "psychological dimensions" of resolution;

non-resolution?; and what are the implications of this for practitioners in

dispute resolution?


1.6 If conflict is not just a "psychological" phenomenon, what else is impinging?

Related Issues:

1.7 Nature of conflict: integration/ disintegration -> mental health

1.8 The consequences of conflict: unresolved/ resolved -> stress -> mental health

1.9 The capacity of the (process of) conflict to become obsessive: some people get

so involved in the dispute, they can't walk away, they can't cut their losses and

get on with life; can't see the alternatives; become obsessive about it; paranoid

with it

1.4.2 The "mental processes" component:


1.4.3. Other constructs; Other paradigms:


1.4.4 Conflict: the "given":



2. NATURE OF CONFLICT AND ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY (FROM THE LITERATURE)

2.1 GENERAL REMARKS:

A thorough-going analysis, of the nature of conflict and its role in society, it seems to me,

would need to look at:

1 Intrapsychic Conflict

2 Interpersonal Conflict - General

3 Interpersonal Conflict in Intimate Relationships

4 Interpersonal Conflict - Family

5 Interpersonal Conflict - Group situations - Tribe; Work Team

6 Conflict - civil

7 Conflict - International

And for each of these areas, there needs to be some consideration given to further detail:

1 Intrapsychic conflict:

1.1 Conscious; Subconscious

1.2 Conscious: conflict of value systems - framebreaking; learned

behaviour - responses; metaphors

1.3 Mental Health

1.4 Stress

2 Interpersonal conflict - General:

2.1 Temperament difference

2.2 Perception difference

2.3 Communication / language differences

2.4 Value systems difference

2.5 Culture/ ethnic differences

2.6 Gender difference

3 Interpersonal Conflict in Intimate Relationships

3.1 Gender difference

3.2 Temperament difference

3.3 Impact of intimacy

4 Interpersonal Conflict - Family

4.1 spouse relationship

4.2 parent and child relationship

4.3 sibling relationship

5 Interpersonal Conflict - Group situations - Tribe; Work Team


5.1 group formation: inclusion/ exclusion

5.2 leadership

5.3 groupthink

5.4 group cohesion

5.5 group size and modes of interaction

5.6 group size and level of diversity (as enunciated in 2.1-2.6 above)

5.7 mechanisms (rules and rituals) for dealing with intragroup conflict

5.8 balancing intimacy (inclusion & cohesion) with distance/

disengagement; (group dysfunction, groupthink, etc)

6 Conflict - civil

6.1 political affiliation: enunciation of political difference; inclusion/

cohesion; loyalty

6.2 polarisation: differentiation of groups on the basis of political

difference; hardening of positions

6.3 stereotyping

6.4 generation of metaphors for "them" and "us"; bias; media role

6.5 transcendence: the authorising of competition between "them" and "us";

the authorisation of aggression

(the experimental evidence for the Eichmann syndrome - "only obeying

orders")

7 Conflict - International

7.1 Locational isolation and formation of "national" identity over time:

language,

metaphors,

culture, including technological "power"

differences in value systems

physiological differences - skin colour; facial characteristics, etc

7.2 Population growth and locational expansion into another's territory

7.3 Transcendence

2.2 REFLECTIONS ON THIS OVERVIEW:

The achievement of such a thorough-going review is much more than an assignment, limited

to a certain size, and constrained by term period deadlines, could hope to manage.

Consequently, I will limit myself to "reporting back" on "findings to date" and "directions for

me for further explorations".


The most useful bibliographic resource that I found in regard to this issue was:

Folger, JP Poole, MS Stutman, RK Working through Conflict: Strategies

for Relationships, Groups, and Organizations. NY: HarperCollins, 2nd ed

c1993


So then, from Folger et al (1993) (remembering they have gathered together, from their

perspective, relevant material to that date, to synthesise their approach) come the following

insights:

2.3 DEFINITIONS OF CONFLICT/ DEFINING THE NATURE OF CONFLICT

"Conflict is the interaction of interdependent people who perceive

incompatible goals and interference from each other in achieving those goals

(Hocker & Wilmot, 1985)." (Folger, et al, 1993, p.4)


From this, and the other definitions, there are five basic components of conflict:

1. interdependence of people

2. interaction of people (communication) and the "dynamic" potential of choices

at decision nodes, and reinforcing feedback -> escalation; or short-circuits ->

de-escalation

3. incompatible goals: space/ territory; time/ sequence; access to resources to

meet needs (as per Maslow's hierarchy): economic, natural, relationships, etc

4. interference/ competition

5. perception/ mental paradigms

2.4 SOURCES OF CONFLICT

"The most important feature of conflict is that it is based in interaction.

Conflicts are constituted and sustained by the behaviours of the parties

involved and their reactions to one another. ... We believe conflicts can best be

understood and managed by concentrating on specific behavioral patterns and

the forces shaping them. ... Communication looms large because of its

importance in shaping and maintaining the perceptions that guide conflict

behavior. ... We do not, however, agree with the old adage " most conflicts

are actually communication problems". The vast majority of conflicts would

not exist without some real difference of interest. This difference may be hard

to uncover, it may be redefined over time, and occasionally it may be trivial,

but it is there nonetheless. Communication processes constitute conflicts and

can easily exacerbate them, but they are rarely the sole source of the

difficulty." (Folger et al, 1993, p.5)

"Conflict interaction is colored by the interdependence of the parties. ... the

interdependence implies .. they can potentially aid or interfere with each other.

For this reason, conflicts are always characterised by a mixture of incentives


to cooperate and to compete." (Folger, et al, 1993, p.5)


The other bibliographic sources enunciate the "real difference of interest" as follows:

1. control over resources/ scarcity in a closed system and competition for

sufficient for physical survival (of the individual, the "family", the social

group, giving the guarantee of the survival of the species in time - the

imperative of securing generational continuity)

2. territory - another way of describing control over resources where resources are

locationally based; but there is another element: "space" - overcrowding

usually constitutes a "threat" - is a stressful context

3. the psychological constructs for security of identity: principles; or values; or

beliefs; or preferences and nuisances

4. the relationship between the parties

These, likewise, reflect the elements of Maslow's motivational hierarchy:

1. the physiological (hunger & thirst, etc) (in items 1 & 2 above)

2. Safety (housing, money) (in Items 1, 2 & 3 above moving from more concrete

to more abstract)

3. Love and belongingness (Items 3 & 4 above, and having the "pay-offs" of

stability of relationship, especially for procreation and protection and training

during the long developmental stage for the progeny)

4. Esteem (Items 3 & 4 above)

5. Self-Actualisation (Items 3 & 4 above)

2.5 ARENAS OF CONFLICT INTERACTION

"Conflict occurs in almost all social settings. .. Conflicts emerge in

interpersonal contexts; among groups of people who share long-term

interdependence, such as families; in intergroup settings." (Folger, et al

(1993) p.6,7)

The analysis goes on to remark on the way the conduct of conflicts in different contexts

informs an understanding of the nature of conflict.

The contexts highlight the different impacts of:


• modes of communication

• decision-making procedures

• the mechanics of group formation and cohesion

• the elements of relationship: the "intimacy-alienation" spectrum

• identity, stereotyping and the formation of ideologies

• the influence of climate ("climate" being "the prevailing temper, attitudes, and

outlook of a dyad, group, or organization" - Folger, et al, p.153 [3rd ed])

SEE NOTE 9 IN THE BIBLIOGRAPHY

2.6 THE ROLE OF CONFLICT IN SOCIETY

"Conflict can be beneficial. .. the positive functions of conflict [include]:

• conflict allows important issues to be aired

• they produce new and creative ideas

• they release built-up tension

• they can strengthen relationships

• they can cause groups and organizations to reevaluate and

clarify goals and missions

• they can also stimulate social change to eliminate inequities and

injustice.

"But why must such an argument be made? ... negative views of conflict still

persist." (Folger et al (1993) p.1)


Acland, as an example of other sources, sees "conflict" as a corollary of "change".

As such it will be part of the mechanism of adaptation to the environment, where we now

have a clearer perception of the dynamic of the environment: Its essential "system"

complexity and the fact that humanity is itself a component of "environment", which by its

existence, growth, multiplication, decisive action, etc generates and sustains elements of

"change".

In this paradigm, conflict is one of the tools in the self-regulation of ecological balance.

[Conflict at its best is an alternative to the "lemming" self-destruction paradigm; at its worst -

the nuclear arms race - it appears to be no different.]


2.7 THE RESOLUTION OF CONFLICT

2.7.1 General Remarks

Closure is an important aspect of any interaction.

Closure, with regard to conflict, is a significant aspect of the success of the resolution: the

well-formed agreement is "compliable". The test of a successful negotiation relates to the

"stickability" of the agreement so crafted.

["Closure" is an aspect of perception: a tendency to complete what is incomplete (Westen,

p.156)-> perceptual illusions eg Escher diagrams]

Phillips & Fraser (1982) include the importance of "saying goodbye" effectively as an ethical/

professional aspect of interpersonal skill training (p.65).

There are psychological "pay-offs" of a resolution - reduction of tension/ anxiety.

The concept of "conflict" as "process"/"interaction", means that there are nodes of decision,

and at each of these points, two ways to go.

[Back to the concept of "binary"/ "bilateral"/ "dichotomy". The question is: are these

dichotomies real, or the "simplification" metaphor required to enable us to handle complexity,

and now tending to be even more dictated because of the "power" of the binary operated

computer?]

One of the seminal contributions to my current mindset (paradigm) is Aldous Huxley's Ends

and Means (1937). This treatise has made clear for me that "the end never justifies the

means"; that for any particular end, the means needs to be consistent/ congruent.

So, for a "peaceful" resolution, the means selected at each stage need to be consistent with

peacefulness. This principle is generally demonstrated in the differences between a

productive and destructive conflict.

2.7.2 The Course of Conflict

"When differences exist and the issues are important, suppression of conflict is

often more dangerous than facing it. ... The critical question is: what forms of

conflict interaction will yield obvious benefits without tearing a relationship, a

group, or an organization apart?" (Folger, et al, 1993, p.8)

"Conflict is, by nature, interactive. It is never wholly under one person's

control (Kriesberg, 1973). The other party's reactions and the person's


anticipation of the other's response are extremely important. Any comment

made during a conflict is made with some awareness or prediction about the

likely response it will elicit. This predictive basis for any move in interaction

creates a strong tendency for conflict interaction to become cyclic or

repetitive. ... A behavioral cycle of initiation - response - counterresponse

results from the conflict interchange. ...Conflict interaction cycles acquire a

momentum of their own. They tend in a definite direction - toward escalation,

toward avoidance and suppression, or toward productive work on the conflict.

... The key question this book addresses is: how does conflict interaction

develop destructive patterns - radical escalation, prolonged or inappropriate

avoidance of conflict issues, inflexibility - rather than constructive patterns

leading to productive conflict management?" (Folger, et al, 1993, p.10-11)

Folger et al, and other literature, then go on to analyse the differences between "constructive"

("productive") and "destructive" conflict, and the factors contributing to "intractability" in a

conflict.


Much of the work in this area appears to rely on Deutsch's (1973) analysis, and identify as

factors:

• communications & communication process

• the nature of the relationship of the parties: intimacy/ alienation; history;

climate

• the basis and process of decision making

• competition/ cooperation/ positions & conceptions of risk

• any established rules/ rituals of mechanisms for dealing with conflict

• the "psychological" implications for security of identity

2.8 OTHER INDICATIONS OF WHERE TO FIND WHAT THE LITERATURE SAYS:

The general impression that I now have, of recent literature, in this and in related fields (say

from 1990 to present), is that there appears to be a very serious attempt to work at

synthesising the current level of knowledge. That there is an endeavour to gather together

"discrete" and "isolated" material, from a diversity of sources, to see if something "new" can

be synthesised from the present level of knowledge. It is as if someone were working at

developing a new paradigm to deal with the current wealth of disparate matter.

So, some of the current "book" publications, as distinct from the "journal" articles, appear to

me to be quite useful steps along such a path.


2.8.1 Basic Psychology Material

The material I have tapped for a basic overview of the various fields of psychology and what

they might have to say about the nature of conflict are:

Westen, D Psychology: Mind, Brain & Culture. New York: Wiley, 1996

Cloninger, SC Theories of Personality: Understanding Persons. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,

1996, 2nd ed

Taylor, SE, Peplau, LA, Sears, DO Social Psychology. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1997, 9th

ed [1st ed - 1970]

SEE ATTACHMENT 6

2.8.2 Material on the Nature of Conflict & Its Role in Society

SEE ATTACHMENT 7 & 8


3. APPLICATION OF CURRENT KNOWLEDGE TO THE PRACTICE OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION:

3.1 GENERAL REMARKS:

I began this assignment within a context of endeavouring to apply the findings to practice.

I am reminded of Mary Power's (1992) exhortation (in an article dealing with training for

mediators) to engage in dispute resolution, and to train operators in dispute resolution, in a

meta-cognitive way.

She proposes that the training approach should reflect the necessity to build the skills to be

able to stand back, as an observer, and observe oneself,

• in "personal" responses, in the course of the dispute resolution, to the different

"personal" elements of the dispute: (usually the emotional, the subconscious,

the embedded behavioural responses, etc),

• in assessing the applicability of the chosen process to the dispute and its

resolution,

• in evaluating choices in strategic interventions,

• in reviewing the effectiveness of the choices made, in the context of the

particular dispute, and

• in the application of theory to the practical context.

(IE: to become a mature, independent professional in one's approach to the exercise of dispute

resolution techniques.)

The particular focus of this assignment was to explore the nature of conflict and its role in

society, with a view to being more informed for participation in dispute resolution processes,

and in the training of others to deal effectively with disputes that arise in the workplace and

elsewhere.

So, what have I learned?

Returning to some of the questions posed in the introduction:

1.1 Is "conflict" fundamentally an "intrapsychic" phenomenon?

1.2 If so, what are then the implications for practitioners in dispute resolution?

1.3 If so, or if not, Are there other fundamental "psychological" sources of

"conflict"?

1.4 What are those likely sources, and what are then the implications for

practitioners in dispute resolution?

1.5 What, if any, are the "psychological dimensions" of resolution;

non-resolution?; and what are the implications of this for practitioners in


dispute resolution?

1.6 If conflict is not just a "psychological" phenomenon, what else is impinging?

The answers to these questions are probably best covered by the following quote/ synthesis

from Sandole (1993, p.20)

"The following would seem to "cohere" into the basis of a generic theory on

the initiation and escalation of violent conflict, with implications for conflict

resolution:

"(1) There does appear to be a physiological mechanism (inclusive of, eg

the hypothalamus and amygdala) that requires some kind of stimulation

to be activated to produce violent reactions, which can be influenced by

learning (Scott; Bandura)

"(2) During periods of threatened or actual violations of an actor's basic

needs for security, identity, and the like, elements of physiological

mechanism (specifically, the limbic system) may come to dominate the

actor's neocortical rationality (MacLean's shizophysiology), increasing

the probability of a violent response to the perceived source (or a

surrogate of the source) of the frustrated needs (Davies; Burton;

Dollard et al.).

"(3) Frustration can be fed by perceived structural violence (Galtung) at

various levels of the actor's external environment, eg rank

disequilibrium (Galtung) or relative deprivation (Gurr).

"(4) The frustration-of-needs/ aggression nexus is both stimulated by, and in

turn stimulates, ethnocentrism (Sumner) and Realpolitik.

"(5) When two or more actors so characterized are parties to a conflict,

then frustration-of-needs/ aggression can generate a

quasi-deterministic spiral, reflective of Richardson's action-reaction

processes (where, again, "men" in particular do "stop to think", but in

terms of Realpolitik), where the more involved in the process the actors

become, the more they will tend to overperceive and to overreact to

threatened and actual assaults to needs (North, et al), thereby fuelling

the spiral (and MacLean's shizophysiology/ Koestler's "Ghost in the

Machine") even further, and increasing the probability of generating

what I call a negative self-fulfilling prophecies.

"(6) "Conflicts as process" (as well as "conflicts as start-up conditions", eg

relative deprivation) can be further exacerbated by environmental

"shocks" and uncertainties associated with developments at the

international and global levels (eg proliferation of weapons of mass


destruction (Kaplan) and the Malthusian* nightmare revisited (Choucri

and North; Clark; Mathews)). [*Malthusian nightmare =

overpopulation in a closed system]

"(7) "Conflict as process" is where third parties enter the scene, and their

"trick" is to create the "magic" by which Realpolitik-driven competitive

processes can be replaced (or supplemented) by Idealpolitik-based

cooperative processes of conflict resolution."

3.2 KNOW THYSELF

One such application is to know the potentialities of my own "mental processes".

Such knowledge needs to be of cognitive processes, and of emotional processes.

And so far as the non-conscious elements of my own human potentialities are concerned, the

current paradigms in psychology have much to say.

SEE ATTACHMENT 5

3.3 KNOW OTHERS

To the extent that a person has "known themselves", they may be able to know others -

relational empathy.

Certainly, the understandings of psychology instruct practitioners as they endeavour to deal

with disputes, and as they are able to recognise areas of dysfunction and help the participants'

perceptions, when such help is useful and acceptable.

3.4 COGNITIVE APPROACH TO INTERACTIONS

Much work has been done on this area which helps inform the practitioner.

My particular interest, and focus, has been developing a heightened understanding of the

place of effective process in dealing with conflict/ differences in a group/ organizational

context: the role of problem solving, the mechanisms for building consensus, and engaging in

collaborative problem solving.

As noted in the work on facilitation of group effectiveness, this is predominantly left-brain

activity (Deweyan approach/ the predominant occidental paradigm). There are alternatives.

But in terms of my preferences (Myers-Briggs) these alternatives are unlikely to be as

effective for me to apply as the more typical rational approach.

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 22 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY SEE NOTE 12 IN THE BIBLIOGRAPHY

However, a more "conscious" endeavour, on my part, to construct metaphors, or develop

analogies, or to associate with, and tap the skills of those who can, could assist in developing

more effective communication strategies with others.

3.5 DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT WORKPLACE

For the application of this knowledge to the local government workplace, in general terms, I

need to refer you to the more thorough-going analysis of this in Equipping Staff to Handle

Disputes Effectively in Local Government.

The psychological insights explored in this assignment deliver some assistance. Particularly

in understanding the sources of "intractable" disputes; being able to recognise when a dispute,

or a participant, cannot be helped by straight-forward problem solving: where the "external"

elements (interests) that can be explored, to deliver some sort of "win" for the individual, is

not sufficient.

3.5.1 One-on-One Situation

Most interactions in the local government workplace are still one-to-one situations. Here

the maturity and capacity of the staff member to effectively manage a difficult difference

between themselves and the other party, to the satisfaction of both parties, will mean that a

difference/ dispute does not escalate.

The interactions are typically between the individual and

• Customer

• Staff peer

• Staff superior or subordinate

The staff member's knowledge of the "technical" area that they are dealing with will give

them options for alternative solutions to suggest to the other party.

Knowledge of Council policy and the process of policy setting and amendment, and the level

of their own discretion to make judgements within the boundaries of these policies (ie

delegation and authority and competence) will allow them to act independently of reference,

and be responsible for their decisions and so be in a position to resolve difficulties at the

"presenting" instance.

Competence, in these two areas, means that the "impression" of "bureaucratic" "buck-passing"

can be limited. Often a disaffected party gets irritated more by poor processes than the

actual decision.


Knowledge of interpersonal variables (psychological frames and dysfunction) will be of

assistance, especially when the more difficult encounters occur.

Knowledge of intrapsychic tensions, etc, and mechanisms and support to address these will

assist the staff member handle their own stress/ distress and be able to be flexible in the face

of the presenting difficulty. Employee Assistance Programs are established for such a

supportive purpose.

SEE ATTACHMENT 1: 1.3 - ABSTRACT OF ASSIGNMENT 2

3.5.2 One-in-a-Group Situation

The next most frequent interactions in the local government workplace are one-in-a-group

interactions.

Again the contexts for such participation involve both internal (Council organisation) and

external (with customers/ community groups/ groups of "representatives" formed for

coordinative activities) groups.

In this context, apart from the "technical" knowledge and competence required, insights from

the psychology of intrapersonal, interpersonal and social interactions will be important in

assisting the individual contribute to their maximum potential, without jeopardising

self-esteem or conscience.

My observation would be that much more needs to be done in the area of applying current

psychological insights to these situations, and in delivering training which assists staff

involved to build their current level of knowledge in this area to enable them to participate as

effectively as possible. (However, note the constraints indicated in the conclusion/s in the

assignment on Negotiation.)

SEE ATTACHMENT 13

Often work needs to be done on structures: formation of group, inclusion of participants,

interaction mechanisms with "outsiders", etc.

As the workplace moves to more expressions of group work, developing the competencies to

be able to "deliver the goods", in a group context, will become more important for

organisations and their staff.

Much of the current management literature and training is directed to issues involved in:

• Teamwork

• Empowerment of members


• Leadership

SEE ATTACHMENT 1 FOR ABSTRACTS FOR ASSIGNMENT 1(1.2) &

ASSIGNMENT 3 (1.4)

3.5.3 Group-to-Group Situation

Since a Council is a "group", an organisation, with identity, rules of inclusion, and exclusion,

etc, and since it operates in a community, of both individuals and other groups (community

groups, other organisations), the local government workplace includes a context where

group-to-group interactions occur and can be effective or dysfunctional. Whether they are

effective or dysfunctional depends almost entirely on the ability of the parties to deal with

differences: in goals, in access to scarce resources, in power to deal with scarce resource

distribution, etc.

Having knowledge of

• the nature of conflict and

• its role in society and

• mechanisms to assist deal effectively with such conflict, constructively,

• especially when it is dealing with public issues of equity in the distribution of

scarce economic resources, ie the quality of life of a community and its

individuals,

is of particular importance, to both the "organisation", and the individuals involved in it, be

they the politicians, the professional/ technical/ operational staff, or members of the

community served.

Again, my observation of present practices, especially as they impinge on Shellharbour City

Council, is that local government is not as well equipped to do this as it might be, and as the

current level of knowledge in these areas might be applied to assist.

The "typical" approach (if Shellharbour Council is typical) to conflict (complaints, the letters

to the editor, news items in the media, etc) is in the avoidance// appeasement/

accommodation// compromise sectors. This is often described as "firefighting":

• coming up with the "ad hoc" reaction which will "hose down" the dispute,

• with little or no consideration being given to the more fundamental elements

required to form a just society.

The squeaky wheel gets the oil, and if the oil runs out: too bad - get in early next year!

Then when these techniques don't quite "manage" the outcomes, there is "public relations"

enhancement - getting the "spin doctor" to put the right "spin" on it.

Adam Farrar (ADRA 10 Birthday Celebrations Conference, 3 May, 1997 Sydney University)

raised the issue of the current pressures on our "civil" society, which are now especially acute,

as governments seek to deal with perceived resource limitations.


My previous assignment on group facilitation, deals with the "technical" aspects of these

interactions and the knowledge and skills needed to assist the enhancement of:

• Organization effectiveness

• Community development effectiveness

SEE ATTACHMENT 1 (1.4) AND ATTACHMENT 13 (13.3)

My previous assignment on Construction Industry Disputes dealt with elements of

competition, and the likely impact of the "competition policy", and its implications for

society, in terms of likely increases in the incidence, and the risks associated, of disputation.

SEE ATTACHMENT 1 (1.6)

3.6 PARTICULAR APPLICATION TO CURRENT SITUATION:

Northrup (1989) raises the question of the role that "identity" plays in conflict, and its

tendency or otherwise to be "intractable".

Shellharbour City Council is currently facing the question of identity/ continuity of present

levels of autonomy, in the face of State & Federal government policy and pressures for

organizational efficiency in local government. I seek to analyse this under the following

headings to see how the "psychological" etc concepts might inform effective action, at least

on my part, as one of the "actors" in the organization.

3.6.1 Current Strategic Planning Process for Shellharbour City Council

3.6.2 Threat of Amalgamation:

3.6.3 The "Skit" Outcome of the Facilitated Group Analysis

3.6.4 Preparations for the Development of "Strategic Thinking" for the

Organisation

3.6.5 Analysis of Current Situation

3.6.6 Proposals for Strategic Interventions/ Facilitative Contributions:

FOR THE FULL ANALYSIS SEE ATTACHMENT 9


4. CONCLUDING REMARKS:

Psychology, as a discipline, contributes much to our knowledge of mental processes and

behaviour.

Mental processes and behaviour play a critical part in conflict and its resolution.

The practitioner, interested in increasing their ability to assist with the resolution of conflict,

whether at the individual level (intrapersonal and interpersonal) or the societal level

(interpersonal and intergroup/ international), needs to have at least a basic knowledge of these

insights.

The practitioner also needs to have a good idea of where to go for additional information

and/or assistance with conflicts which do not readily yield to the application of typical

intervention strategies in a straightforward, rational, interest-based negotiation, with a

possible win-win outcome.

The mature and professional practitioner is one who is applying a meta-cognitive approach to

their own mental processes and behaviour, in order to achieve greater levels of integration

and congruence in their own personality, and greater effectiveness in the modelling they do

and the techniques they apply in undertaking a facilitative role in any dispute resolution

context or process.

I would go so far as to say that in preparing people to contribute in a professional way,

whether formally or informally, in dispute resolution processes, basic training should include

exposure to the basic concepts of mental processes and behaviour coming from psychology

and how they impact on a conflict and its interactions.

I would go further. In reviewing the development of a staff training curriculum for the local

government workplace, to provide training to assist staff deal effectively with disputes in the

workplace, I would say that such training should

• include opportunities to undertake formal studies in basic psychological

concepts, and

• provide guidelines for the acquisition/development of such knowledge as it

applies to a conflict situation/ interaction.

SEE ATTACHMENT 13


BIBLIOGRAPHY

This bibliography is presented in the order of the sections of the report. This allows the

bibliography to convey where supportive material will be found, although this process means,

at times, there is repetition of citations.

Further, the report raises issues that can be dealt with, in part, by some further analysis/

evaluation of the material in the bibliographic sources, and this is done in this bibliography.

SECTION 1: 1.1


NOTE 1: THE ISSUE OF KNOWING/ KNOWLEDGE: EPISTEMOLOGY

I am assuming that we can know something about this, and other "internalities".

Another has put the question of "knowing", in this respect, better than I could ever attempt -

CS Lewis, (1945) Meditation in a Toolshed (in Lewis, CS Undeceptions: Essays on Theology

and Ethics. London: Bles, 1971.)

"I was standing today in the dark toolshed. The sun was shining outside and

through a crack at the top of the door there came a sunbeam. From where I

stood that beam of light, with the specks of dust floating in it, was the most

striking thing in the place. Everything else was almost pitch-black. I was

seeing the beam, not seeing things by it.

"Then I moved, so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the previous

picture vanished. I saw no toolshed, and (above all) no beam. Instead, I

saw, framed in the irregular cranny at the top of the door, green leaves moving

on the branches of a tree outside and beyond that, 90-odd million miles away,

the sun. Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are two very

different experiences."

...

"As soon as you have grasped this simple distinction, it raises a question. You

get one experience of a thing when you look along it and another when you

look at it. Which is the "true" or "valid" experience? Which tells you most

about the thing? And you can hardly ask that question without noticing that

for the last fifty years or so everyone has been taking the answer for granted.

It has been assumed without discussion that if you want the true account of

religion you must go, not to religious people, but to anthropologists; that if you


want the true account of sexual love you must go, not to lovers, but to

psychologists; that if you want to understand some "ideology", you must listen

not to those who have lived inside it, but to sociologists.

"The people who look at things have had it all their own way; the people who

look along things have simply been brow-beaten. "

......

"I could allow a scientist to tell me that what seemed to be a beam of light in

the shed was "really only an agitation of my own optic nerves". ... The

cerebral physiologist may say, if he chooses, that the mathematician's thought

is "only" tiny physical movements of the grey matter. But then what about the

cerebral physiologist's own thought at that very moment?"

......

"We must, on the pain of idiocy, deny from the very outset the idea that

looking at is, by nature, intrinsically truer or better than looking along. One

must look both along and at everything. In particular cases we shall find

reason for the one or the other vision as inferior. Thus the inside vision of

rational thinking must be truer than the outside vision which sees only

movements of the grey matter; for if the outside vision were the correct one all

thought (including this thought itself) would be valueless, and this is

self-contradictory. You cannot have a proof that no proofs matter. .. We do

not know in advance whether the lover or the psychologist is giving the more

correct account of love, or whether both accounts are equally correct in

different ways, or whether both are equally wrong."

NOTE 2: KNOWLEDGE & LANGUAGE & THE FUNCTIONING OF THE DEAF

The importance of language raises the following questions for me:

• What do the profoundly deaf know?

• How do they know it?

• How can they make it explicit?

• (Can they learn to read, write, and therefore communicate effectively? - Yes)

• Making one's knowledge explicit is not necessary for basic survival

functioning. It does limit functioning, at a level comparable to the hearing

community, but to what extent fundamentally? - Helen Keller got anything to

say on this??

Folger, JP Poole, MS Stutman, RK Working through Conflict: Strategies for Relationships,

Groups, and Organizations. NY: HarperCollins, 2nd ed c1993


1.2

Allen, D Equipping Staff to Handle Disputes Effectively in Local Government. [Unpublished]

Research Assignment for course work on Dispute Resolution for the UTS MDR, May, 1996.

Allen, D Issues in Training in Negotiation Skills for an Organisational Setting. [Unpublished]

Assignment for course work on Negotiation for the UTS MDR, June, 1996

Allen, D Facilitation: The Use of Mediation techniques & Processes in Resolving Differences

in Group Decision-Making. [Unpublished] Assignment for course work on Advanced

Mediation for the UTS MDR, November, 1996.

Astor, H & Chinkin, CM Dispute Resolution in Australia. Sydney: Butterworths, 1992

1.4

NOTE 3: The "mental processes" component

1.4.2 The "mental processes" component:

Another thrust might well be to explore to what extent the way we think, the way our

language is constructed, determines how we "get into conflict".

2.1 As I understand it, deBono's thesis is that the Western way of thinking, with its:

• "categories",

• the development of "false dichotomies",

• the logic of contradiction - either || or

• and the structure/ process of debate/ discourse

in the occidental culture, with its Greek antecedents, by its nature, generates

conflict. Further, as a natural consequence, it is poorly equipped to assist

resolve conflict.

2.2 other indicators supporting deBono's thesis: Koestler, Arthur The Act of

Creation. London: Pan, 1966 (c. 1964)

2.3 Occidental view of world - argument - dialectic (Great Books of the Western

World.)

2.4 Oriental view of world - the Chinese character for "conflict" is a combination

of "danger" and "opportunity" (UTS Course Material, 1996)

Oriental way: DeBono's illustration of Japanese "exploring" (p.20 Conflicts: A

Better Way to Resolve Them.)


2.5 Jung: "Hypothesised that his dichotomous theory of type preference was

universal." (Hartzler (1991) p.22)

5.1 Dichotomy:

right and wrong

left and right

east and west; oriental and occidental

good and bad; personalised - God and Satan

positive + and negative -

yin/ yang

5.2 the consequences of our physical nature - bilateral:

two hands, two arms, two feet, two legs, two eyes, two ears, two

nostrils, two lungs, bilateral cerebral cortex, cerebellum, etc

but not all bi-; some mono-: one mouth, one digestive system, one heart

ten fingers and ten toes

5.3 Binary behaviour in computer

SEE NOTE 3A LATER IN BIBLIOGRAPHY

2.6 Other ways of thinking; different paradigms:

6.1 Euclidian geometry vs spherical geometry

6.2 mathematics of other logics/ logic of other mathematics

6.3 statistics and differential calculus: the mathematics of imprecision,

conglomerates

6.4 mathematics of chaos theory

6.5 Newtonian physics, Einsteinian theory of relativity and physics arising

6.6 the "double" models needed to explain some physical phenomena: the

"particle"/"wave" model for explanations of the behaviours of light; the

ongoing divisibility of the indivisible "atom"

deBono, E Conflicts: a better way to resolve them. London: Penguin, 1991 (c.1985)

deBono, E I am Right, You are Wrong. London: Penguin, 1991 (c.1990)


Koestler, Arthur The Act of Creation. London: Pan, 1966 (c. 1964)

Book 1: The Art of Discovery and the Discoveries of Art

Part 1: The Jester

1. The Logic of Laughter

2. Laughter and Emotion

3. Varieties of Humour

4. From Humour to Discovery

Part 2: The Sage

5. Moments of Truth

6. Three Illustrations

7. Thinking Aside

8. Underground Games

9. The Spark and the Flame

10. The Evolution of Ideas

11. Science and Emotion

Part 3: The Artist

A. The Participatory Emotions

12. The Logic of the Moist Eye

13. Partness and Wholeness

14. On Islands and Waterways

B. Verbal Creation

15. Illusion

16. Rhythm & Rhyme

17. Image

18. Infolding

19. Character & Plot

20. The Belly of the Whale

C. Visual Creation

21. Motif and Medium

22. Image and Emotion

23. Art and Progress

24. Confusion and Sterility

Book 2: Habit and Originality

Introduction

1. Prenatal Skills

2. The Ubiquitous Hierarchy

3. Dynamic Equilibrium and Regenerative Potential

4. Reculer Pour Mieux Sauter

5. The Principles of Organization

6. Codes of Instinct Behaviour

7. Imprinting and Imitation

8. Motivation

9. Playing and Pretending

10. Perception and Memory

11. Motor Skills


12. The Pitfalls of Learning Theory

13. Learning to Speak

14. Learning to Think

15. Some Aspects of Thinking

16. Association

17. Habit and Originality

Appendix 1: On Loadstones and Amber

Appendix 2: Some Features of Genius

1. The Sense of Wonder

2. Innocence and Experience

Hutchins, RM Great Books of the Western World. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1952

Hutchins, RM The Great Conversation: the Substance of a Liberal Education. Chicago:

Encyclopedia Britannica, 1952, Volume 1 of Great Books of the Western World.

p.1

"The goal toward which Western society moves is the Civilization of the

Dialogue. The spirit of Western civilization is the spirit of inquiry. Its dominant

element is the Logos. Nothing is to remain undiscussed. Everybody is to speak

his mind. No proposition is to be left unexamined. The exchange of ideas is

held to be the path to the realization of the potentialities of the race."

UTS Dispute Resolution Course Notes, c.1995

NOTE 3A: JUNG & DICHOTOMIES

I can't remember who claimed this. I know I remarked on it at the time, since I was also

"reading" deBono and his critique of "false dichotomies".. and thought that Jung's support of

the "dichotomy" might indicate something worth following up.

In re-vetting the "active" literature from that time, the nearest I have got to it is a "later"

(later= not from the time when I think I might have noted it) remark by Aldous Huxley (1959)

in The Human Situation where he is critiquing the "underplay [of] the importance of genetic

factors" amongst the "founding fathers" of "modern psychiatry": "Freud and Jung and Rank,

paid almost no attention to the physical side of human beings". His conclusion at the time

indicated that some of this underplaying may have been "related to certain political and

philosophical doctrines. Orthodox Marxism .. is based upon the idea of environmental

determinism, and it does not like the idea of congenital differences." (p.62, 65, 66)

Huxley, A The Human Situation: Lectures at Santa Barbara, 1959. London: Flamingo, 1994

Found it!


"Jung hypothesised that his dichotomous theory of type preference was universal."

Hartzler, M "Myers-Briggs Type Indicator History: People, Issues and Challenges", p.22 in

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: Australian Perspectives. [?]: ACER, 1991 National

Conference.

NOTE 4: Other constructs; Other paradigms

1.4.3 Other constructs; Other paradigms

Just as there is a "psychological construct" to explain the phenomenon of conflict, so there are

other, earlier, constructs.

Some of these constructs rely on the "rational explanation" approach: the "economic

construct", the "sociological construct"; the "political/ power construct". Others, from

another time, make more use of metaphor, case-study, rules and rituals for handling the

conflict.

3.1 For instance, in the Bible: Conflict is apparent from Genesis 3 to Revelation

20.

There it is portrayed as a consequence of sin: the rebellion of the creature from

a voluntary, worshipful relationship with the creator; the destruction of that

fundamental/ foundational relationship, and the consequential perversion of all

other relationships.

*worshipful - right worship = recognition of nature of dependence: not "raw"

dependence, not rebellious "independence"; rather, unexpectedly, a true

interdependence - this God has bound Himself to His creation. Man

(humanity) is given discretionary independence: "made in God's image"; and

authorised: "be fruitful and multiply, and ....". But is expected to relate rightly

with God: "walk and talk in the garden.."

Where this right relationship is in place, "walking humbly before your God",

then other relationships can "fall into place", become "naturally", full, mature,

and "good" ... "to do justly and love mercy" (Micah 6:8). This is the essence

of human maturity: "mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of

Christ" (Ephesians 4:13).

The solution is given as a right relationship restored, by the substitutionary

death of Jesus Christ; with the restoration of the original purpose in a new

creation.


SEE ATTACHMENT 4

3.2 Comparative religion/ comparative mythology:

1 Conflict/ Wars amongst Greek pantheon

2 Conflict/ Wars amongst northern pantheon: the Ring Cycle

3 Conflict/ Wars in Aboriginal Dreaming

4 Buddhism

5 Hinduism

6 Confucianism

7 Islam

Each of these seeks to deal with conflict in some way: reflecting it as part of the

context, the given; establishing rules and guidelines to minimise the potential for

conflict; seeing it as part of the cosmic battle, etc.

Genesis 1:26 "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish

of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and

over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Genesis 1:28 "God blessed them and said to them,"Be fruitful and increase in number; fill

the earth and subdue it."

Micah 6.8 "He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God."

McDowell, J Stewart, D Handbook of Today's Religions. San Bernardino, Calif.: Campus

Crusade for Christ/ Here's Life Publishers, c.1983

NOTE 5: Conflict: the "given"

1.4.4. Conflict: the "given":

Conflict appears to be an all-pervasive element of life.

? Is it an outcome of having to deal with the ambiguities of a complex environment:

The task of integrating "meaning" from a world where (while there are underlying


laws determining some things - the sun always rises; the seasons have an annual cycle;

etc) there are many of these, and not readily related/ integrated, so that first

impressions are of caprice, uncertainty, ambiguity?

? Is interpersonal conflict an outcome of the (evolutionarily advantageous) genetic

diversity of the human being: 46 chromosomes; ?innumerable genes; 23 from each

parent; each parent has a mix of 23 from each of their parents, with a possible 529

variations in siblings possible from "virgin birth", and an almost impossibly large

quantum of variety possible for the first generation (529*528*527*526* ... *3*2*1).

Is this potential genetic diversity why Abraham could be promised a tribe that would be

unable to be numbered, like the stars, the sand on the beach?

Diversity - difference

Difference - potential for conflict

Scarcity and a closed system - potential for conflict

Difference & differentiation and coordination - potential for creative collaboration - the

"whole" being greater than the sum of the parts.

Difference: harmony and discord; contrast; -> interest and "life"/ movement in the visual arts

Movement of eye -> perception of movement. Eye movement is part of the process

of monitoring the environment for threats. The environment is "risky" and needs to

be monitored continuously for movement. An external movement in life represents a

threat - it may potentially be a predator about to attack. Therefore movement -> an

"excitement" experience, the first line of the automatic "stress response". When the

excitement doesn't lead to death, it becomes a "pleasurable" excitement.

So, in art, one of the contrivances to give pleasure is the simulation/ stimulation of

movement without danger.

So, in music, rhythm, which similarly reflects movement without danger, becomes a

pleasureable experience.

So, in storytelling, the "terror".

Lewis, CS (1947) Of This and Other Worlds. London: Collins, c.1982

"Excitement may be defined as the alternate tension and appeasement of

imagined anxiety" CS Lewis "On Stories", in Of This and Other Worlds p.29


"And here, I expect, we come to one of the differences between art and life. ...

[In life the] immediate issue of death would drive the contemplative object out

of mind. ... That is one of the functions of art: to present what the narrow and

desperately practical perspectives of real life exclude." CS Lewis "On Stories"

in Of This and Other Worlds p.33

SECTION 2: 2.1

As noted previously, I have done some work on the matter of "group" analysis, and group

conflict in the Assignment "Facilitation: The Use of Mediation Techniques & Processes in

Resolving Differences in Group Decision-Making"

Consequently, I do not intend visiting this area in any detail.

SEE ABSTRACT IN ATTACHMENT 1 (1.4)

Also, I have done some work on the matter of "competition" and "cooperation" in the

Assignment "Lessons to be learned from Disputes in the Construction Industry".

This aspect then, will taken as said.

SEE ABSTRACT IN ATTACHMENT 1 (1.6)

The bibliographic citations in both these assignments clearly relate to this summary.

Eichmann Syndrome: Milgram's experiments 1965 in

Westen, D Psychology: Mind, Brain & Culture. New York: Wiley, 1996 p. 662

2.2

NOTE 6: BIBLIOGRAPHIC SEARCH & SOURCES

In the first instance, because I have no formal tertiary studies background in psychology, I

needed to endeavour to plug some of that gap.

This led me to three current and basic texts: one for psychology in general; one on personality

theory, since that was where the Dispute Resolution studies/ material seemed to be coming

from, and one on social psychology.

This material had something on conflict, but not much.


Feeling this "gap", I went back to the University (UTS Quay Street) Library Collection.

The bibliographic searches applied to this collection gave:

1. 30 items with the LC subject heading "Conflict (Psychology)"; most of those related to

interpersonal conflict

2. 13 items with the LC subject heading "Competition (Psychology)"

3. Conflict (Psychology) was cross referenced to Competition (Psychology);

Interpersonal Conflict; Role Conflict

That raised the question for me: how much has been done on this, how much synthesised,

and/or focussed on the "fundamental"/ "foundational" aspects of conflict?

The next readily accessible bibliographic search for me was the NSW State Library.

Here the results were:

1. 25 titles with the subject heading Conflict (Psychology)

2. 10 titles with the subject heading Competition (Psychology)

3. 43 titles with the subject heading Interpersonal conflict

The next most accessible bibliographic approach for me (though only less accessible in the

first instance because time constraints for the assignment requirements would prohibit

effectively digesting the material revealed) would be by way of the electronic database

searching, accessing the material in social sciences journals, etc.

[When time permits, I am a one of those who likes to go back to the original to see if my

"reading" of the original captures anything else/ different to what other's digests conveys is

there - the "paradigm" selectivity issue.]

Then, from the material noted above, and/or serendipity when I got to the shelves, I found:

Folger, JP Poole, MS Stutman, RK Working through Conflict: Strategies

for Relationships, Groups, and Organizations. NY: HarperCollins, 2nd ed

c1993

As a recent publication, it has gone a fair way to synthesising the current position of research

and/or findings, if the "communication interaction" perspective of conflict is a sufficient

paradigm for understanding more about conflict and its role in society. My knowledge of

psychology is not sufficient enough to challenge their proposition.

Their work also went a fair way to explaining, for me, why there was not much about conflict

in the personality theories for perspectives other than the psychodynamic approach. And in

my reading, (again, so far as I was able to discern the issue with any clarity) the elements of

syncretism in the various paradigms extant in psychology appear to indicate the

psychodynamic approach has "infiltrated" the thinking of most practitioners in other areas.

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 38 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY SEE ATTACHMENT 6



I have since found that the first edition was 1984(?): Working through Conflict: (?with

communication in the subtitle); and there is now a third edition, 1997

Frey, Lawrence R (ed) Group Communication in Context: studies of natural groups.

Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994

Frey, Lawrence R (ed) Innovations in group facilitation techniques: applications in natural

settings. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Pr., 1995

2.3

NOTE 7: DEFINITIONS OF CONFLICT/ DEFINING THE NATURE OF CONFLICT

Other definitions include:

"Conflict 1. to come into collision; clash, or to be in opposition or at variance;

disagree.

2. to contend; do battle

3. a battle or struggle, esp. a prolonged struggle; strife

4. controversy; a quarrel

5. discord of action, feeling or effect; antagonism, as of interests or

principles

6. a striking together; collision" (Macquarie Concise Dictionary, c.1988)

"Dispute 1. to engage in argument or discussion

2. to argue vehemently; wrangle or quarrel

3. to argue or debate about; discuss

4. to quarrel or fight about; contest

5. argumentation; verbal contention; a debate or controversy; a quarrel"

(Macquarie Concise Dictionary, c.1988)

"Conflict "a situation of competition in which the parties are aware of the incompatibility of

potential future positions and in which each party wishes to occupy a position which is

incompatible with the wishes of the other". (Kenneth Boulding (1962 at p.5); Folberg &

Taylor Mediation: A comprehensive guide ... at p.20)" (Course Notes, 1996)

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 39 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY "Conflicts involve struggles between two or more people over values, or competition for

status power and scarce resources (Coser, 1967)." (Moore, 1986)

"A conflict exists whenever incompatible activities occur." (Deutsch: The Resolution of

Conflict. 1973)

"Conflict is the process that occurs when the actions of one person interfere with the actions

of another (Fincham & Bradbury, 1991). The potential for conflict increases as two people

become more interdependent. As interactions become more frequent and cover a more

diverse range of activities and issues, there are more opportunities for disagreement. (Taylor,

Peplau & Sears, 1997, p.270-1)

"The same situation may provide cues for more than one response. If both responses can

occur, there is no particular difficulty. ... However, if a situation provides cues for two

incompatible responses (ie responses that cannot both occur at the same time), there is

conflict." (Cloninger, 1966, p.312)

"Conflict is defined as a perceived threat to our collective or individual goals which are

associated with our intrapersonal and interpersonal wants. Conflicts can be "false", "latent"

or "actual" and its sources range from the biosocial to the structural and ideological. ...

Conflict has three important components - interests, emotions and values." (Condliffe, 1991,

p.1?)

"Conflict: A clash of interests, values, actions or directions. Conflict refers to the existence

of that clash. The word conflict is applicable from the instant that the clash occurs. Even

when we say that there is a potential conflict we are implying that there is already a conflict

of direction even though a clash may not yet have occurred." (deBono, 1985, p.1)

"Conflict is a dynamic phenomenon, ..., a manifest conflict process comprised of phases of

initiation, escalation, controlled maintenance, abatement, and termination/ resolution. A

manifest conflict process is a situation in which at least two actors, or their representatives,

try to pursue their perceptions of mutually incompatible goals by undermining, directly, or

indirectly, the goal-seeking capability of one another." (Sandole, 1993, p.6)

"... conflict is an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive

incompatible goals, scarce rewards, and interference from the other parties in achieving their

goals." (Adler et al, 1992)

Folger, JP Poole, MS Stutman, RK Working through Conflict: Strategies for Relationships, Groups, and


Organizations. NY: HarperCollins, 2nd ed c1993

The Macquarie Concise Dictionary. Sydney: Macquarie University, 2nd ed c.1988

Folberg, J and Taylor, A Mediation: A Comprehensive Guide to Resolving Conflicts Without Litigation.

San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass, 1984


Moore, CW The Mediation Process: Practical Strategies for Resolving Conflict. San Francisco, Calif.:

Jossey-Bass, 1986

Deutsch, M The Resolution of Conflict: Constructive and Destructive processes. New Haven: Yale

University Press, c.1973

Taylor, SE, Peplau, LA, Sears, DO Social Psychology. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1997, 9th ed [1st ed -

1970]

Cloninger, SC Theories of Personality: Understanding Persons. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1996, 2nd ed

Condliffe, P Conflict Management: a practical guide. Abbotsford, Vic.: TAFE, c.1991


Sandole, DJD, van der Merwe, H Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice: integration and application.

Manchester: Manchester UP, c.1993

Adler, RB Rosenfeld, LB Towne N Interplay: the Process of Interpersonal Communication. NY:

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 5th ed c.1992

For an indication of reinforcing cycles and the problems generated by them see:

Senge, PM The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organisation. Sydney: Random

House, 1992.

2.4

NOTE 8: SOURCES OF CONFLICT

Other analyses include:

"All conflict stems from one or a combination of the following sources:

• the commodities at stake

• the principles at stake


• the territory at stake

• the relationships involved." (Acland: A Sudden Outbreak of

Commonsense. 1990, p.51)

"A conflict, whatever its reality, is usually about one or another of several types of

issues. The five basic types of issues are:

• Control over resources

• Preferences and nuisances

• Values

• Beliefs

• The nature of the relationship between the parties." (Deutsch, 1973,

p.15-16)

"Another psychodynamic metaphor is that the mind is a battleground in which

factions struggle for expression." (Westen, 1996, p.13)

"The following would seem to "cohere" into the basis of a generic theory on the

initiation and escalation of violent conflict, with implications for conflict

resolution:

"(1) There does appear to be a physiological mechanism (inclusive of, eg the

hypothalamus and amygdala) that requires some kind of stimulation to be

activated to produce violent reactions, which can be influenced by learning

(Scott; Bandura)

"(2) During periods of threatened or actual violations of an actor's basic needs for security,

identity, and the like, elements of physiological mechanism (specifically, the limbic

system) may come to dominate the actor's neocortical rationality (MacLean's

shizophysiology), increasing the probability of a violent response to the perceived

source (or a surrogate of the source) of the frustrated needs (Davies; Burton; Dollard

et al.).

"(3) Frustration can be fed by perceived structural violence (Galtung) at various levels of

the actor's external environment, eg rank disequilibrium (Galtung) or relative

deprivation (Gurr).

"(4) The frustration-of-needs/ aggression nexus is both stimulated by, and in turn

stimulates, ethnocentrism (Sumner) and Realpolitik.

"(5) When two or more actors so characterized are parties to a conflict, then

frustration-of-needs/ aggression can generate a quasi-deterministic spiral, reflective of

Richardson's action-reaction processes (where, again, "men" in particular do "stop to

think", but in terms of Realpolitik), where the more involved in the process the actors


become, the more they will tend to overperceive and to overreact to threatened and

actual assaults to needs (North, et al), thereby fuelling the spiral (and MacLean's

shizophysiology/ Koestler's "Ghost in the Machine") even further, and increasing the

probability of generating what I call a negative self-fulfilling prophecies.

"(6) "Conflicts as process" (as well as "conflicts as start-up conditions", eg relative

deprivation) can be further exacerbated by environmental "shocks" and uncertainties

associated with developments at the international and global levels (eg proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction (Kaplan) and the Malthusian nightmare revisited

(Choucri and North; Clark; Mathews)).

"(7) "Conflict as process" is where third parties enter the scene, and their "trick" is to

create the "magic" by which Realpolitik-driven competitive processes can be replaced

(or supplemented) by Idealpolitik-based cooperative processes of conflict resolution."

(Sandole, 1993, p.20)

Acland, AF A Sudden Outbreak of Commonsense: Managing Conflict through Mediation. London:

Hutchinson Business Books, c.1990




Sandole, DJD, van der Merwe, H Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice: integration and application.

Manchester: Manchester UP, c.1993

2.5

NOTE 9: ARENAS OF CONFLICT INTERACTION

"Conflicts [in interpersonal settings] tell us a great deal about styles of conflict

interaction, emotional and irrational impulses, and the diversity of resources

people exchange in close or long-term relationships.

"Conflicts [in group settings] offer insights about decision-making procedures,

group cohesion, the influence of climates, coalitions, working habits, and the

distribution of power.

"Conflicts [in intergroup settings bring to the fore] issues of group identity,

stereotyping, and ideologies.

"Interpersonal conflicts are characterised by face-to-face exchanges among a


small number of people.

"Group conflicts involve a number of people who are members of some larger

unit.

"Intergroup conflicts often involve two or more large groups.

"As the number of people involved in a conflict increases, important features of

the conflict interaction change as well. In interpersonal conflicts, people usually

speak for themselves. In group or intergroup conflicts, spokespersons,

representatives are more likely to speak for the collective.

"... the type of interdependence [also differs] ... In interpersonal relationships,

parties depend on each other for a wide range of emotional, psychological, and

material resources. In group and intergroup conflicts the range of

interdependence is generally narrower. ... In task-oriented groups, people are

dependent on each other for achieving the goals the group has set for itself... In

intergroup relationships, members are dependent on each other for the

environment, or the division of a particular product market, or for group identity.

"Although these arenas differ in important ways, they are similar in one

important sense: interaction is central to conflicts. .. conflict unfolds as a series of

moves and reactions that are premised on people's perceptions, expectations, and

strategies.

"...most conflicts are concerned with power because power is integral to all forms

of interdependence among people." (Folger, et al (1993) p.6,7)

2.6

NOTE 10: THE ROLE OF CONFLICT IN SOCIETY

Other analyses include:

"Disputes are inevitable. How they are handled turns them into positive or

negative events." (Course Notes, c.1995)

Acland's analysis looks at:

10. The purposes of conflict

Searching for the causes of conflict

Conflict and Change

Negotiation and Change

Testing Change as the basis of conflict


Commercial conflict and change

Organizational conflict and change

Industrial Relations and change

Racial conflict and change

War and change

Acland p.73

"If conflict originated only in the minds of men, I would give up mediation and

become a brain surgeon or a psychoanalyst. But there is no need ... "

Deutsch:

"The central question underlying this investigation assumes that conflict is

potentially of personal and social value.

"Conflict has many positive functions:

• it prevents stagnation

• it stimulates interest and curiosity

• it is the medium through which problems can be aired and solutions

arrived at

• it is the root of personal and social change

• it is often part of the process of testing and assessing oneself, and as such,

may be highly enjoyable as one experiences the pleasure of the full and

active use of one's capacities

• demarcates groups from one another and thus helps establish group and

personal identities

• external conflict often fosters internal cohesiveness

[making up after the fight .. reaffirmation of relationship, or reestablishing

relationship on changed basis - now more deeply unified; the "bond/ing/s of

adversity]

p.9

Deutsch:

"Coser (1956, pp154-5):

"In loosely-structured groups and open societies .. Conflict .. aimed at a

resolution of tension between antagonists is likely to have stabilizing and

integrative functions for the relationship .. these systems avail themselves,

through toleration and institutionalization of conflict, of an important

stabilizing mechanism.

".. conflict within a group frequently helps to revitalize existent norms; or it

contributes to the emergence of new norms. In a sense, social conflict is a

mechanism for adjustment of norms adequate to new conditions. A flexible

society benefits from conflict because such behaviour, by helping to create and

modify norms, assures its continuance under changed conditions.

"Internal conflict can also serve as a means for ascertaining the relative


strength of antagonistic interests within the structure, and in this way constitute

a mechanism for the maintenance or continual readjustment of the balance of

power.

*****

p.9

Deutsch:

"I stress the positive functions of conflict ... because many discussions of conflict cast it in the

role of villain, as though conflict per se were the cause of psychopathology, social disorder,

war.

"A superficial reading of

• psychoanalytic theory with its emphasis on the "pleasure principle,"

• field theory with its stress on tension reduction, and

• dissonance theory with its preoccupation with dissonance reduction

would seem to suggest that the psychological utopia would be a conflict-free existence.

"Yet it is apparent that most people seek out conflict

• in competitive sports and games

• by going to the theater or reading a novel

• by attending to the news

• in the teasing interplay of intimate encounters

• and in their intellectual work.

"Fortunately, no-one has to face the prospect of a conflict-free existence."


Acland, AF A Sudden Outbreak of Commonsense: Managing Conflict through Mediation.

London: Hutchinson Business Books, c.1990

Deutsch, M The Resolution of Conflict: Constructive and Destructive processes. New Haven:

Yale University Press, c.1973

2.7

Phillips, K & Fraser, T The Management of Interpersonal Skills Training. Gower Publishing,

c.1982

Huxley, Aldous Ends and Means. London: Chatto & Windus, first published 1937, collected

edition 1946.


2.7.2

NOTE 11: THE COURSE OF CONFLICT

PRODUCTIVE & DESTRUCTIVE CONFLICT

TRACTABLE & INTRACTABLE CONFLICT

Deutsch

p.17

Destructive and Constructive Conflicts

.. a conflict has destructive consequences if its participants are dissatisfied with

the outcomes and feel they have lost as a result of the conflict.

.. a conflict has productive consequences if the articipants all are satisfied with

their outcomes and feel they have gained as a result of the conflict.

.. a conflict in which the outcomes are satisfying to all the participants will be

more constructive than one that is satisfying to some and dissatisfying to others.

Deutsch

p.351

13. Factors Influencing the Resolution of Conflict

Introduction

The Course of Destructive Conflict

Competitive effects

Misjudgement and misperception

Process of commitment

The Course of Productive Conflict

Factors affecting the Course of Conflict

Process

Prior Relationship

The Nature of Conflict

Conflict Size

Issue Control

Issue Rigidity

Centrality of the Issues

The number and interdependence of the Issues

Consensus on the importance of different Issues

Consciousness of the Issues

The Characteristics of the Parties in Conflict

Estimations of Success

Third Parties

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 47 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY The Regulation of Conflict

The Development of Conflict Regulation

Adherence to the Rules

Effective Conflict Regulation

Changing the Course of Conflict

Conclusion

Kreisberg, et al

p.9 Conclusion

1. Deeply intractable conflicts do not result purely from a failure of the parties to reach

efficient resolutions; thus such conflicts are unlikely to be resolved simply by outside

parties suggesting hitherto unseen zones of agreement.

2. If such conflicts are to be transformed (though Wynn appropriately warns against the

naive assumption that transformation is always desirable from all points of view), it is

important to attend to the distinctive historical and social features of the particular

conflict.

3. There exists no single most promising technical approach to the study and

transformation of intractable conflicts.

4. Analysts ought to be familiar with a variety of approaches and be flexible in their

application of any specific one.

Northrup (1989) in Kriesberg, L Northrup, TA Thorson, SJ Intractable Conflicts and Their

Transformation. [?]: Syracuse Univ Pr, [?1989]

An Alternative Approach: A Model for Analysis

p.58-61

1. Conflict evolves over time

2. There are multiple levels to every conflict

Conflict is viewed as a psychosocial process: Intrapersonal processes of the

individuals who are involved in a conflict interact with social processes which occur

in the course of a relationship. Further, these social and psychological processes are

affected by the greater social, cultural, historical, and political context of the conflict.

3. There are multiple factors at any level and any time

4. Most factors at all levels have both a subjective component and an objective

component.

Much theoretical work related to conflict and conflict resolution reveals a controversy

concerning whether "external," objective factors such as scarce resources or troubled

economies are the primary cause of conflict, or whether cognitive or "subjective"

factors are the predominant cause of conflict.


The present analysis contends that both of these factors play an important role in most

conflicts. .. Rather than existing apart from each other, external factors and the

meanings attributed to these external factors, and to the self in relation to them,

interact dynamically in the course of most conflicts.

5. The distribution of power between or among parties has a significant impact on the

course and conduct of a conflict

Tractability and Intractability

p.62

An intractable conflict is defined as a prolonged conflictual psychosocial process between (or

among) parties that has three primary characteristics:

1. it is resistant to being resolved

2. it has some conflict-intensifying features not related to the initial issues in contention

3. it involves attempts (and/or successes) to harm the other party, by at least one of the

parties

(The fact that the attempt to harm is included in the definition of intractability, rather than a

symptom of intractability, is particularly significant to the dynamic of identity.)

4. An intractable conflict will have features unrelated to the issues in contention which

serve to escalate the conflict:

4.1 poor or nonexistent communication

4.2 rigidity in positions

4.3 a high level of hostility

4.4 parties are likely to conceptualise the conflict in win-lose terms

4.5 parties are likely to be unable or stubbornly unwilling to move from initial

positions

4.6 they rarely participate in creative problem solving

4.7 they rarely suggest alternative solutions to the dispute

4.8 in fact the conflict may well be accepted as inevitable, or even be glorified, and

will be acted out in a ritualised fashion

A tractable dispute can be defined as a conflict that is part of a normal process of relationship

between individuals or parties who perceive that they have incompatible goals. It can be

contrasted with intractability in several ways:

1. there are ongoing attempts to resolve the dispute

2. the features of the dispute generally are related to the issues in contention

3. resistance to resolution is at a low level

4. the intent to harm is rare and low-level where it occurs

5. the conflict lasts a "normal" amount of time

6. the conflict has several conflict-mitigating features

6.1 communication is generally open between parties

6.2 parties are usually flexible to some degree in their ability to reformulate issues

and to formulate possible solutions

6.3 they are likely to accept the legitimacy of the needs of the other party, even


though they may disagree on specific solutions

6.4 there is some degree of goodwill between parties

6.5 there is a perception of the conflict as a common problem to be worked out

6.6 there is a willingness to generate several possible options for settlement

6.7 there is a desire to find a sloution that meets the needs and interests of both (or

all) parties.



Kriesberg, L Northrup, TA Thorson, SJ Intractable Conflicts and Their Transformation. [?]: Syracuse

Univ Pr, [?1989]

2.8

FOR BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATIONS FOR SECTION 2.8 SEE ATTACHMENTS 7 &8

SECTION 3: 3.1

Power, Mary R "Educating Mediators Metacognitively" (1992) 3 Australian Dispute

Resolution Journal, 1992, Vol 3, 214-226

Sandole, DJD, van der Merwe, H Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice: integration and

application. Manchester: Manchester UP, c.1993

3.2

ACE STUFF

NLP STUFF JULES COLLINGWOOD

Stuart, M and Parker, A Switch on Your Brain. Sydney: Hale & Ironmonger, c.1986

Buzan, T and Keene, R Buzan's Book of Genius: and How to Unleash Your Own. London:

Stanley Paul, c.1994




3.3

Broome, B "Managing differences in conflict resolution: the role of relational empathy." in



3.4

Allen, D Facilitation: The Use of Mediation techniques & Processes in Resolving Differences

in Group Decision-Making. [Unpublished] Assignment for course work on Advanced

Mediation for the UTS MDR, November, 1996.

NOTE 12: THE NATURE OF THE MEDIATION PROCESS

According to Bormann, (p.233-4) & Frey (Innovations p.7, 1995) the process used

in the UTS model, (and by Acland, Moore, Folberg & Taylor, etc) is typical of

John Dewey's steps in "reflective thinking" and/or the typical western analysis/

synthesis approach.

Again, in Bormann, (p.235-9) there is mention of an alternative structure of process: the

holistic/ intuitive/ creative approach with its elements of: conception; preparation; incubation;

illumination and verification. This kind of thinking is more typical of the oriental.

Mediation/ Facilitation in a group with a mixed ethnic background, including the oriental,

may need to take this source of difference into account.

Bormann, Ernest G. Small group communication: theory and practice. New York: Harper &

Row, 1990, 3rd ed.

Frey, Lawrence R (ed) Innovations in group facilitation techniques: applications in natural

settings. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Pr., 1995

3.5

Allen, D Equipping Staff to Handle Disputes Effectively in Local Government. [Unpublished] Research

Assignment for course work on Dispute Resolution for the UTS MDR, May, 1996.

2. INTERACTIONS/ POTENTIAL FOR DISPUTE IN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

WORKPLACE: .......................................................................................... 20

2.1 OVERVIEW: ................................................................................. 20

2.2 DETAILED BREAKDOWN OF INTERACTIONS: .................... 20

2.2.1 Customer Service: .............................................................. 20


2.2.2 Regulatory Responsibilities: .............................................. 20

2.2.3 Staff Interactions: Peers; Superior/ Subordinates; Industrial21

2.2.4 Involvement in Community Development: ........................ 21

2.2.5 New Legislation: Transparency, Accountability, Interactive Processes

............................................................................................ 21

2.3 INTERACTION AND POTENTIAL FOR DISPUTE:.................. 22

2.4 KINDS OF DISPUTATIONS: ....................................................... 23


Univ Pr, [?1989]

Introduction:

Conceptual Issues

Substantive Issues

Conclusion

Part 1: Sources of Intractability

1. Reasoning and Intractability

2. The Roots of Environmental Conflict in the Tahoe Basin

3. Beyond Reason

Part 2: Dynamics of Intractability

4. The Dynamic of Identity in Personal and Social Conflict

5. Custody Disputes and the Victims

6. Managing "The Labor Problem" in the United States ca 1897-1911

Northrup, TA (1989) "The Dynamic of Identity in Personal and Social Conflict" in

Intractable Conflicts and Their Transformation.

Allen, D Issues in Training in Negotiation Skills for an Organisational Setting. [Unpublished]

Assignment for course work on Negotiation for the UTS MDR, June, 1996

SEE ATTACHMENT 1 (1.3) FOR ABSTRACT

Allen, D Facilitation: The Use of Mediation techniques & Processes in Resolving Differences in

Group Decision-Making. [Unpublished] Assignment for course work on Advanced Mediation for

the UTS MDR, November, 1996.


Allen, D Lessons to be Learned from the Experience of Disputes in the Construction Industry.


[Unpublished] Assignment for course work on Construction Industry Dispute Resolution for the

UTS MDR, March, 1997


3.6

NOTE 13: IDENTITY FROM THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE AREA

For history and geography of the Shellharbour local government area, and Shellharbour within the

coastal Illawarra context, see:

Derbyshire, J and Allen, D Land Between Two Rivers: a historical and pictorial survey of

Shellharbour Municipality. Shellharbour Municipal Council, 1984

Bayley, WA Green Meadows: Centenary history of Shellharbour Municipality. Shellharbour

Municipal Council, 1959; reprinted with index and minor factual tables updated 1986

Allen D, The Shellharbour Area 1975. Paper prepared for Shellharbour Council.

Allen, D The Illawarra Region Report: A Preliminary to Planned Development. [Limited

publication] 1974

3.6.4

NOTE 14: THE NATURE OF STRATEGIC THINKING

Rumelt, RR Evaluating Business Strategy. in Mintzberg, H, Quinn, JB The

Strategy Process: concepts, contexts, cases. London: Prentice-Hall, 1996, 3rd ed

(1991 2nd, 1988 1st)NOTES

p.62

"In most firms comprehensive strategy evaluation is infrequent and, if it occurs, is

normally triggered by a change in leadership or financial performance. The fact

that comprehensive strategy evaluation is neither a regular event nor part of a

formal system .. there are several good reasons for this. The annual becomes

automatic .. it strongly channels the type of questions asked and inhibits

broad-ranging reflection. Second, a good strategy does not need constant


reformulation. It is a framework for continuing problem solving, not the problem

solving itself."

[My comment: There is therefore some advantage from the occasional

implementation of the latest fad - if it allows fundamental review from a different

framework to challenge preconceptions and establish a context for innovative

perceptions to form which can be applied to form a more powerful strategy. eg

Zero-base budgeting now and then asks each unit to "justify" its position - but

even that has limitations - the old justification not the new opportunities/ options

generation process.]

Porter, ME "From Competitive Advantage to Corporate Strategy" in Mintzberg,

H, Quinn, JB The Strategy Process: concepts, contexts, cases. London:

Prentice-Hall, 1996, 3rd ed (1991 2nd, 1988 1st)

p.727

"Corporate strategy, the overall plan for a diversified company, is both the darling and the

stepchild of contemporary management practice - the darling because CEOs have been

obsessed with diversification since the early 1960s, the stepchild because almost no

consensus exists about what corporate strategy is, much less about how a company should

formulate it."

"A diversified company has two levels of strategy: business unit (or competitive) strategy and

corporate (or companywide) strategy. Competitive strategy concerns how to create

competitive advantage in each of the businesses in which a company competes. Corporate

strategy concerns two different questions: what businesses the corporation should be in and

how the corporate office should manage the array of business units."

"Corporate strategy is what makes the corporate whole add up to more than the sum of its

business unit parts. "

"The track record of corporate strategies has been dismal."

p.728

"Any successful corporate strategy builds on a number of premises:

1. Competition occurs at the business unit level

2. Diversification inevitably adds costs and constraints to business units

3. Shareholders can readily diversify themselves"

p.729

"To understand how to formulate corporate strategy, it is necessary to specify the conditions

under which diversification will truly create shareholder value. These conditions can be

summarised in three essential tests:

1. The attractiveness test

2. The cost-of-entry test

3. The better-off test"


p.731

"My study has helped me to identify four concepts of corporate strategy that have been put

into practice - portfolio management, restructuring, transferring skills, and sharing activities.

While the concepts are not always mutually exclusive, each rests on a different mechanism by

which the corporation creates shareholder value and each requires the diversified company to

manage and organise itself in a different way. The first two require no connections between

business units; the second two depend on them."

p.731

"... more and more observers believe managers cannot necessarily run anything in the absence

of industry-specific knowledge and experience ..."

p.735

"A company can choose a corporate strategy by:

1. Identifying the interrelationships among already existing business units ..

2. Selecting the core business that will be the foundation of the corporate strategy ..

3. Creating horizontal organisational mechanism to facilitate interrelationships among

the core businesses and lay the groundwork for future related diversification ..

4. Pursuing diversification opportunities that allow shared activities ..

5. Pursuing diversification through the transfer of skills if opportunities for sharing

activities are limited or exhausted ..

6. Pursuing a strategy of restructuring if this fits the skills of management or no good

opportunities exist for forging corporate relationships ..

7. Paying dividends so that the shareholders can be the portfolio managers ..."

And, for Australian conditions, we have from the Karpin stuff on management skills:

Enterprising Nation: Renewing Australia's Managers to Meet the Challenges of the

Asia-Pacific Century [Executive Summary]

Executive Summary p.5

"Enhanced productivity and innovative capacity in any enterprise depend on two groups of

people - employees and managers. Attention and effort applied to improving the skills and

productivity of the Australia workforce over the last decade have begun to impact on the

performance of the Australian economy. Yet managers - whose skills can determine

enterprise and economic performance - have received scant attention from analysts and

policy-makers. If we have already seen significant gains from workplace reform, it could well

be that management reform will drive our competitiveness in the future."

[My comment: Local government enterprises in NSW range from the small to medium level

(in the Karpin categories); though the industry as a whole could be considered as a "large

enterprise".]

The greatest needs for skill development, for small to medium enterprises, identified by

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 55 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY Karpin report include: (ES: p.7,8)

(entrepreneurship)

management development

quality commitment

soft skills

strategic skills

Karpin ES p.8:

"While the nature of large enterprises tends to familiarise managers with strategic planning

concepts, in the main Australian enterprises and their managers have too short-term a focus.

Furthermore, while levels of management development are probably adequate .. much of this

development lacks a strategic focus. Hence, although this is not the largest gap, it may be the

most difficult to bridge - involving as it does a profound change in top management thinking."

[My comment: We cannot do what we do not know how to do. There are limited role

models in the large enterprise of proficiency in the concept of "strategy"/ "strategic planning".

There is therefore limited societal knowledge of it in Australia to filter through to local

government.]

[My comment: If strategic planning is "right brain" activity, then it will be difficult for

anyone from the typical occidental business world to make it explicit. They will be able to

"do" it, but will be less able to explain the "rationale" so that someone else can apply the

"technique". If it involves the "holistic"/ "big picture" thinking, that will the forte of some,

rather than others. deBono in Opportunities may have something to say to this issue.]

Mintzberg, H, Quinn, JB The Strategy Process: concepts, contexts, cases. London: Prentice-Hall, 1996,

3rd ed (1991 2nd, 1988 1st)

Handy, C Gods of Management: the Changing Work of Organisations. London: Random House, c.1978


Univ Pr, [?1989]

Northrup, TA (1989) "The Dynamic of Identity in Personal and Social Conflict" in Intractable Conflicts

and Their Transformation.

Allen, D Resources for Strategic Interventions used by Mediators, Facilitators and Conciliators.

[Unpublished] Presentation Assignment for course work on Dispute Resolution for the UTS MDR, 4

May, 1996


ATTACHMENTS

ATTACHMENT 1: ABSTRACTS FROM PREVIOUS ASSIGNMENTS

1.1 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS:

As noted in the introductory remarks, this assignment takes "as read" previous material on

disputes and dispute resolution dealt with in previous assignments.

To give some indication of the scope of that material, the following abstracts are tendered:

The first major assignment looked at:

1.2 EQUIPPING STAFF TO HANDLE DISPUTES EFFECTIVELY

IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

ABSTRACT:

This paper seeks to address the task of equipping local government staff to

effectively handle disputes that arise in the workplace.

The paper seeks to do this by:

1. reviewing the context of local government

2. reviewing the nature of disputes that present in the local

government workplace

3. identifying the skills required in dealing with those disputes

4. looking at the training required to develop those skills

5. reviewing the current training that is readily available to local

government

6. considering the development of dispute handling systems

appropriate for a local government body

7. considering a training plan to develop dispute resolution skills,

for a local government body

8. reviewing some of the literature of dispute resolution to see

what insights may be provided from this alternative source

The second assignment, looked at

1.3 ISSUES IN TRAINING IN NEGOTIATION SKILLS FOR AN

ORGANISATIONAL SETTING

ABSTRACT:


This report seeks to explore the issues arising from the consideration to

provide training in negotiation skills in the workplace.

The report does this by:

1. reviewing impressions and implications from personal

experience of negotiation skill training

2. reviewing recent literature on the subject

3. seeking to apply these reflections to the task of determining

curriculum and presentation - training techniques.

The report notes the nature of effective negotiation skill training: with its

inherent "interpersonal" aspect and the reliance on experiential learning, often

in the context of a simulation, or role play.

Since interpersonal (and hence negotiation) skills are reflected in behaviour,

and behaviour is instructed by the formation of self-concept (the intrapersonal),

the individual needing such training most is the one who has a dysfunctional

behaviour formed as part of their self-concept.

To change this behaviour requires framebreaking and new frame formation.

This is a task which is complex; takes time; and will require significant effort

by participant and trainer, with the trainer especially on notice to sustain a

model of consistent pattern of behaviour congruent with the new frame, and to

provide instruction on the new frame of perception and approach and reinforce

congruent behaviour in the participant when it is attempted.

The risk of effective framebreaking is that it may include psychological

breakdown.

In that event, if the training has been sponsored by the organisation, then the

organisation has some responsibility for having contributed to the breakdown.

Without adequate management of the training, the events, and the

consequences, and adequate support to maintain the individual while the new

frame is constructed, the organisation could be held responsible for negligence

through current occupational health and safety legislation.

Planning and delivering such training, if required of the organisation, is then a

very sensitive issue, requiring support mechanisms not always associated with

a typical training program.

The third assignment looked at

1.4 FACILITATION: THE USE OF MEDIATION TECHNIQUES &

PROCESSES IN RESOLVING DIFFERENCES IN GROUP

DECISION-MAKING


ABSTRACT:

The task of facilitating group endeavour is particularly relevant to current

social conditions.

It is important in the development (or maintenance) of organisational

effectiveness.

For those involved in, or associated with, local government, community

consultation and participative decision-making is becoming an increasingly

important part of responsiveness to community expectations. The new

legislative context delivered by the Local Government Act, 1993, makes such

things part and parcel of the local public policy process.

Facilitation is beginning to be seen as a significant tool in such consultative

and participative contexts.

Its capacity includes an ability to assist in conflict management, or dispute

resolution if necessary, having a role to play in helping communities deal with

differences which might otherwise develop into debilitating disputes.

This report seeks to

1. explore the nature of facilitation of group activity and

2. give some consideration to the task of developing facilitation

skills for use in the workplace (especially as applied to local

government).

It does this by:

1. looking at the activities and processes used in the alternative

dispute resolution process of mediation, and

2. identifying how much common ground there is between

mediation and the activities and processes used in facilitating

group processes and group decision making.

It then looks, in some detail, at the present level of understanding of group

processes.

The report then seeks to gather this, and other study*, together and to conclude

with a consideration of the basic requirements in the development of

knowledge and skills for facilitators. (The knowledge and skills identified are

obviously useful, and applicable, to the mediation of multi-party disputes.)

(*Other study: "Equipping staff to handle disputes effectively in

local government" - Assignment for Dispute Resolution Unit,

May 1996)


The fourth assignment looked at

1.5 LEARNING FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF DISPUTES AT

SHELLHARBOUR CITY COUNCIL.

ABSTRACT:

This paper looks at a number of experiences that Shellharbour Council has had

with disputes over the period 1974-1996. These experiences are generally

illustrative of the context of disputes in local government.

From a review of this experience it is apparent that Shellharbour Council, since

1974/5, is an organisation which has generally been open to different ways of

dealing with disputes.

The organisational learning process, derived from these experiences, over this

period, has tended to set a relatively progressive culture for handling disputes.

Nevertheless, given the context of change in local government, and continued

growth and complexity of issues that Shellharbour Council can anticipate

facing in the future, there is room for a more strategic effort to improve its

present performance. The "case studies"/ experience then form a resource

from which the organisation can continue to learn for such improved

performance.

The fifth assignment looked at:

1.6 LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF

DISPUTES IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

ABSTRACT:

The main theme of this submission can be described in the adage:

"Those that do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it."

The analysis involves looking at the experience of the construction industry

and disputes:

the nature of the disputes

the source of the disputes

the endeavours to deal more effectively with disputes

to see if there are lessons to be learned, warnings to be taken.


The particular application of any such lessons is to local government, where:

the present context of local government involves significant pressures

for change,

one such pressure is the challenge of competition.

This challenge, which appears to promise transformation of the present mode

of local government operations (in order to deliver on the industry obligations

to the National Competition Policy), is but one manifestation of the current

debate on the role of the government in a market economy.

The lessons learned from the experience of the construction industry may serve

to instruct this debate.

ATTACHMENT 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION- WHAT INSIGHTS THE LITERATURE MAY PROVIDE TO DEAL WITH THIS TASK

EXTRACT FROM EQUIPPING STAFF TO HANDLE DISPUTES EFFECTIVELY IN

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

8. REVIEW OF LITERATURE OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION- WHAT

INSIGHTS THE LITERATURE MAY PROVIDE TO DEAL WITH

THIS TASK:

My review of the literature of dispute resolution is not exhaustive, nor does it intend to be

exhaustive. I have started with the recommended reading for the course, together with some

exploration of the collection at the UTS Library, Quay Street. Then, because there is not

very much yielded directly in these sources, which is appropriate to my objective, I have

needed and, in some cases, been able, to chase back through their references.

The detail of my findings in this regard are found in Attachment 12.

Then, as I have compiled this report, with its focus on skill formation and development, in the

local government industry, the bibliography charts another strand of literature survey.

The most recent comprehensive survey of this area is provided in either

Mary Power's article in the Australian Dispute Resolution Journal (1992) 3 (214-226).

or

Astor & Chinkin's "Dispute resolution in Australia".

My conclusions, from the information in the sources reviewed, are:


1. The key areas, where skill development is needed, for effective dispute

resolution are:

1.1 the interpersonal skills of:

1.1.1 communication

1.1.2 perceiving emotions

1.2 negotiation skills

1.3 analysis to help clarify interests

1.4 invention and creativity in devising realistic options

1.5 organisational and planning skills

2. The key areas, where knowledge development is needed, for effective dispute

handling are:

2.1 interpersonal knowledge

2.1.1 self-awareness & personal development

2.1.2 other-awareness

2.2 alternative strategy knowledge for

2.2.1 negotiation

2.2.2 counselling

2.2.3 mediation

2.2.4 training

Training? If you can handle disputes effectively and know how and why - then teach others

to do it as well!!

2.3 ethical norms knowledge for

2.3.1 personal behaviour

2.3.2 other party behaviour (including cross-cultural knowledge)

2.3.3 codes of conduct for negotiation, counselling, mediation,

training

2.3.4 the community standards expressed in current arbitration/

litigation

3. The key areas, where the development of theoretical understanding is needed,

for effective dispute handling are:


3.2 nature of power


3.4 nature of learning

***********************************


ATTACHMENT 3: EXTRACT FROM EQUIPPING STAFF TO HANDLE DISPUTES EFFECTIVELY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ATTACHMENT 12:

8. REVIEW OF LITERATURE OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION - WHAT INSIGHTS

THE LITERATURE MAY PROVIDE TO DEAL WITH THIS TASK:


exhaustive. I have started with the recommended reading of the course, together with some



needed and, in some cases, been able to chase back through their references.

The detail of my findings in this regard are as follows:

8.1 Dispute Resolution/Goldberg Sander & Rogers, 2nd ed, Little, Brown &

Co, 1992

p.164-171 looks at the issue of mediator qualifications, and cites SPIDR (1989) material.

This notes regulations from the Florida Supreme Court requiring credentials: master's degree

in social work, mental health, behavioural or social sciences; psychiatrists; attorneys; and

certified public accountants.

SPIDR believes that performance criteria such as

1. neutrality

2. demonstrated knowledge of relevant practices and procedures

3. ability to listen and understand

4. ability to write a considered opinion for arbitrators

and "... while recognising the difficulty of the task, the Commission believes that it is possible

to test for competence and well worth the effort it entails ..."

8.2 Dispute Resolution in Australia/Hilary Astor Christine M Chinkin.

Butterworths, Sydney, 1992

p.213-241 looks at the issues of mediator training, ethics and responsibility

p.219-221 discusses content of training and there identifies:

1. process (of mediation)

2. interpersonal skills

3. negotiation skills

4. techniques for

4.1 breaking an impasse

4.2 eliciting additional information

4.3 diffusing or dealing with emotions


4.4 prioritising interests

4.5 developing a range of options

4.6 creating an atmosphere conducive to frank and open exchange of views

4.7 proposing a recourse to further expert opinion and advising on access to

such opinion

p.220 notes methods of training including:

1. practical exercises

2. experiential learning

3. role plays

4. simulation exercises

5. brainstorming

6. group work

7. constructive feedback from trainers and fellow trainees

8. full debriefing

9. observation and critical evaluation of mediation videos

10. lectures imparting information (limited)

p.220 notes that training needs to go beyond technical skills to include:

1. understanding conflict

2. substantive knowledge relevant to the context of the disputes to be mediated

3. mediation ethics

3.1 what constitutes appropriate ethical behaviour

3.2 what codes of conduct apply to the mediator

4. mediation standards of practice

5. personal development of the mediator

5.1 understanding mediator's own personality

5.2 understanding the mediator's own style

5.3 understanding the issues that the mediator brings to mediation

5.4 understanding of the impact of disputes and disputants on the mediator

p.221 notes the theoretical perspective required:

1. nature of conflict and its role in society

2. nature of power

3. nature of human beings

8.3 Dewdney, M, Sordo, B and Chinkin C Evaluation ...

p.104 discusses the question of a mediator having experience in the particular substantive

area - especially of litigation in the area, and noted

1. the research does not indicate/ support experience as being a necessary

pre-cursor to success (if success is measured as settlement), but notes that in

their sample the more experienced mediators were allocated to the more


difficult tasks

2. experience leading to self-confidence in the mediator with the matters in

dispute can assist establish the credibility of the mediator and inspire

confidence in the disputants with the process

3. the greater risk of the downside where the mediator may breach the principle

of not giving legal advice

and concludes "Perhaps the requirement of specialist litigation experience should be

recommended for complex cases only."

8.4 Charlton, R and Dewdney M The Mediator's Handbook, LBC Information

Services, 1995

p.168-179 deals with communication skills and their application in mediation, and notes:

1. passive listening

2. active listening

3. reframing

changing words:

3.1 paraphrases

3.2 summarises

3.3 puts a series of statements into a more logical sequence or groups the

statements into sub-issues

3.4 re-states an issue in more general terms

3.5 neutralises negative statements

3.6 mutualises parties' statements

changing the context of the statement:

3.7 redefines a positional statement in terms of underlying interests

3.8 restates one party's interests in terms which are mutually acceptable

3.9 stresses the positive elements from one party's communication and

plays down the negative ones

3.10 minimises the differences between the parties' perspectives

3.11 changes the time context from the past to the future

4. questioning

4.1 closed questions

4.2 open-ended questions

4.3 hypothetical questions

8.5 Zilinskas A, "The Training of Mediators - is it necessary?" in (1995) 6

ADRJ 58-70

notes the following from Cruikshank:

1. Knowledge 1.1 of theory of negotiation and mediation

1.2 of strategies, stages and tactics in both negotiation and


mediation (the process)

1.3 of the rules applicable to legal disputes (substantive and

procedural knowledge - the context in which the dispute

will be mediated)

2. Skills 2.1 the actions and intellectual processes of mediation from

pre-mediation to settlement by the parties including

analytical, communication, organisational and planning

skills

3. Attitudes 3.1 the ethics, values and professionalism exhibited by the

mediator in relationship to personal values and

established codes of professional conduct

8.6 Faulkes, W "The Dispute Resolution Industry - Defining the Industry and

Establishing Competencies" (1994) 5 ADRJ 285-292

This was disappointing. It only raised the issue of the need to define competencies.

8.7 Power, Mary R "Educating Mediators Metacognitively" (1992) 3 ADRJ

214-226

makes the case for the nature of the training reflecting an understanding of how adults learn

(metacognitive approach)

and then identifies the following techniques (from Moore):

1. reframing to allow parties to see the issue in a new way

2. expanding the pie by adding issues

3. trading components of differing importance to negotiators

4. seeking solutions which meet all needs

from Fisher comes:

1. conflict resolving skills

1.1 active listening

1.2 summarising

1.3 being assertive

2. dispute resolution skills

2.1 ???

from Effron notes

1. Communication theory

1.1 listening skills

1.2 perceiving emotion skills

from Folberg & Taylor notes

1. abilities in


1.1 isolating issues

1.2 testing reality

1.3 assessing needs

1.4 directing negotiations

1.5 information sharing

1.6 motivation

from Egan notes

1. counselling skills

modern counselling strategies for keeping clients focussed:

1. taking the client's concerns seriously

2. coming to a contractual working arrangement with the client

3. guiding the client in choosing which issues to focus on first

4. helping the client explore and clarify relevant issues in terms of specific

experiences, behaviours and feelings

5. using summaries or getting the client to summarise as a way of remaining

concrete and of keeping the client from rambling

6. understanding the client's perspective even when you think his or her

perspective needs to be transcended

7. using communication skills, especially probing questions, to make sure that the

client gets a fuller understanding of the problem situation

from Astor & Chinkin comes

1. understanding of the relevant law

2. understanding of the dynamics of human relationships

others include:

1. ability to analyse and conceptualise beyond the "common sense" level

2. ethics

from Argyris comes:

1. framebreaking - recognising the link between facts and emotions

skills in reframing issues and situations

8.7 Allen, D, Resources for Strategic Interventions used by Mediators,

Facilitators and Conciliators - Presentation Assignment for course work

on Dispute Resolution for the UTS MDR, 4 May, 1996.

My own analysis of the nature of interventions (using the Wade list) noted the importance of

understanding (and therefore having appropriate interventions for) issues of:


1. the perceptions involved in interpersonal interactions

2. communication

3. emotion

Having

1. skills in analysis to help clarify interests;

2. skills/knowledge with inventing/ raising realistic options;

3. knowledge of objective criteria for reality testing

will assist the other aspects of the mediation when the negotiation being facilitated is the

"principled interest-based" negotiation approach.

ATTACHMENT 4: THE BIBLICAL CONSTRUCT DEALING WITH CONFLICT:

(Some of this material was prepared for the purposes of discussing "conflict" and ways of

dealing with it amongst interested parishioners, particularly lay pastors.)

For instance, in the Bible: Conflict is apparent from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20.

There it is portrayed as a consequence of sin: the rebellion of the creature from a

voluntary, worshipful relationship with the creator; the destruction of that

fundamental/ foundational relationship, and the consequential perversion of all other

relationships.

*worshipful - right worship = recognition of nature of dependence: not "raw"

dependence, not rebellious "independence"; rather, unexpectedly, a true

interdependence - this God has bound Himself to His creation. Man (humanity) is

given discretionary independence: "made in God's image"; and authorised: "be fruitful

and multiply, and ....". But is expected to relate rightly with God: "walk and talk in

the garden.."

Where this right relationship is in place, "walking humbly before your God", then

other relationships can "fall into place", become "naturally", full, mature, and "good"

... "to do justly and love mercy" (Micah 6:8). This is the essence of human maturity:

"mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13).

The solution is given as a right relationship restored, by the substitutionary death of

Jesus Christ; with the restoration of the original purpose in a new creation.

ie conflict is a fundamental given of human life in a fallen world

The rebellion came over the issue of obedience to the command: "You are free to eat from

any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for

when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 2:16,17


In the context of these studies, the question arises to what extent this conveys something of

"knowledge" and "knowing" and the question of a fundamental dichotomy: that of "good" and

"evil". Was this the source of the "disintegration" of mind that we find reflected in

intrapsychic conflict? There had been two other commands given before this (if chronology

means anything in the Bible, and I suspect that it does). Those two commands have been

obeyed. They did not fall to the ground with this rebellion. The tree of life was also there in

the garden, and once the disobedience of the third command had been perpetrated it was now

necessary to keep the man and the woman from eating of its fruit, and the consequences of

that. Genesis 3:22

"Knowing good and evil" was a godly characteristic Genesis 3:22.

There are specific instructions given on how to live life, which if followed would minimise

the potential for conflict:

Exodus 20 - Ten Commandments:

Commandments 1-4: right relationship with God/ creator;

1 no other gods - exclusiveness

2 no idols - do not distort perception

3 not take the name of the Lord in vain - "name of the Lord" a concept of power -

"whatever you ask in my name, that will be ..."

4 remember to keep the sabbath holy -

Commandment 5: right relationship with parents;

Commandments 6-10: right relationships with neighbours

6 no murder - the guarantee of personal security for all

7 no adultery - the guarantee of security in intimacy

8 no stealing - the guarantee of security for property/ resources

9 no false witness - part of self esteem; the esteem of others

10 no coveting - guarding against the distortion of perception that would lead to

any one of the previous 6-9 breaches

Note the order, priority significance: God first; family next; neighbour next -> the

intrapersonal, the interpersonal intimates and interpersonal non-intimates

Pentateuch: Other elaborations of detail working out of these ten fundamental

principles.

Matthew 5:17-7:29: The recasting of these commands focussing more on the intention

whether or not it leads to the act: the intrapersonal source of motivation

Also, the chronology of teaching in the gospels follows a like priority: the kingdom of


heaven first; relationship with God, the sabbath, with God's representative, the

miracles demonstrating the signs of the restoration of creation; the challenges to the

teaching: sabbath Matthew 12; family loyalty/ relationship Matthew 12; clean and

unclean - the distortion of priority in the law and legalism Matthew 15; divorce

Matthew 19; taxes to Caesar Matthew 22; marriage/ divorce Matthew 22;

Luke 12 dividing the inheritance

There are many Case Studies of conflict and alternative approaches to their resolution, some

successes, some failures:

David & Saul

David & Abigail

David & Absalom

There are other exemplars:

Joseph & his brothers

Moses and his people - the leader and the led

In captivity: Daniel; Shadrach, Meshach; Abednego; Esther & Mordecai

One of the texts on Mediation (C W Moore) quotes:

1 Timothy 2:5-6

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus; who

gave himself as ransom for all, to be testified in due time."

Word study: "mediator" = Greek "mesites" which means "middle man"; it is used 6 times in

the New Testament:

Galatians 3: 19

What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed

to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a

mediator.

Galatians 3:20

A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.

1 Timothy 2:5-6

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who

gave himself as a ransom for all men - the testimony given in its proper time.

Hebrews 8:6


But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is

mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.

Hebrews 9:15

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may

receive the promised eternal inheritance - now that he has died as a ransom to set them free

from the sins committed under the first covenant.

Hebrews 12:24

["You have come to God, the judge of all men, ..] to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant,

and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel".

THE CONCEPT OF MEDIATOR IN SCRIPTURE:

The concept of "mediator" / "middle man" is much older than just these New Testament

references and there are two sides to the coin of restoring relationship between God and man:

1. the "priest": the mediator between man and God, dealing with man's side of the

restitution of the relationship by the conduct of the sacrificial system

2. the "prophet": the mediator between God and man, seeking to call man back to

hearing God; speaking forth God's declarations when man is particularly

rebellious and has lost sight of right mechanisms ("acceptable worship") for

relating to God through the priestly role; and sometimes explaining God's

ways, "his judgement" on their rebellion, bringing God's perception to the

nature of their rebellion.

The model for "mediator" in the Old Testament is Moses.

The pre-eminent "mediator" is Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is also described as: "advocate", "propitiation for our sins", the even more

judicial role.

"Dispute" is something which is found in the Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20.

The first dispute is between God and Adam and Eve, concerning their behaviour in the light

of His command. The challenge of the serpent is on the nature of the command and the

truth of the word, God's intention to deliver death for disobedience. The challenge comes by

words, by communication, and an intent in the communication to build doubt, to deceive.

The relationship between God and man is now broken; man's life on earth is now cursed with

frustration and the ongoing impact of sin; Adam and Eve are expelled from Eden.


The second dispute between God and man, was a result of the working out of consequences

related to what was to be the nature of restoring relationship with God. Cain's offering was

unacceptable to God. Abel's offering was acceptable. [The nature of the sacrifice's

acceptability was the faith that attended the sacrifice - not the form of the sacrifice - Hebrews

11:4.] As a result of God's acceptance of Abel's sacrifice and His rejection of Cain's

sacrifice, Cain's jealousy of Abel developed into murderous hatred, and he killed Abel.

The essence of the gospel is: how God deals with the fundamental dispute that exists

between us and Him, and how that dispute is resolved.

The fundamental dispute is our rejection of God as God - our creator with the right of the rule

of authority over us - our rebellion; and then: how God rightly calls us to account for that.

The bald law was: disobedience -> death.

But the "bald law" was not God's purpose for His creation. The "bald law", and our

rebellion, "condemns"/ forces God to destroy His creation, unless He can come up with

another way to deal justly with sin, the right punishment, death, and to demonstrate other

elements of His character - mercy, love, utter commitment to His creation.

And in the Bible there is much about disputes between people, and how these are

resolved.

The law, enunciated in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, etc, deals with the

regulation of relationship with God, and the regulation of relationship between people.

It establishes the key steps of restitution of relationship:

1. confession/ acceptance of responsibility for the offence / recognition of guilt

2. sacrifice/ payment for the offence - some equivalence of restitution

3. repentance/ the intention to follow rules of right living to not fall into the

same offence again

The law enunciates rules, which if followed, will mean there are no offences.

Commandments 1-4 for our relationship with God; commandments 5-10 for our relationship

with one another.

The law provides for (regular) sacrifice -

* for the individual: as and when required;

* for the group/ community: at the times of festival when the community gathered

together to celebrate;

* the annual Day of Atonement;

* the year of Jubilee - when the sin/ offence/ debt is dealt with formally, and a clean

slate available for the new day.


EXAMPLES OF MEDIATION IN THE DISPUTE BETWEEN GOD AND MAN:

ABRAHAM & GOD: GENESIS 18:16-33

Abraham arguing the case for the righteous in Sodom & Gomorrah

MOSES & GOD: EXODUS 32:11-14

Moses arguing the case for God's mercy towards the people of Israel (no claim for

righteous in this case; and no delight in "self-interest")

DANIEL & GOD: DANIEL 9:1-19

Daniel confessing to national sin and calling on God to honour his covenant promise

and restore his people to their promised land

JESUS AND HIS ROLE: HEBREWS 8:1-12:28

EXAMPLES OF MEDIATION IN INTERPERSONAL DISPUTES:

JONATHAN BETWEEN DAVID AND SAUL: 1 SAMUEL 19 & 20

ABIGAIL BETWEEN DAVID & NABAL: 1 SAMUEL 25:1-39

JESUS WITH THE WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY: JOHN 8:1-11

JESUS WITH THE QUESTION OF DIVIDING THE INHERITANCE (COVETOUSNESS):

LUKE 12: 13-21

JESUS WITH HIS DISCIPLES ON THE QUESTION OF GREATNESS:

MATTHEW 20:20-28; MARK 9:33-37 & 10:41-45; LUKE 9:46-48

JESUS AUTHORITY IN INTERPRETING THE LAW AND THE CONFLICT OF

PARADIGMS LEADING TO HIS DEATH: JOHN 11:45-53

[AND GOD'S SENSE OF HUMOUR - THE IRONY OF CAIAPHAS' PROPHECY COMING

EVEN TRUER THAN CAIAPHAS COULD HAVE IMAGINED]

EXHORTATIONS TO LIVE RIGHT LIVES WITH ONE ANOTHER:

Matthew 5:1-7:29

Romans 12:1-15:13


Galatians 6:1-10

Ephesians 4:20-32

RECOMMENDED MECHANISMS TO FACILITATE THIS:

Exodus 18:9-27 - the devolution of judgement to community leaders; Moses teaching

these judges, and then only dealing with the precedents, the intractables

Matthew 18:15-20 - the three stage escalation mechanism in dealing with disputes if/as

they remain unresolved: go to your brother alone first; go with another

witness second; then bring the offender to the whole congregation

Notes from a sermon of Ken Short:

Bishop Ken (Short) preached this morning. So I thought I would find out how rusty I am

...!!!

The sermon was one of a series of three on the doctrine of God. This is the only one Ken is

preaching on. He is now preaching occasionally at Kiama, when he and Gloria are in town.

****************

The passage selected was Philippians 2: 12-18. The topic: God the Son. The thrust: what

does God plan for us; how can we contribute to the process of reaching that goal/ delivering

that plan?

Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of

his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

God plans for us to "be conformed to the likeness of His Son". God is our Father. Jesus is

our elder brother. We should be like our brother; showing the family likeness. What is

involved in "being like Christ"? What is our part in this process? Do we "let go and let

God"?

Part of the answer is in Philippians 2:12-18, in three couplets:

1. The Life of Work: "continue to work out your salvation ... for it is God who works in

you."

We don't work for our salvation. That is ours by faith, by grace, because of what Jesus has

done. But God expects us to "work out" our salvation. The "work out" is an agricultural

term in the Greek, with positive and negative components. Positive: like watering and

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 74 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY fertilising. Negative: like weeding.

The Negative is "mortification" - Romans 8:13 "For if you live according to the sinful

nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will

live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Putting to death those

things you know to be wrong; to be against God's law.

The Positive is "aspiration" - Romans 8:5 " .. those who live in accordance with the Spirit

have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." How do we aspire to these things?: "the

means of grace": daily prayer; daily reading of God's word; fellowship with other Christians;

the Lord's Supper.

We are not robots. We have choice. We have to choose to be like Christ - 1 Timothy 4:16

"Watch your life and your doctrine closely."

2. Life of Character: Grow Firm

The second couplet I want to look at are the two words in v.14: "complaining" & "arguing".

I will look at "arguing" first. This word, "dialogismos" or "dialoguing" refers to our

relationship with God. Dialoguing with God, arguing with God, is never a virtue. It

highlights the times when we want to do something contrary to God's word.

God's word? "Love your enemies". So, when you have that great fight with someone ... what

then?

... " I know it's not right to criticise, but .." You know it's not right to criticise. There are no

BUTS.

Jesus didn't "dialogue" with God - "if there is another way..; ... nevertheless, not my will but

yours."

Now "complaining". This is about our relationship with others. It is indicative of an

attitude of impatience with them. In John 6 the Jews grumbled - a like impatience with

Jesus. Being so self-centred we are unwilling to be helpful.

Jesus was never impatient.

And "shining" is the positive side. When we are changed, when we are like Christ we will

"shine".

3. The Life of Testimony: Holding Out and/or holding fast - deliberately ambiguous

"Holding out" the word of life: share what we know of Christ; by our words hold out Christ to

others.

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 75 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY The silent witness. no matter how impressive, is not enough.

Life without words is a "charade".

Words without life is gossip/ rumour.

This "holding out", this "holding firm"/ holding fast to the word of life is about obedience to

God.

There is only one element in our armoury in the fight of life: God's word.

So: we need to work out; grow firm; and hold fast. We need a life of work; character and

testimony.

Then we will "be my offering". (Philippians 2:16,17). We will have something to offer Jesus

when He comes.

***************

Now, for my bit. I was interested in Ken's remark about the "dialogue", the "arguing", the

"disputing", being about our relationship with God.

Gwenda spoke to Ken about it later, following up on the study on Friday night when we

looked at Moses in Exodus 33, wanting to know God, be shown His glory. And, when in the

course of talking out the issues, we harked back to Moses' response in the burning bush

episode; and Gwenda's experience of saying "no" to a thought, at least two times until she

recognises the thought is from God, and at the third time she had better obey! And Abraham

arguing with God about the righteous in Sodom.

I had cited the Philippians 2:14 as one of the passages for note when I prepared for and spoke

to some of the lay pastors and growth group leaders about my post-graduate studies. About

"disputing". About the "resolution of disputes".

I thought the application of "complaining and disputing" in Philippians 2 at 14, after 1-13,

was about "being like Christ". I didn't perceive it as being about my relationship with God.

So, today, I have gone back to the word study of "dialogismos" and "dialogizomai".

Indeed, it is about our "disputing" with God. Our wanting to "argue the toss", challenge his

authority. The old rebellion.

"Dialogismos": is used 14 times in the NT:

"Disputation" - Romans 14.1 but not to doubtful disputations

"disputing" - Philippians 2.14 do all things without .. disputing

"doubting" - 1 Timothy 2.8 lift up holy hands without doubting - prayer

"imagination" - Romans 1.21 become vain in their imaginations - source of depravity

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 76 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY "reasoning" - Luke 9.46 there arose a reasoning among them - disciples and

greatness

"thought" Matthew 15.19 for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts - washing &

cleanness

Mark 7:21 out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts - washing

& cleanness

Luke 2.35 thoughts of many hearts may be revealed - Simeon

Luke 5.22 but when Jesus perceived their thoughts - Jesus and the

paralytic & forgiveness of sin

Luke 6.8 but he knew their thought - shrivelled hand & sabbath

Luke 9.47 Jesus, perceiving the thoughts of their hearts - disciples

& greatness & childlikeness

Luke 24.38 and why do thoughts arise in your hearts - resurrection

1 Cor 3.20 the Lord knoweth the thoughts

James 2.4 and are become judges of evil thoughts

"Dialogizomai": is used 16 times in the NT:

"cast in one's mind" - Luke 1.29 when she saw him .. she cast in her mind - Mary & angel

"consider" - John 11.50 consider that it is expedient for us - Caiaphas

"dispute" - Mark 9.33 - what was it you disputed among yourselves - disciples &

greatness

"muse" - Luke 3.15 and all men mused in their hearts of John - John the

Baptist

"reason" (11)

"think" - Luke 12.17 he thought within himself saying - rich fool

reason Matthew 16.7, 8 they reasoned among themselves - yeast of Pharisees

Matthew 21.25 they reasoned with themselves saying - John's Baptism

challenge

Mark 2.6, 8, 8 sitting there reasoning in their hearts - Jesus & paralytic in

synagogue on sabbath

Mark 8.16, 17 they reasoned among themselves - yeast of pharisees

Luke 5.21, 24 scribes & Pharisees began to reason - challenge of

blasphemy

Luke 20.14 they reasoned among themselves - tenants plotting to kill

heir

See my notes for lay pastors ....

Yes, I know I have a lot more to do on the matter of disputes/ dispute resolution in the Bible.

To learn from it. See what there is to apply ... to see how I might share my studies,

understanding with the parish as well as apply it to the work situation.


ATTACHMENT 5: 5.1 KNOW THYSELF FINDINGS:

5.1 KNOW THYSELF FINDINGS

[The following remarks are made about myself: INTJ on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.]

One such application is to know the potentialities of my own "mental processes".

First, at the cognitive level, material gathered in the course of this assignment has taught me

that:

1. Music and study & work

My approach to "study", with a "background" of music, is not just "something peculiar

to me", it is integral to effective mental performance for me. I note that for other

people, with other strengths of mental operation, the role of music, in stimulating

mental activity, will produce different results.

[Gwenda is a visual artist - music stimulates visual images for her, hence it is

thoroughly distracting if she is trying to read. For Gwenda, reading itself also

stimulates visual images, and the images from the music might well contradict the

images from the reading, indeed the indications are that the musically stimulated

images override the verbally stimulated images.]

2. Deliberately "not thinking about it"

I have become increasingly aware that when I am confronted with new material, and a

lot of it, I need "time" to digest it; and with that time, with especially "different"

concepts, new to me, I need to "actively" "not think about it", that is: not try to

verbalise, or put into a logical argument, the material coming in. (I need to let Right

Brain activity happen without interference from Left Brain activity.)

With some material, when in a class, I will be trying to "synthesise" it with my current

knowledge, and so will raise questions to explore where my thinking synthesis takes

me, to see if the outcome of that process is "legitimate" - ie supported by other

material. (Congruence development)

I have very strong "left brain" analytical skills. These need to be set aside at times to

allow the right brain to do its work.

There have been periods where I have had more opportunity to express "right brain"


creativeness - poetry; wood sculpture; photography. The balance is important.

When depressed I will resort to cryptic crosswords to distract the brain - to manage the

depression, pass the time until the depression subsides. When depressed, music

seems to be closed off. The depression associated with menopause seemed to have

very definite elements of physiological impacts - there would be times when I would

wake (at about 2am/ 3am, with a sudden "experience" of a return to clarity in mental

processes, almost as if a switch had been turned on - it lasted but briefly.)

3. Internal verbal scenario testing

When faced with an interpersonal issue, I will engage in much internal verbal scenario

testing. (Left brain at work - analysis, prediction, reality and likely consequences

testing.)

(It nearly drives me up the wall at times - the kind of unproductive, circular thinking

that gets involved; the impact on the ability to sleep, relax, etc. Music can sometimes

break into the cycle, but I am also capable of not "hearing" the music.)

4. Walking and thinking/ testing thinking and other kinesthetic elements

I almost invariably note-take at meetings, whether I am secretarying the meeting or

not. When studying I seem to need to "mechanically" transfer what I am reading to

my brain, memory, by transcribing it.

I also find walking - taking the break - deliberately not trying to thinking about it, then

when the "undergrowth clears" being able to address the problem again, a useful

process while synthesising new material.

When faced with a mathematical task and failing to deal with it, I have found the

process of "slowing down", to talk it through/ explain it to another, something which

has been helpful.

I have also found that the word processor, as a physical slowing down mechanism,

assists my verbal expression. The many different items of information that are

instructing my conclusions need to be enunciated. I am now more adept at making

lists of these, rather than developing convoluted, sentences with interminable

parenthetical inclusions, caveats, other material to be taken into consideration, etc.

[!!!! - you were saying !!!!????]

Second, at the emotional level, the material leads me to an awareness that:

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 79 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY The question of intrapsychic conflict, and the extent to which it might be unresolved (though

not unresolvable - given courage; openness to hurt; ....) is a significant one for all

practitioners.

Striking a "hot spot" or "having a button pushed" in the course of an interaction associated

with a dispute is likely to result in less effectiveness, if not complete dysfunction.

For myself, I have further work to do on emotional expression - maybe by the alternative

"creative" right brain activities. [Or is that just another diversion?/ repression?/ sublimation?

- if sublimation: so long as it works? ....]

Here again, music, is of particular importance for me. There are times when certain music

can "stop me in my tracks"; open up, as it were, a vista to the "other"; and deliver emotional

release.

5.2 NOTES: REFLECTIONS FROM RECOLLECTIONS:

AUTOGRAPH BOOK

"To thine own self be true, and as night the day, thou canst be untrue to any one" from my

teacher in sixth class

Offense at "Diana -goddess of the hunt" at 12, with strongly developing "protestant"

inclinations, by a priest cousin to cousin at his ordination celebration

1962/3 - reading Modern English Literature

1966 - reading anthropology, citing Malinowski when all the rest were using Mead - "Man"

assignment

1966/7 - reading philosophy, educational theory/ psychology

1967 - creative writing outlet; earlier attempt at drama 11/12

1967-1971; then sculpture

1967 - reading in history & philosophy of science: Assignment on Scientific Method and

Teaching of Science

Librarianship - chasing "professional" status

AHRI - chasing "professional" status

Now ADRA - chasing "professional" status

Beckett Syndrome

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 80 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY Council crisis of leadership/ cargo cult mentality at a different level

Archbishop's Election 1993 Beware of what I call the "Beckett" syndrome, we elect an Archbishop, and WAIT: WAIT for/ expect him to do it. The Samuel Beckett "Waiting for GODOT" Syndrome.

I think the Beckett Syndrome is a good description of what I see to be a particular cultural expression of the Australian way of life.

The gospel of Jesus Christ sets us free, free even from that.

***************

5.3 INFLUENCES:

1958-1962 High School studies at St George Girls High

1960-1962 Ministry of Bill Ostling

1963-1966 BSc studies -> BSc(Gen Sc) Sydney University

Degree in Science: Major in Chemistry; three years study in Pure Mathematics; two years

study in Applied Mathematics; two years study in Physics; one year's study in Geology;

Biology; Anthropology.

Studies in Thermodynamics - there are physical laws that indicate that the concept of

evolution per se - increasing complexity - is difficult to sustain - nature tends towards chaos -

or you need a lot of energy to establish and maintain order

Studies in Atomic Physics - Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty - you can't know everything

- if you know where a sub-atomic particle is you can't know how fast it is travelling; if you

can measure how fast it is travelling you can't determine where it is

1966 Teaching Science & Biology to Year 10 & 11 Bethlehem College, Ashfield

Studying Biology 1 and Anthropology 1 at university to finalise the degree

1967 DipEd studies Sydney University

PostGrad Diploma in Education: Foundations of Education; Philosophy of Education;

Philosophy of Classroom Practice

Readings in Educational Theory: Piaget; Montessori;

Readings in Educational Philosophy: many and various - record of what specifically is lost

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 81 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY (did a lot between 1966 when studying Biology & Anthropology & teaching Year 10 Science

& Year 11 Biology, and 1967 Dip Ed studies)

General reading (1963-1967, most 1966/7):

Malinowski - Anthropology

Mead - Anthropology

*Huxley: Ends & Means

Buber: Between Man and Man

*Fromm: Fear of freedom

The Art of Loving

Man for himself

Freedom from Fear

Teilhard de Chardin:

Kierkegaard:

Kafka:

Berne: Games People Play

Packard: Hidden Persuaders

*Koestler: Act of Creation (1967) - "Scientific Method" / Creativity

various others

Wilson: Beyond the Outsider

Tillich: Shaking the foundations

1968-1972 - Teaching Science Kiama High School

1969- Co-residence with Gwenda Hodgson

Exposure to studies in Art & Aesthetics

Herbert Read - various titles

Hayakawa: Language in Thought and Action

Studies in Librarianship:

1971 (private study) 1971, 1975 (LAA Registration Exams)

1972 - Commencement of Kiama APC

1972 - Commencement of R.O.B.

1972 - Candidate for Federal seat of Macarthur

1973 - Teaching Science p/t SCEGGS Wollongong

1973 - Candidate for State Seat of Wollondilly

1973-4: Writing & Publishing


A Case for Quarrying (1973)

Planning the District of Kiama - Jamberoo - Gerringong (1973)

Lake Illawarra Report (1974)

Illawarra Region Report (1974)

Christ's People and Society (1974)

1974-1975 Cataloguing University of Wollongong Library

1974 - Candidate for Senate

Studies in Town Planning:

(1972-3 private study)

1974 (Ordinance 4 Certificate Exams)

1975 & 1976 Ordinance 4 Certificate Exams - Law associated with Local Government &

Town Planning

McHarg: Design with Nature

Mumford: City in History

Stretton: Ideas for Australian Cities

Stretton: Housing & Government

197 Lay Ministry of Grahame Scarratt

Studies for Sydney Preliminary Theological Certificate

197

1975-1979 Ministry of Reg Piper

1975-1976 Research Officer for Shellharbour Council

Major submissions in work context:

1975 The Shellharbour Area

1975 Grants Commission Submission

1975 Report on Quarries & Quarrying

1976-1992 Chief Librarian Shellharbour Council

John Calvin: Institutes of Religion (reference use - work problems, 1977/9)

1978 Planning of Library Services

1988 Review of Library Services

1980-1986 Ministry of Stephen Gabbott


1980 Elected to Sydney Anglican Synod

1980 KCAE Management for Librarians

1981 Commenced membership of Zadok

1983 Bishop Harry Goodhew asks for SDI on current issues

1984 First exposure to PC (Apple)

1984 Land Between Two Rivers (with Jim Derbyshire)

1985- MANEX Secretary for Shellharbour Council

1986 John Stott at Summer School 1 Timothy studies

1986 Purchase of own Apple 2c (August)

1986 Attitudes about work

1987-1992 Ministry of David Mansfield

1989 Draft on Women's Ordination

1992 Studies for Certificate of Personnel Management

1992- Executive Assistant to GM - Shellharbour Council

1996 Studies for Master of Dispute Resolution (UTS)

Christian Writers:

CS Lewis Screwtape letters (1960)

* Mere Christianity

Essays on topical matters

Everything else can lay hands on

John Stott Basic Christianity (1960 Confirmation preparation)

Christian Counter-Culture - Sermon on the Mount

God's New Society - Ephesians

Only One Way - Galatians

* Issues facing Christians today

Michael Griffiths

John White

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 84 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY *Robert Banks All the Business of Life

*Christopher Wright Living as the People of God

Bonhoeffer

**********

5.4 AWARENESS OF EXPERIENTIAL INFLUENCES:

School - very first impression? expansive -> vocation to be a teacher

School - First class at Sutherland: doll loss and apology

School - Third class: holding hands and censured for that

School - Fifth class: concern with bosoms and "reality"/ deception of women

School - Sixth Class: picked to speak at the assembly (Diane stay back - 3 of us did, who was

meant was another matter)

Overall relationship with mother: Trying without success to please mother - post partum

blues, cared for by cousin, initially

Mother's rejection of Father's approach: English reserve versus Irish expression

The words spoken: "Isn't she like her father" She's her father's daughter - genetic: appearance,

movement, - Allen bunion, otosclerosis, skin, eyebrows

Parental modelling: sport, cryptic crosswords, music

Home life: eschewing of conflict: Dad's eschewing of violence, his experience of his father

with his mother and himself and brothers (?and sisters?) [only exposed made explicit and

more so over the past 10 years; first mention might have been 15? years ago]

Father's role with his family - the adviser, the confidant, the peacemaker (Paul's step to go into

the catholic ministry) (Dick & Flo & Richard's suicide)

Father's role at work - the communist, the unionist, the informal leader

Father's experience of the church - failure to support in moral conflict - the "foreign orders"

Father's interest in going to the Snowy - and its thwarting - recent move, settling in a new

home

Father's generosity - monetary conflict - mother given/ takes the control

Dysfunction in power in the relationships; male headship, etc - mother's objection to it -

unfair carrying of load


5.5 PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF GROUPS:

1951 School 1951 Mortdale; 1952-1957 Sutherland; 1958-1962 StGGHS

1954 Brownies member

1960 Confirmation Class; CSSM Camp group member; 1960-66 Sunday School class

teacher; 1960-1967 St Paul's Gymea congregational member

1961 1961-1967 Youth Fellowship

1963 1963-1967 GFS leader

1963 1963-1965 EU member (fringe attender)

1966 Part-time teacher Bethlehem College, Ashfield & staff member

1968 1968-1972 High School teacher/ staff member Kiama High School

1968 Member NSW Teachers Federation: local district meetings - Annual Conference 1968,

1969, ..

1971 1971-1976 member of a local community group "Kiama APC": the Kiama

Advancement and Protection Committee 1971-1976; 1973: Publication and circulation

of "Planning the District - Kiama-Jamberoo-Gerringong"; and public presentation of

Kiama APC position on principles for the amendment of the local Town Planning

Scheme with guest/ expert speakers; 1975? Chairperson

1971 1971-1973 member of local community group 2 (more radical!) "ROB" = Rejection

Of Boral 1971-1973; 1973: Publication of "A Case for Quarrying"

1971 1971-1975 member of South Coast Conservation Society; 1974: submission of "Lake

Illawarra Report"; 1974: submission of "Illawarra Region Report"

1971-1975 Observing Kiama Municipal Council

1973 1973- present Settle to membership Christ Church Anglian Church, Kiama

1973 Staff at SCEGGS

1974 1974-5 member of Illawarra CRAG ("Coalition of Resident Action Groups")

1974 Committee member Christ Church Kiama 1974-1995; Secretary 1976-1995 some gap

1974 Staff member at Wollongong University Library Technical Services Division

1975 Staff member at Shellharbour Council - contracted Research Officer

1976 Growth Group [small study/ support group] (Christ Church Kiama) member; 1976-

present; 1985?- present leader

1976-1992 Chief Librarian - Shellharbour Council

1976 member Illawarra Regional Committee of AACOBS; 1976-1986

1978 member Warilla Advice & Information Centre; 1978-1986

1978 Shellharbour TAFE Committee - Chair Role 1978-1988; Illawarra District TAFE

Regional Council;

1979 NSW Advisory Committee of the Australian Broadcasting Commission 1979-1981

1980 Parochial Representative to Sydney Anglican Synod 1980-1995; 2 Archbishop

Election synods; one synod committee

1981 Member NSW Committee of Australian Advisory Committee on Bibliographic

Services 1981-1987

1985- Secretary to MANEX

1992- Secretary to ARCC


5.6 PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF APPROACHES TO INFORMALLY FACILITATING GROUP EFFECTIVENESS:

Throughout the experiences noted in Attachment 1, I have been exposed to the modus

operandi of a number of different "institutional" ways of delivering group effectiveness,

dependent in part on the nature of the organisation, in part on the individual with the role of

leadership, in part of the individual composition of the group.

I would say that the "point" of real awareness of the issue of group effectiveness, and what

contributes to it, and to what extent I had any responsibility in the matter, etc, developed in

me in 1968. I suspect the awareness came from two factors: the professional obligation to

develop teaching abilities, the need to become an effective participant in the deliberations of

the Teachers Federation.

On reflection, the "instructive" elements from such experience can be identified as follows:

1. Structure: Work-Play-Study-Worship at GFS

2. Teacher training - curriculum development; lesson preparation; lesson presentation;

performance improvement

3. Agenda Setting - Kiama Church Committee; MANEX; staff meetings; working party

meetings

4. Procedural rules - NSW Teachers' Federation - Anglican Synod

5. Standing Orders - no imputing motives: Anglican Synod

6. One-text method:

Annual Report 1987?

Study Leave Policy 1988

Permanent Part-time work policy 1989?

Building & Space Report

Committee Structure Report

Delegations Report

Various working parties/ one-off meetings

7. Group facilitation:

7.1 Discussion on Salary System 1996

The Agenda:

One of the problems that often dogs poorly conceived group meetings is the "working over"

of old business: inordinate time rediscussing the minutes of the last meeting. I was involved,

with a former Rector of the parish, in using an agenda to focus the Church Committee

discussions on substantive issues. This was attempted by categorising agenda items to

aspects of ministry, and indicating a prospective time frame to work through the agenda.

The minutes of the last meeting then tended to fall into their rightful place - documenting the

past (group memory) but not dictating, directing or diverting the current meeting from dealing

with the agenda before it.


Group Comfortableness:

One of the frustrations I have had (until I realised what was going on) with the Council's

MANEX meeting, was the inability to deal with matters quickly. The sense of frustration

was exacerbated by the almost universal, underlying critique, of a pressured management,

that time was being wasted in these meetings.

The MANEX (Management Executive) group was formed in 1985/6 as a result of the new

Town Clerk/ General Manager's attempt to put into place "corporate management". It was:

the Town Clerk; the Deputy Town Clerk; the Chief Engineer; the Chief Health & Building

Surveyor; the Chief Town Planner; the Chief Librarian (me); the Treasurer (when the position

was clearly separated from the jurisdiction of the Deputy Town Clerk). It convened, in the

early stages, weekly.

The agenda was issued beforehand, and when I became secretary the compiling of the

agenda was a matter of following up unfinished items and gathering new concerns from any/

all of the participants.

There were times when the meeting had clear, new substance to deal with, and was quite

productive.

There was one meeting which stands out in my memory for the following reason.

* The agenda was big.

* The group generally worked in a desultory way through it.

* Finally the meeting was formally closed.

* As the participants stood up and began to move out, one of the senior staff mentioned

a matter not raised on the agenda.

* It was at that point that the real business of MANEX of that week commenced to be

dealt with.

It seemed to me, that on the strength of that meeting, in the context of past meetings (and the

phenomenon repeated itself in future meetings) that the individuals in the group needed about

two hours to "get to know one another again", before they were comfortable enough with one

another to risk raising a difficult and sensitive issue that needed to be dealt with.

Procedural Rules:

My experience of the use of procedural rules to facilitate group deliberations is also

interesting.

At the local group of the Teachers Federation, the "procedural" motion: "that the motion be

put" invariably created confusion. There were some members of the group who then

delighted in diverting debate to debate the procedural material. When the Chair eventually

put that matter, those who hadn't been involved in "playing the game" then voted as if the

substantive matter was being dealt with.

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 88 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY At the Annual Conference of the Teachers Federation, likely to have been of the order of

1000 people, the use of tight procedural rules kept the debate on track. The experienced

Chair knew how to "gag" the nonsense and the bigger group daunted uninformed

participation.

At the Anglican Synod, a group of over 500 at its busiest/ most controversial stages, the use of

a "procedure" called the "formal motion" allows matters where there was not any real

opposition to be disposed of "formally", in the early part of the day's proceedings.

A second Standing Order, which allows a challenge of "imputing motives" to rule a speaker

"out of order" means that "personal" attacks or misrepresentations can be controlled in

debates where there was significant controversy, with strongly held and defended positions.

For Synod, the procedural motion to gag debate or "go on to the next item of business" takes a

different form to that used at the Teachers Federation Conference. The wording of the form

is of itself not clear: it is called "the previous question". But for the experienced participants

its use has a significantly different purpose: when the "previous question" motion is carried,

there is no vote, and the motion before the chair falls to the ground.

It is used in two different ways:

1. to hear the mover of a motion, and let them say their piece/be heard on the

matter of concern to them, but, if there is support for the procedural motion, to

gag any other debate that might become personal, divisive, or irrelevant to the

primary synod task/ responsibilities, etc

2. to round off debate on a divisive matter by not, at the end, putting the

substantive motion to the vote and so polarise positions to clearly divide the

synod

The One-Text technique:

Much of the activity of local government rests on the adoption, by Councillors, of an officer's

report, with its action recommendations. Consequently, in acting to "coordinate" a number

of "corporate reports", especially in the period 1985 to present, I have "naturally" used what

amounts to the one-text technique:

1. A meeting is convened of the "recognised" interested parties.

2. Initial discussions are held on the scope of the problem to be dealt with in the

report.

3. An initial indication is sought of available information, likely contributors of

necessary information etc.

4. After the meeting, the discussion is "minuted" by the formulation of a draft


report, by me. The draft report indicates the thrust of the argument, the

information at hand - or its likely source; notes any unresolved issues, etc.

The draft is circulated and becomes the agenda for the next meeting.

5. Meetings, with discussion, challenging the content of the draft, followed by

additional drafting/ redrafting, gathering in other information, etc are held until

the group is essentially satisfied that the report reflects their "best advice".

6. For some issues there may be a secondary circulation, to a wider range of

interested parties, when the draft is closer to its likely final form, to see if

there is any additional input needing to be taken into account.

Group facilitation:

One of the groups where my role includes giving technical advice, and operating as the

"honest broker", is as an ex-officio member of the Award Restructuring Consultative

Committee.

This Committee was formed under the auspices of the Local Government (State) Award,

1991.

It is a consultative committee, with representatives from staff (unions) and management

(Divisional Directors and Councillors). The primary purpose of the Committee was to

consult on elements of the process of implementing the new award, with a new structure for

remuneration based on skills (as distinct from a single classification rate).

The process is part and parcel of the thrust for change in the industrial landscape moving

from centralised award agreements to enterprise based agreements in the context of the

federally encouraged micro-economic reform.

In mandating the formation of consultative committees (a significant departure from "usual"

practice for most local government bodies) the Unions and the Local Government & Shires

Association (the peak employer body) also sought to provide support to the industry, by way

of initial (and later support) training for consultative committees. [See detail in Attachment

3]

Over the period since the formation of the Committee, there has been a number of devices

used to assist participation and consultation at various levels of the process. These include:

1. Briefings with external experts

2. Discussions related to the briefings, facilitated by the external expert

3. The formation of Subcommittees to meet separately, and discuss in depth

issues, and come back to the full Committee with recommendations

4. The provision of a pre-meeting gathering of staff to discuss amongst

themselves concerns: there are five different segments of the workforce


represented, with eight individuals, and at this stage little signs of any

coordinated effort to achieve common goals

5. At least two "facilitated", open discussions:

5.1 in March 1993 to consider options of enterprise bargaining versus the

"technical approach" of a refined skill-based job evaluation

5.2 in May 1996 to consider alternative options in defining ways of

progressing within the salary structure

For the March 1993 discussions, which I facilitated, a four stage process was adopted:

1. Initial report/ debate discerning that a more extensive discussion than usually

applies at the general meeting was needed to assist the committee determine

the best way to go

2. A detailed briefing of one of the subcommittees, augmented by interested

parties, with the external expert providing information on the most probable

option

3. A night meeting of the whole Committee, augmented by alternates, any

interested Councillors, any interested Directors or Line Managers. The

structure of this session was:

3.1 Overview of progress to date, summary of information from the

external expert

3.2 Division into ARCC Subcommittees and a committee of General

Manager and Councillors (not members of subcommittees), with

specific discussion questions to address

3.3 Reporting back of Subcommittee deliberations

3.4 Gaining of general indication of preferred way forward

4. Formal report back to the whole Committee at its next meeting, with a

recommendation for ratification, together with a proposed process and

timetable for its implementation.

For the May 1996 meeting which again I facilitated, the process involved:

1. the raising of the issue in general terms, with some options identified, at an

ordinary Committee meeting, together with the recommendation that special

meeting be convened for the purposes of discussing the matter; and that staff

be canvassed for any other suggestions they might have

2. there were a number of staff meetings held when the matter under

consideration was raised, together with the basic concerns related to time to

undertake the process, resources, and likely outcomes, and the invitation for


suggestions formally put

3. one written staff submission was received; comments of options/ concerns

made at other staff discussions were collated

4. a business paper indicating the nature of the question before the Committee,

options at hand a week before, the openness of the meeting to receive any other

options, the task on the day of further brainstorming to create other likely

solutions, suggested criteria to evaluate options, and the fact that the meeting

would not be making a decision, but providing information for a further report/

formal decision-making meeting (to allow for any necessary reporting back to

constituents, gaining authority to settle on their behalf etc) was circulated

5. the Committee on the day was augmented by any other interested parties:

alternates; Union Representatives; a Union Organiser; additional management/

Councillors, according to interest

6. a room was prepared with

6.1 an open U-shaped tables and chairs for the participants;

6.2 three coloured boards

1. "Status Quo"

2. "The "Anglican" Position" (for the middle ground);

3. "Radical Change".

The boards were placed in the above order from left to right as seen from the

seated positions of the participants.

6.3 the notified options were placed on paper on one or other of the boards

6.4 the established criteria were noted on another board to the side

7. The options on the boards were spoken to briefly to explain their import. I did

this to allow for " no ownership" of one or other of the positions by either

management or staff

8. Additional options were then raised. These were drafted and placed on the

appropriate board

9. When the group was satisfied that it did not want to add any more options the

discussion then sought to identify which options did not meet the current

criteria - and two additional criteria were developed: "timeliness" and "capacity

to measure productivity gains"

10. Eventually, close to the end of the meeting's scheduled time of closing, some


eleven (from a recorded 25) options remained under consideration. These

were then identified by numbering 1-11; and the numbering was done from left

to right: from board 1 to board 3.

11. Then to give the meeting some sense of "closure" to the discussion, to find if

there was enough common ground to proceed - but on the clear understanding

that the question of any binding decision was held over to the next meeting -

the participants were asked to nominate their top three preferences as 1, 2, 3.

These preferences were then collected and collated

12. From that poll it was evident that the "Present Course" Option, with or without

the "Similar Approach [to a Previous Stage]" was most favoured. Two

participants chose not to nominate their choice/s.

13. The matter was then reported back to the full committee: reporting all the

options, and the poll results.

14. One participant raised the question of a "contrived" result. It was not contrived

[by me] since the selected option was not the option which I personally

considered to be necessarily in the best interests of the council at this stage.

However, on reflection: the left to right order, the 1-11 numbering from left to

right, and the possibility of the pejorative nomination of the boards "status

quo"; "radical", etc could have been construed as "directing" the decision

making.

15. Since this issue was raised, the report to the full Committee made particular

effort to raise the question of the Committee's satisfaction with the process and

its nominal outcome, and if there was concern to keep the matter open for

further debate. This report also noted that further effort on creative problem

solving and effective consideration of the various party interests could yield a

collaborative effort to develop an option better than any of the options

considered on the day. Even on the day some had noted that the options

considered were not necessarily "mutually exclusive".

16. On the day of the decision-making meeting the matter was not further

challenged and the recommendations which implemented the "straw poll"

result were then adopted without further debate. The Committee accepted a

process that was promised to be at least two years in the accomplishment.

There was the formation of a separate Special Sunset Committee to consider,

within that general option, which of a number of particular ways forward,

might best accomplish that option.


5.7 MY FRAMEWORK IN UNDERTAKING STUDIES IN DISPUTE RESOLUTION:

As noted elsewhere, my background is primarily organisational.

My current role (since August 1992) at Shellharbour Council is: Executive Assistant to the

General Manager.

That role can be defined as either assisting the executive process (decision-making); or

executing the assistance (doing what needs to be done to assist) the task of general

management (management of the whole, and/or generic management functions).

In that role, the recent focus has been what might be called "project management" for the

process of implementing award restructuring and developing personnel policy and system/s.

The activity of consulting the stakeholders and cobbling consensus from the variety of

viewpoints, exercises my skills in exploring information, considering options, explaining new

areas (for the organisation) of the technical components of "personnel", managing difference.

I am looked to to be the "honest broker" in the process.

It could be considered to be part of "mediation" prior to a full blown dispute. And indeed,

it is much easier to deal within that context than to consider what additional skills I might

need if the process gets off the rails to the extent that a dispute displays all the normal

features of a positional industrial dispute.

My background also includes teaching. And it is this focus of training, as a significant input

to contribute to organisational effectiveness, that is also of great interest to me personally.

At this stage there is very little spare resource to apply to the task, so there has to be a very

close scrutiny of what resources are deployed on what activities. Again, I trust my role and

contribution has been to deliver this input in an effective and strategic way.

My intellectual curiosity has been applied to the effectiveness (or otherwise) of the

organisation over a significant period (20+ years now). It commenced with a reasonably

intensive period of 18 months in the role of "Research Officer" (1975-1976). One of the

"questions" that I sought to answer was the hypothetical: how close to the wall is Shellharbour

Council? when will it "fall over"? Are there any indicators, from other local government

body's experience, which might predicate such a demise?

Since then, (1976-1984) my observation was more of a watching brief from the distance of

the Library, where the more intensive focus was on its effort and effectiveness. Then in

1985, with a change in leadership (the Town Clerk's resignation and appointment of an

internal applicant), and an endeavour to implement corporate management, my involvement

has both fluctuated and been deployed on a variety of organisational issues.


Consequently, I see myself as having a role (probably a subversive one since it is not

necessarily openly recognised) of "organisational development".

I came to know of the formal studies in Dispute Resolution by attending a three-day

workshop offered to the industry-at-large, as well as being the "Dispute Resolution in

Commerce" elective unit, in November 1995.

The Council's recently adopted EEO Management Plan (a mandatory requirement of the

Local Government Act, 1993) included the adoption of a formal grievance procedure,

something which was relatively new to the organisation. It seemed to me someone needed to

know a bit about how disputes might be dealt with (more) effectively.

I am more than happy to leave being a "mediator" to those with the skills and interest in being

involved in helping others in that way.

I am more than happy to leave the "mediation" option as an alternative dispute resolution

process to assist the court system operate more effectively.

The focus of my interest is: are these skills, do these procedural options have any applicability

to the organisational context?: specifically to help me to help Shellharbour Council fulfil its

role more effectively.

So, my focus, my interest, my attention, in these formal studies, is on understanding the

generic elements, and then how to apply them to the particular workplace I am dealing with.

For this reason, I think, I see a wider application of the skills and process.

As I look back on my occupational (and ancillary) experience, it seems to me that there is any

number of places where the deliberate development of these skills, knowledge of these

processes, could contribute positively to our present social milieu.

So I see "facilitation" as an advancement of the skills and knowledge of mediation - having a

wider, less formal, application, often in a more complex context, requiring an ability to deal

effectively and equitably with more parties and to help them develop their consensus on an

action decision for matters which may well be, of themselves, complex.


ATTACHMENT 6: PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS IN UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF CONFLICT AND ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY

2.8.1 AN OVERVIEW OF THE FIELD: PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS

IN UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF CONFLICT AND ITS

ROLE IN SOCIETY

1 Overview of Current Paradigms in Psychology:

[Please note, the following material relies very heavily on recent general texts,

since the field of knowledge is relatively new to me. What I know, other than

from the structured study of it, has come from the "popular" cultural

development of the current common man's knowledge. In particular, my

knowledge will be of those elements of the theory which have "made" sense to

me/ are congruent. It is a very eclectic/ syncretistic view. This study seeks to

clarify those muddles. I will endeavour to recognise every citation, but

generally will omit quotes, unless the quotation is significant, in the context.]

As yet psychology (the systematic study of mental processes and behaviour) does not have a

unified paradigm, rather it has a number of schools of thought, or perspectives. [Westen,

p.29]

The major perspectives are:

1. The psychodynamic perspective (originating with Freud):

Primary method: case study

Primary aim: to interpret meanings many of which may be unconscious

Primary metaphor: mind as a battleground for warring factions, and an iceberg with

consciousness the tip

2. The behaviorist perspective (BF Skinner):

Primary method: laboratory experimentation

Primary aim: focuses on the relation between environmental events (or

stimuli) and the responses of the organism, proposing that all

behavior can ultimately be understood as learned responses and

that behaviours are selected on the basis of their consequences.

Primary metaphor: behavior is a machine like response, with the mind a black box.

3. The cognitive perspective (

Primary method: experimental


Primary aim: focuses on the way people process, store, and retrieve

information. Information processing refers to taking input from

the environment and transforming it into meaningful output.

Primary metaphor: mind as a computer, complete with software

Come now, let us reason together .. Isaiah 1:18

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Isaiah 40:21, 28

Present your case says the Lord. Set forth your arguments Isaiah 41:21

4. The evolutionary perspective (

Primary method: deductive and comparative

Primary aim: argues that many human behaviors exist because they helped our

ancestors to survive and produce offspring that would likely

survive. It proposes the mechanism of natural selection,

through which natural forces select traits in organisms that help

them adjust to their environment.

Primary metaphor: Evolution (change and development to more complex) (over

time and in response to circumstance/ environment) selects

creatures that maximise their reproductive success, defined as

the capacity to survive and reproduce.

(Derived from Westen, p.11-22)

5. There have been some attempts to integrate these. Eg Cognitive behaviorism accepts

many behaviorist principles but emphasises as well the role of thought processes, such

as expectations, in learning. [Westen, p.29]

6. The nature-nurture debate deals with the extent to which inborn biological

processes and environment events shape mental processes and behavior. Many, if not

most psychological processes reflect an interaction of nature and nurture. [Westen,

p.29]

Genetic determination of nature:

By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs

from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit,

and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Matthew 7: 16-18

Nurture:

Ezekiel 18

v.2 "what do you people mean by quoting this proverb ... "The fathers eat sour grapes, and

the children's teeth are set on edge." ... v.4 The soul who sins is the one who will die. .. v.14

Suppose ...[he] has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them,

he does not do such things ... v.17 He will not die for his father's sins; he will surely live.


But his father will die for his own sin.... v.23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the

wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their

ways and live?"

7. Another classic debate in psychology (inherited from philosophy) is whether human

action is characterized by free will or determinism, that is whether people freely

choose their actions or whether behavior follows lawful patterns. A related issue is

the mind-body problem, the question of how mental and physical events interact.

[Westen, p.29]

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my

inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at working the members of my

body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at

work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body

of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 7:21-25

8. Biopsychology examines the physical basis of psychological phenomena such as

motivation, emotion, stress. [Westen, p.29]

9. Cross-cultural psychology attempts to test psychological hypotheses in different

cultures.

[Derived from Westen, p.29,30]

Westen summarises some of this in his concluding remarks (p.733):

"[There are] four soothsayers, each offering a different perspective on the psychological

terrain that lies between brain and culture.

"One implores us to remember that humans are fundamentally animals, and whose motivation

is only partially available for conscious inspection.

"A second exhorts us to remember that human behavior, like that of other animals, is first and

foremost a response to environmental events, and that what might look like freely chosen

behavior is always controlled by its consequences.

"A third perspective reminds us of the power of human thought, of the capacity to transform

simple sensations into complex ideas and to call them up moments or even years later to solve

problems.

"The fourth reminds us that people think, feel, and behave for a reason, and that the method

behind the mind's madness is the handiwork of millions of adaptations to an environment that

is always one step ahead of us."

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 98 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY "So is the mind a battleground for warring internal forces, a machine, a computer, or an

instrument for maximising adaptation? The human mind is no doubt all of these and none of

these."

2 Other key concepts:

1. Personality is defined as the enduring patterns of thought, feeling and behavior that

are expressed in different circumstances [Westen, p.448]

3 Overview of Current Understandings of Intrapsychic Conflict

The Freudian metaphor for psychological disorders involves:

1 a relationship between conscious awareness and unconscious mental forces

analogous to the visible tip of an iceberg and the vast submerged hulk [Westen,

p.12]

2 conscious desires may reflect unconscious conflicts and compromises [Westen,

p.12]

3 the mind is a battleground in which warring factions struggle for expression

[Westen, p.13]

The metaphor comes, in part, from physical forces theory.

[?: Newton's third law of motion - "to every action there is an equal and

opposite reaction". And Newton's first & second law of motion relating

"natural" conservativeness (staying at rest, or in uniform motion in a straight

line) to the movement generated by a force greater than the opposing force, and

that the direction and rate of acceleration of such motion is determined by the

size of the imbalance.]

"Freud deduced that if a symptom is not of physiological origin and the patient is consciously

trying to stop it but cannot, then opposing the conscious will must be an unconscious

counter-will of equal or greater magnitude." [Westen, p.449]

4 Overview of Current Understandings in Personality Theory

The psychoanalytic-social perspective (Adler, Erikson, Horney) [Cloninger, p.100]

1 the unconscious is a useful concept for understanding personality

2 childhood experience is important in determining personality

in addition

3 the ego, the adaptational force in personality, is more important than in Freud's

theory


4 the development of a sense of self is described

5 Interpersonal relationships, beyond the relationships with one's parents, are

important aspects of personality

6 social and cultural factors influence personality in important ways

The Trait perspective (Allport, Cattell) [Cloninger, p.187]

A trait is a theoretical construct describing a basic dimension of personality. Trait theories

agree on the following basic assumptions:

1 Trait approaches emphasise individual differences in characteristics that are

more or less stable across time and across situations

2 Trait approaches emphasise the measurement of these traits through tests, often

self-report questionnaires

The Behaviourist view (Skinner, Dollard & Miller) [Cloninger, p.261]

The assumptions made in this approach are:

1 Personality is defined in terms of behaviour. What a person does constitutes

his or her personality

2 Behavior (and therefore personality) is determined by external factors in the

environment, specifically reinforcements and discriminative stimuli

3 Behaviorism claims that it is possible to influence people for the better by

changing environmental conditions, including social changes

4 Behaviorism asserts that change can occur throughout a person's life

5 Behaviorism studies the individual person. It does not presume that the

factors influencing one person will necessarily have similar influences on

someone else

The Cognitive Social Learning perspective (Mischel, Bandura, Kelly)

This studies mental processes and their effects on behavior.

It shares important assumptions with the behaviorists:

1 Personality is formed through interaction with the environment

2 what people do is, to a large extent, environmentally determined and

situation-specific.

In addition it has distinctive emphasises:

3 the theorists include much more elaborate descriptions of mental processes

(than the behaviorists)


4 the theorists assume that people differ from one another in the way they think

about themselves and the people around them and that these cognitions are key

variables in understanding personality differences. These theorists attempt to

measure cognitions in a systematic way

5 these theorists assert that cognitive change is the key to personality change

[the paradigm shift; Zifkac (1994) in New Managerialism]

The Humanistic perspective (Carl Rogers, Maslow) [Cloninger, p.401]

The major distinguishing characteristics of this perspective derive from its commitment to the

value of personal growth

1 the humanistic perspective focuses on "higher," more developed, and healthier

aspects of human experience and their development. Among these are

creativity and tolerance.

2 the humanistic perspective values the subjective experience of the individual.

This is sometimes called a phenomenological approach

3 humanistic psychologists emphasise the present rather than the past or the

future

4 Humanists stress that each individual is responsible for his or her own life

outcomes. No past conditions predetermine the present.

5 the humanistic perspective seeks to apply its findings to the betterment of the

human condition by changing the environment in which people develop. It

assumes that, given appropriate conditions, individuals will develop in a

desirable direction.

6 humanist psychologists are more interested in process and change than in

measuring individual differences


ATTACHMENT 7: BIBLIOGRAPHIC SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON THE NATURE OF CONFLICT

NOTE THE FOLLOWING CHRONOLOGY OF PUBLICATIONS, SIGHTED AND USED:

McNeil, EB The Nature of Human Conflict. NJ: Prentice-Hall, c.1965

(Publication of Center For Research on Conflict Resolution, University of Michigan)

Deutsch, M The Resolution of Conflict: Constructive and Destructive processes. New Haven:

Yale University Press, c.1973

Fromm, E The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, c.1973

Miller, GR & Simons, HW Perspectives on Communication in Social Conflict. NJ: Prentice

Hall, c1974

Giddens, A Central Problems in Social Theory: Action, structure and contradiction in social

analysis. London: Macmillan, c1979

Walker, SH Winning: The Psychology of Competition. NY: Norton & Co, c.1980


Groups, and Organizations. NY: HarperCollins, 2nd ed c1993 (1st ed 1984)


Kohn, A No Contest. Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, c.1986

Dixon,NF Our Own Worst Enemy. London: Cape, c.1987

Kriesberg, L Northrup, TA Thorson, SJ Intractable Conflicts and Their Transformation. [?]:

Syracuse Univ Pr, [?1989]

Burton, J and Dukes, F Conflict: Readings in Management and Resolution. NY: Macmillan,

1990.




Tillett, GJ Resolving Conflict: a Practical Approach. Sydney: Sydney UniPr, c.1991


Kolb, DM Bartunek, JM Hidden Conflict in Organizations: uncovering behind-the-scenes

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 102 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY disputes. Calif: Sage, 1992

Adler, RB Rosenfeld, LB Towne N Interplay: the Process of Interpersonal Communication.

NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 5th ed c.1992





Baruch Bush, RA Folger, JP The Promise of Mediation: Responding to Conflict through

Empowerment and Recognition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, c.1994

Taylor, A & Bernstein Miller J Conflict and Gender. NJ: Hampton Pr, 1994

Cahn, DD Conflict in Personal Relationships. NJ: Erlbaum & Associates, c.1994

Kramer, R M, Messick D M "Negotiation as a social process: New trends in theory and

research. Thousand Oaks, Calif., 1995.


ATTACHMENT 8: INDICATIONS OF CONTENTS OF SPECIFIC ITEMS SIGHTED/CITED

8.1 GENERAL TREATMENTS:



Conflict Analysis:

7. Sources of conflict (1)




11. The stress of change

12. The conflict budget

13. Power

14. Capability

15. Aggression

16. Some conflict behaviour


Up-end the iceberg

Recognize non-real conflict

Miscommunication

Remedying miscommunication

Misperception

Remedying Misperception

Reacting to non-real conflict

Manufactured Conflict


Divining the Commodities

Divining the Principles

Principles impose costs

The expression of principles

Using principles

Divining Territory

Territory and security [Maslow's Hierarchy]

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 104 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY 9. Sources of conflict (3)

Power Structures in Relationships

Expectations of Relationships

Violating Psychological Contracts

Collective Psychological Contracts

Mediators look at past and current expectations

The "personality clash"

Understanding personal interactions

Transactional Analysis

The Three of Us

The Parent

The Adult

The Child

How the Parent, Adult and Child affect us

Using transactional analysis in mediation


Searching for the causes of conflict

Conflict and Change

Negotiation and Change

Testing Change as the basis of conflict

Commercial conflict and change

Organizational conflict and change

Industrial Relations and change

Racial conflict and change

War and change

11. The stress of change

Change and Uncertainty

Change and control

Change - Assigning new values

Types of change

Partial change

Incremental change

Pendulum change

Paradigm change

12. The conflict budget

Doing the conflict cost-benefit analysis

Why we pursue lost causes

Calculating risk

Reducing Risk

Reality testing

13. Power


The influence of power

Analyzing power

Physical power

Economic power

Information power

Emotional power

Educational power

Questioning power

The Impact of power

The Power to teach

Power balancing

14. Capability

Estimating Capability

Limits to capability

Legitimacy

The need for legitimacy

Cognitive Dissonance

15. Aggression

Constructive Aggression

Destructive Aggression

Analyzing Aggression

Aggressive and Assertive Behaviour

Mediators and Aggression

16. Some conflict behaviour

Reactions to stress

Projection

Why do people project?

Scapegoating and stereotyping

Extremists

Overdoing team spirit

Psychopaths and conflict

Into the shadows


1. The Nature of Conflict

2. Responding to Conflict

3. Communication, Assertiveness and Conflict

4. Collaborative Conflict Management

5. Negotiation

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 106 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY 6. Mediation

7. Groups, Organisations and Conflict



Definition

Types of False or Indirect Conflict

Models of Conflict

The Dollard/Miller Model

Rummel's Model of Conflict

Deutsch

Sources of Conflict

Bisno's Sources of Conflict

Components of Conflict

Social Change and Conflict

The Robber's Cave Experiment

The Process of Conflict

Entrapment and Conflict

Equilibrium and Conflict

Interests and Behaviour

The Good and Bad of Conflict

Tillett, GJ Resolving Conflict: a Practical Approach. Sydney: Sydney UniPr, c.1991

1. Conflict and Its Resolution

2. Analyzing Conflict

3. Communication and Conflict Resolution

...

Burton, J and Dukes, F Conflict: Readings in Management and Resolution. NY:

Macmillan, 1990

Introduction

Part I Beginnings


2. Future Directions in Conflict and Peace Studies

Part II Crisis


3. The International Relations Discipline: Asset or Liability for Conflict Resolution

4. Paradigms in Conflict: the Strategist, the Conflict Researcher and the Peace

Researcher

Part III Analysis

5. The Individual, the Group and War

6. Legitimacy and Human Needs

7. Protracted International Conflicts: Ten Propositions

8. A Critical Assessment of the Power of Human Needs in Human Society

Part IV Applications

9. A Theory of Conflict resolution by Problem Solving

10. Interactive Problem-solving: a Social-psychological Approach to Conflict Resolution

11. Principles of Communication Between Adversaries in South Africa

12. Managing Complexity Through Small Group Dynamics

13. The Emergence and Institutionalization of Third-party Roles in Conflict

Part V Research

14. "What is Science For?": Reintroducing Philosophy Into the Undergraduate Classroom

15. Action Research

Part VI Political Implications

16. A Tale of Two Movements: ADR and the Greens

17. Unanticipated Conflict and the Crisis of Social Theory

18. Unfinished Business in Conflict Resolution



Part I Generic Theory and Practice in Conflict Resolution

1. Paradigms, theories, and metaphors in conflict and conflict resolution: Coherence or

confusion?

2. An analytical research agenda for conflict and conflict resolution

3. Symptoms of cultural pathologies: a hypothesis

4. Conflict resolution as a political philosophy

5. Complexity and cognitive equilibrium: Experimental results and their implications

6. Problem-solving exercises and theories of conflict resolution

Part II Concepts and aspects of the resolution process


7. Managing Differences in conflict resolution: The role of relational empathy

8. The healing function in political conflict resolution

Part III Theory and practice at different levels

9. Conflict resolution in intercultural settings: Problems and prospects

10. The analysizing and resolving of class conflict

11. Public organizations and policies in conflict: Notes on theory and practice

12. Public-policy conflict resolution: The nexus between culture and process

13. States, boundaries, and environmental security

Part IV Relevance of the theory to the practitioner

14. Theory and alternative dispute resolution: A contradiction in terms?

15. Using theory in conflict resolution practice

16. From theory to practice in environmental dispute resolution: Negotiating the transition

17. International conference diplomacy: Four principles

Part V Feedback: What does it all mean?

18. Relating theory to the practice of conflict resolution in South Africa

Epilogue: Future directions in theory and research

Deutsch, M The Resolution of Conflict: Constructive and Destructive processes. New

Haven: Yale University Press, c.1973

Part One: Theoretical Essays

1. Introduction

2. Cooperative and Competitive Processes

3. Intrapsychic Conflict

4. Group formation

5. Intergroup Conflict

6. Threats, Promises and Influence

7. Trust and Suspicion: Theoretical Notes

Part Two: Research Papers

8. Experimental Studies in Trust and Suspicion

9. The Effects of Threat and Communication upon Interpersonal Bargaining: Initial

Studies

10. Further Studies of the Effects of Threat

11. Structural and Attitudinal Factors in Bargaining

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 109 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY 12. Strategies of Inducing Cooperation: Experimental Studies

Part Three: Concluding Essay

13: Factors Influencing the Resolution of Conflict

Introduction:

• An Outline of Variables Affecting the Course of Conflict

• key notions in a social-psychological approach

• The Functions of Conflict

• Definitions:

• A Typology of Conflicts

• Destructive and Constructive Conflicts

• The Query

13. Factors Influencing the Resolution of Conflict

Introduction

The Course of Destructive Conflict

Competitive effects

Misjudgement and misperception

Process of commitment

The Course of Productive Conflict

Factors affecting the Course of Conflict

Process

Prior Relationship


Conflict Size

Issue Control

Issue Rigidity

Centrality of the Issues

The number and interdependence of the Issues

Consensus on the importance of different Issues

Consciousness of the Issues

The Characteristics of the Parties in Conflict

Estimations of Success

Third Parties

The Regulation of Conflict

The Development of Conflict Regulation

Adherence to the Rules

Effective Conflict Regulation

Changing the Course of Conflict

Conclusion

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 110 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY Folger, JP Poole, MS Stutman, RK Working through Conflict: Strategies for

Relationships, Groups, and Organizations. NY: HarperCollins, 2nd ed c1993

List of Cases

Preface

Introduction: Conflict and Interaction

1. Traditional Perspectives on Conflict

2. Explaining Conflict Processes

3. The Role of Communication in Conflict

4. Power: the Architecture of Conflict

5. Face-saving

6. Climate and Conflict Interaction

7. Doing Conflict: Styles, Strategies, and Tactics

8. Changing Conflict Dynamics

9. Third Party Intervention

Postscript the technological future

Introduction: Conflict and Interaction

The Potential of Conflict Interaction

Definition of Conflict

Arenas of Conflict Interaction

Productive and Destructive Conflict Interaction

Conflict as Interactive Behaviour

1. Traditional Perspectives on Conflict

Introduction

The Psychodynamic Perspective

Field Theory and the Concept of Climate

Experimental Gaming Research

The Human Relations Perspective and Conflict styles

Intergroup Conflict Research

Conclusion

2. Explaining Conflict Processes

Perspectivism and Conflict

The Role of Theories

Contemporary Perspectives

The Cognitive Perspective

The Interactional Perspective

Cognitive and Interactional Theories

Contemporary Theories of Conflict

Verbal aggressiveness Theory

Attribution Theory

Social Influence Theory


The Coordinated Management of Meaning

Confrontation Episodes Theory

Reciprocity Theory

Conclusion

3. The Role of Communication in Conflict

Property 1: Moves and Countermoves/ Power

Property 2: Self-Perpetuating Patterns

Working Habits, Trained Incapacities, and Conflict

Goal-emphasis

Objective Standards

Procedures

Procedures

Property 3: Interaction Sequences

Movement through Differentiation and Integration

Differentiation and Escalation

Differentiation and Avoidance

Differentiation and Rigidity of Behaviour

Other Phase Models of Conflict

Property 4: The Direction of Conflict

Property 5: Conflict Interaction and Relationships

Conclusion

4. Power: the Architecture of Conflict

Power and the Emergence of Conflict

A Relational View of Power

Power and Conflict Interaction

The Use of Power in Conflict Tactics

The Balance of Power in Conflict

The dilemmas of Strength

The dangers of weakness

Conclusion

5. Face-saving

The Dimensions of Face

Face-Loss

Face-Saving: a Threat to Flexibility in Conflict Interaction

Conflict Interaction as an Arena for Face-Saving

Forms of Face-Saving in Conflict Interaction

Resisting Unjust Intimidation

Refusing to Step Back from a Position

Suppressing Conflict Issues

Face-Giving

Conclusion

6. Climate and Conflict Interaction


What is Climate? A Definition

Climate Themes

Climate and Conflict Interaction

The effects of Climate on Conflict Interaction

The effects of Interaction on Climate

Identifying Climates

Creating Constructive Climates

Conclusion

7. Doing Conflict: Styles, Strategies, and Tactics

Conflict styles

Describing Styles

The Meaning of Conflict Styles

Variations on Conflict Styles

Shifting Styles During Conflict Episodes

Selecting Conflict Styles

Evidence on the Effectiveness of Conflict Styles

A Model for Selecting Conflict Styles

Conflict tactics

Threats and Promises

Toughness

Tit for Tat

Coalition Formation

Issue definition

Metacommunication

Integrative Tactics

Styles and Tactics in Practice

Conclusion

8. Changing Conflict Dynamics

Self-regulation of Conflict

Working with Power

Fostering shared power in Group & Organizational Conflicts

Working with Trained Incapacities

Reframing Issues

Reframing Interaction

Working with Face-Saving Issues

Working with a Climate

Relations among the Forces

Conclusion

9. Third Party Intervention

Property 1: Moves and Countermoves/Power

Third Party Mandate

Responsiveness to Emerging Interaction

Property 2: Self-Perpetuating Patterns


Property 3: Interaction Sequences

Third Parties, Differentiation, and Integration

Property 4: The Direction of Conflict

Property 5: Conflict Interaction and Relationships

Conclusion

Postscript the technological future

Kriesberg, L Northrup, TA Thorson, SJ Intractable Conflicts and Their Transformation.

[?]: Syracuse Univ Pr, [?1989]

Introduction:

Conceptual Issues

Substantive Issues

Conclusion

Part 1: Sources of Intractability

1. Reasoning and Intractability

2. The Roots of Environmental Conflict in the Tahoe Basin

3. Beyond Reason

Part 2: Dynamics of Intractability

4. The Dynamic of Identity in Personal and Social Conflict

5. Custody Disputes and the Victims

6. Managing "The Labor Problem" in the United States ca 1897-1911

8.2 COMPETITION - A COMPONENT

Kohn, A No Contest. Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, c.1986

1. The "Number One" Obsession

2. Is Competition Inevitable?: The "Human Nature" Myth

3. Is Competition More Productive?: The Rewards of Working Together

4. Is Competition More Enjoyable?: On Sports, Play, and Fun

5. Does Competition Build Character?: Psychological Considerations

6. Against Each Other: Interpersonal Considerations

7. The Logic of Playing Dirty

8. Women and Competition

9. Beyond Competition: Thoughts on Making Change


8.3 INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT

8.3.1 General

Most basic texts on Interpersonal Behaviour have at least a chapter on Conflict in those

relationships.

Adler, RB Rosenfeld, LB Towne N Interplay: the Process of Interpersonal

Communication. NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 5th ed c.1992

11. Managing Conflict

What is conflict?

Expressed Struggle

Perceived Incompatible Goals

Perceived Scarce Rewards

Interdependence

Conflict is natural and inevitable

Functional and Dysfunctional Conflicts

Integration vs Polarisation

Cooperation vs Isolation

Agreement vs Coercion

Deescalation vs Escalation

Focusing vs Drifting

Foresight vs Short-sightedness

Positive vs Negative Results

Individual Conflict Styles

Nonassertion

Indirect Communication

Passive Aggression

Direct Aggression

Assertion

Which style to use?

Conflict in Relational Systems

Complementary, Symmetrical and Parallel Styles

Conflict Rituals

Methods of Conflict Resolution

Win-Lose

Lose-Lose

Win-Win

DeVito, J The Interpersonal Communication Book. NY: HarperCollins, 6th ed, 1992

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 115 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY 20. Conflict in Interpersonal Relationships


Content and Relationship Conflicts

The Negatives and Positives of Conflict

A Model of Conflict Resolution

Unproductive Conflict Strategies

Productive Conflict Strategies

Cahn, DD Conflict in Personal Relationships. NJ: Erlbaum & Associates, c.1994

Part I Conflict Management/ Resolution in Specific Relationships

1. The Social Construction of Conflict in Intimate Same-Sex Couples

2. Physically Aggressive Conflict in Romantic Relationships

3. Managing Conflict in Intimate Intercultural Relationships

4. Mediating Peers Conflicts in Education Contexts: the Maintenance of School

Relationships

5. Cognitive Behavioral Perspectives on Marital Conflict

6. Conflict Between Parents and Their Children

7. The Sandwich Generation: Conflict Between Adult Children and Their Aging Parents

Part II Approaches to Interpersonal Conflicts

8. A Communication Approach to Everyday Argument

9. A Competence-Based Approach to the Study of Interpersonal Conflict

10. A Holistic Approach to Dispute Resolution at a Community Mediation Centre

8.3.2 Gender Issue

Taylor, A & Bernstein Miller J Conflict and Gender, Hampton Pr, NJ, 1994:

Introduction: The Necessity of Seeing Gender in Conflict

Introduction to Part I

1. Denial and Patriarchy: The Relationship Between Patriarchy and Abuse of Women

2. Wife Abuse: Its Magnitude and One Jurisdiction's Response

3. Mediator Differences in Perception of Abuse: A Gender Problem?

4. Secretarial Positioning: Gender Ambivalence and Harassment

Introduction the Part II

5. The Influence of Sex on Managers' Reactions in Conflict with Their Subordinates

6. Conflict Management and Marital Adjustment Among African-American and White

Middle-Class Couples


7. Gender Differences in Conflict-Handling Styles: Less Than Meets the Eye?

8. Gender and Conflict: What does Psychological Research Tell Us?

9. Gender Differences in Negotiating Behavior and Outcomes: Fact or Artifact?

Introduction to Part III

10. "Gender Conflict": Connecting Feminist Theory and Conflict Resolution Theory and

Practice

11. A Wittgensteinian Approach to the Meaning of Conflict

12. Informal Contributions to the Conflict Management Process

13. Gender and the Mediation of Conflict: Communication Differences

14. Overlapping Radicalisms: Convergence and Divergence Between Feminist and Human

Needs Theories in Conflict Resolution

8.4 CONFLICT IN ORGANISATIONS

Kolb, DM Bartunek, JM Hidden Conflict in Organizations: uncovering behind-the-scenes

disputes. Calif: Sage, 1992

1. Introduction: The Dialectics of Disputing

2. Drinking our Troubles away

3. Women's Work: Peacemaking in Organizations

4. The Private ordering of Professional Relations

5. The Role of Conflict in a Second Order Change Attempt

6. The Culture of Mediation

7. The Suppression of Gender Conflict in Organizations

8. Culture and Conflict: The Culture Roots of Discord

9. Bringing Conflict Out From Behind the Scenes: Private, Informal, Nonrational

Dimensions of Conflict in Organizations

Clegg, SR Hardy, C Nord, WR Handbook of Organization Studies. London: Sage, 1996

Preface

Introduction: Organizations, Organization and Organizing

Part 1 Frameworks for Analysis

1.1 Organizational Theorizing: a Historically Contested Terrain

1.2 The Normal Science of Structural Contingency Theory

1.3 Organizational Ecology

1.4 Organizational Economics: Understanding the Relationship between Organizations

and Economic Analysis

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 117 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY 1.5 The Individual in Organizational Studies: the Great Disappearing Act?

1.6 The Institutionalization of Institutional Theory

1.7 Critical Theory and PostModernism Approaches to Organizational Studies

1.8 From the "Woman's Point of View"

Part 2 Current Issues in Organization Studies

2.1 Creative Deconstruction: Strategy and Organizations

2.2 Leadership in Organizations

2.3 Decision-making in Organizations

2.4 Cognitions in Organizations

2.5 Diverse Identities in Organizations

2.6 Putting Group Information Technology in its Place: Communication and Good Work

Group Performance

2.7 Metaphors of Communication and Organization

2.8 Organizations, Technology and Structuring

2.9 Organizing for Innovation

2.10 Organizational learning: Affirming an Oxymoron

2.11 Organizations and the Biosphere: Ecologies and Environments

2.12 Evolution and Revolution: From International Business to Globalization

Part 3 Reflections on Research, Theory and Practice

3.1 Data on Organization Studies

3.2 Action Research for the Study of Organizations

3.3 Emotion and Organizing

3.4 Exploring the Aesthetic Side of Organizational Life

3.5 Images of Time in Work and Organization

3.6 The Organizational Culture War Games: a Struggle for Intellectual Dominance

3.7 Some Dare Call it Power

3.8 Normal Science, Paradigms, Metaphors, Discourses and Genealogies of Analysis

3.9 The Owl of Minerva: Reflections on Theory in Practice

Conclusion Representations

8.5 COMMUNICATIONS

Miller, GR & Simons, HW Perspectives on Communication in Social Conflict. NJ: Prentice

Hall, c1974

Prologue


Some shared dissatisfactions

Some tough questions

A final note

Communication in Game Theoretic models of conflict

Communication and the simulation of social conflict

A Transactional Paradigm of verbalized social conflict

Communication Strategies in conflicts between institutions and their clients

Conflict and Communication within the University

The Carrot and stick as handmaidens of persuasion in conflict situations

Epilogue

Definitional Issues

Methodological Issues

A final Note

Frey, Lawrence R (ed) Group Communication in Context: studies of natural groups.

Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994

Challenges that studies of groups/ group communication in is mostly limited to students,

zero-history groups in a laboratory setting solving artificial task assigned by researchers.

-> "social psychological error" - Farris (1981)

-> Examples of research in context of natural groups

Frey/ Group communication in context: looks at the case studies under the following

headings:

(a) Creating and sustaining group identity

(b) The effects of the context on group communication

(c) group developmental processes

(d) destructive group communication patterns

(e) decision-making group interaction

There is much more about communication in materials designed to treat that topic.

8.6 ROLE IN SOCIETY

Clearly the bibliographic resources of a number of other disciplines would instruct this study:

political science, sociology, to name but two.

Giddens, A Central Problems in Social Theory: Action, structure and contradiction in

social analysis. London: Macmillan, c1979


Preface

Introduction

1. Structuralism and the theory of the subject

2. Agency, Structure

3. Institutions, Reproduction, Socialisation

4. Contradiction, Power, Historical Materialism

5. Ideology and Consciousness

6. Time, space, Social Change

7. The prospects for social theory today


ATTACHMENT 9: PARTICULAR APPLICATION TO CURRENT SITUATION

3.6 PARTICULAR APPLICATION TO CURRENT SITUATION:

I would now like to take a "particular instance" and employ some of the psychological

insights drawn from this study to the situation, and see if it gives me any guide on "how to go/

where to go, from here".

3.6.1 Current Strategic Planning Process for Shellharbour City Council

Shellharbour City Council is currently undertaking a strategic planning process, in which I

have a "professional advisory" role to play.

I have exercised that role, in part, by applying a group facilitation process to assist managerial

staff and councillors to make explicit their current opinions concerning "strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities, threats", for the organization and for the community, and gathering

that information in a way that has allowed the present level of consensus to be recognised.

SEE ATTACHMENT 10

3.6.2 Threat of Amalgamation:

One of the "threats" to the organisation at present, coming from the policies/ practices of the

Federal and State governments, is "amalgamation".

Shellharbour City is a smaller area immediately south of Wollongong City - a larger area, a

larger population, a larger organisation.

The Shellharbour City area has the greatest quantity of land with "urban capability" in the

Illawarra coastal plain. It is our understanding that Wollongong City Council is looking

with avaricious eyes on that potential.

SEE ATTACHMENT 11

The Federal government and the State government, in the interests of greater effectiveness of

government operations, have introduced a number of policies and practices which are

beginning to raise the question of viability for Shellharbour City Council, and political

autonomy for its people at the local government level.

The NSW Government's "rate pegging" policy since 1977 has limited Shellharbour City

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 121 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY Council's capacity to finance infrastructure development. It has also pushed greater and

greater levels of organizational efficiency on us.

(This "efficiency" has been a consequence of both the rate-pegging and the level of urban and

population growth sustained over the past 40 years, and which is projected to continue for the

next 15 years at least. Though it may be that this has reached its natural limit.

Redeployment might increase it effectiveness, but I am inclined to doubt that much more can

be squeezed from the system by way of efficiency. It may be that we are even "spending our

capital", because we lack enough wit to recognise the intangible elements of capital:- staff

commitment and morale, with no replenishment by enhanced organisational infrastructure.)

The Federal Government approach to Competition Policy is raising the question of

"effectiveness" to a much higher level than previously. Its processes of: basic infrastructure

restructuring, and monopoly breaking, and the divestment of "basic" economic functions to

either the private sector, or to a corporatised constitution, are signals to local government of

the imminence of such changes.

These pressures, together with other social change/s, international trends, etc, are delivering

more and more pressure for "structural reform". (International trends for restructuring of

local government are coming primarily from the English and NZ experience. The current

pressure in NSW is being felt as a result of current reform activity in Victoria, South

Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia - ie everywhere except NSW!!!)

Again, "amalgamation" is one such aspect/ option of structural reform.

"Amalgamation" (with Wollongong/ of Wollongong Shellharbour & Kiama) has been around

for a long time: 1947/50's post war reconstruction; 1975/7 Barnett Report. It is now coming

back again.

While it might have been able to be pulled off in 1947/50 and, by now, have formed a

cohesive community, in its absence Shellharbour City has grown to a population of 51,690.

(This compares with "Wollongong", with a population of 183,500; and ranging geographically

from Helensburg to Dapto, and facing difficulties from previous "centralising" tendencies

with infrastructure development).

The geography of the area has features that give it some sense of discreteness. The history is

of a community which formed initially in the 1830's & 1840's and had enough of an identity

to request local government incorporation in 1859 to become one of the "earliest" local

government areas.


While much of this "old" identity can be considered to be "diluted" by the recent (1947-

present) population growth/ urban development, nevertheless there is a real "political"

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 122 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY endeavour to claim/ retain this separateness/ identity.

(The new urban community, as distinct from the previous farming community, has been

formed mostly by immigration, the bulk of which, between 1962-1969, was of NSW Housing

Commission family settlement/ development. That is not unusual in the coastal urban area

of the Illawarra. What has been distinctive about the "Shellharbour" development is its

distance from Wollongong, and its focus: distant from the rail (public transport) link.)

SEE ATTACHMENT 12

3.6.3 The "Skit" Outcome of the Facilitated Group Analysis

In the facilitated information gathering process, small teams were asked to prepare and

present a skit of an issue of concern which had come from the information gathering, to

convey the issue/ concerns.

One such skit conveyed the threat of amalgamation. The group reporting back the findings

"acted out" the style and sayings of local protagonists involved in discussions about "resource

sharing" [supposed to be structural reform without amalgamation - loss of political identity/

autonomy]. Just as everything appeared settled and rosy, the representative of Wollongong

stabbed the representatives of Shellharbour and Kiama (the next small area) in the back: ET

TU BRUTE! style.

3.6.4 Preparations for the Development of "Strategic Thinking" for the

Organisation

[One of my experiences over the years of being an advisor to the Town Clerk/ General

Manager in the area of organisational effectiveness, has been an uncertainty about what is

meant by "strategic" activity. Looking back now, I suspect that this "uncertainty" comes

from the real possibility that strategic thinking, for me, is an embedded activity. (Or it is

that for all it is a right brain activity and therefore not readily explicit?)]


In considering the matter earlier this year, in the context of reading about "Strategic Process"

Mintzberg & Quinn (1996), and strategic alliances, as per the commercial model, I was forced

to ask myself:

• what is it that Shellharbour does better than Wollongong? that it could offer its

expertise (best/ better practice) and deliver for Wollongong (being the

outsourcer for areas of competence)


• what is it that Wollongong does better than Shellharbour? that Shellharbour

would be better served by using Wollongong expertise (the outsourcing of

non-core and/or underperforming functions to the better performing

organisations)

• is there any thing Shellharbour City could get Wollongong or Kiama to do for

us that they would do better||cheaper?

• given Shellharbour City's personnel to population ratio

Staff per 1000 capita

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

Windouran 93 94

HIGHEST

40.82

46.51

90-92=popn to staff

Kiama

89.00

79.00

88.00

8.86

9.07

Shellharbour

228.00

189.00

168.00

4.45

4.35

Wollongong

185.00

156.00

171.00

5.48

5.00

Shoalhaven

86.00

84.00

74.00

8.90

7.44

Wingecarribee

121.00

95.00

122.00

7.08

7.30

Baulkham Hills 93

LOWEST

3.39

1.18

Hume 94

• problem of accuracy of current costings to be able to make real

comparisons

• other aspects of measurement/ lack of measurement; lack of

documentation/ description of level of service; ability to "compare

apples with apples" problem

• Is there anything that Shellharbour City could do for Wollongong or Kiama, so

that we work on our strengths and deliver savings to them?

• what are our strengths?

• what are our strengths where we can continue to grow/ develop without

increasing on-costs, etc

NOTE however:

• relationship of efficiency and size - Handy's concept of the

limitations of the "Zeus" (Harrison: Power orientation)

organisation;

• as size increases more needs to be invested in "coordination"

overheads!!!

• problem, again, of accuracy of our costings; distribution of overheads,

etc

3.6.5 Analysis of Current Situation


But it would be my observation that, at this stage, Shellharbour City Council, especially its

political leadership arm, is acting in the time-honoured way of "digging in for the fight":

• Public declarations of position: "it will not happen". (Mayor to staff)

(positional approach: making "face" an issue)

• Lobbying in political circles to obtain public declarations of "it will not

happen" - Mayor with Minister for Local Government Ernie Page

(gathering support by forming coalitions, "pushing" for supportive "positional"

commitments, etc)

• The LG&SA approach: to endeavour to inform and encourage voluntary

structural review, is seen with "suspicion";

(perception development; distortion; self-fulfilling prophecy/ myth making)

• the vocabulary of denigration, derision, is being used: the "Institute of

Municipal Management = Institute of Municipal Manipulation/ Machinations"

(Inclusion/ exclusion: group cohesion; dealing with the enemy "out there")

• There is every indication that any professional advice at Shellharbour Council

to the contrary (to consider the advantages of exploring the issue, even) will be

"seen" to be disloyalty of the first water.

(Groupthink context)

• There are only "formal" communications with Wollongong City Council; and

these are limited.

(Breakdown in open communication channels; lack of information, especially

accurate information; opportunity for misinformation, for misperceptions)

• The experience of the dismantling of local political representation in the

governance of the electricity utility is seen as a "managerial" takeover

approach, breeding distrust between the political arm and the professional staff

arm of the organisation.

(Internal dissension; closing off openness to consideration of the issues/

interests, and being able to "listen" to an alternative view from one group of

stakeholders)

• There appears to be a discrepancy between the "political" perception and the


"staff/professional" perception of the threat. There are a number of current

staff at Shellharbour Council who have come from Wollongong Council.

There is some "soreness" about "poaching" of staff from Shellharbour to

Wollongong in the past.

Classic symptoms, establishing conditions for a destructive conflict.

And the irony of the present situation lies in the fact that there is no real autonomy with local

government anyway. Should the State Government determine it, the amalgamation could be

"on" at any time, without there being any "rational" basis for it, and certainly no community

consultation. (cf: Victorian experience)

Northrup considers that there are four factors implicated in "The Operation of Identity in

Escalation and Intractability".

• threat

• distortion

• rigidification

• collusion

(Northrup, in Intractability , p.68-76)

Clearly, in amalgamation, identity (the political autonomy of the Shellharbour area,

constituted as the second local government area in NSW in 1859) is under threat.

However, what is not clear is where the ultimate threat is to come from.

If it were only a matter of dealing with Wollongong City Council's aspirations for territory,

power, status, etc, which might accrue from including the Shellharbour & Kiama LGAs

within its current purview, then, Shellharbour Council might be able to negotiate continuing

political autonomy while gaining the benefits of cooperation with a larger unit (economies of

scale; minimisation of duplication of coordinative overheads, etc).

In being prepared for any eventuality, over which Shellharbour City Council staff might have

some say, some role to play, awareness of the "opportunities" that occur within the stages of

the progress of resolving the "conflict" will be useful.

Northrup (p.58) cites Kriesberg's (1982) six stages in a conflict, as:

• emergence

• initial conduct

• escalation

• deescalation

• termination

• outcome

And from Folger, et al, since the process is interaction, behaviour in any and all of the stages

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 126 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY is likely to predicate the result.

From my viewpoint, instructed by these and other studies, I will be keeping my eye open for

any opportunities to make a "strategic intervention" in order to prepare the organisation to

take a more realistic and productive approach to the issue.

Some such opportunities are indicated as follows:

3.6.6 Proposals for Strategic Interventions/ Facilitative Contributions:

1. Hypothesising: exploring "what if" scenarios at the next stage of the "strategic

planning" process (skit/ myth exploration process - see Napier & Gershenfeld)

2. Information gathering; interests exploration: the "green papers" for the strategic

planning process

3. How to get Wollongong involved??? (getting all the stakeholders to the table)

4. Exploring Interests: What is in the "best interests" of the community - what are their

interests? - survey approach; focus group approach; What are the interests of the

other stakeholders? Introducing the four quadrant analysis and applying it to build

the "information base".

5. Exploring avenues to open up communications: Shellharbour staff with previous

connections with Wollongong City Council, previous staff of Shellharbour City

Council now at Wollongong City Council; exploring the present "state" of

relationships at the professional level, as experienced in technical forums, regional

forums, etc

6. Option Identification and Option Generation: during the Strategic Planning process

7. Power balancing or equalising: exploring the option presented by the LG&SA to

engage an independent consultant to assist with the "opening of negotiations"/

exploration of mutual interests, concerns

8. Reality testing: The State Government position; the Federal Government position;

the level of community awareness; the organisational ability to mobilise community

support; the "best interests" of the community ; the cost-benefit analysis; other

analytical techniques to value elements not normally quantified in monetary terms

9. Confrontation: Need for organisation to be able to think about it; talk about it to

prepare adequately; openness to internal opposition; strengthening internal resources

and techniques to deal with differences in constructive debate, etc


ATTACHMENT 10: MATERIAL USED FOR AND OUTCOMES OF SHELLHARBOUR CITY COUNCIL'S STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS: STAGE 1

MATERIAL USED FOR AND OUTCOMES OF SHELLHARBOUR CITY

COUNCIL'S STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS: STAGE 1

Available on application to author

ATTACHMENT 11: SHELLHARBOUR CITY COUNCIL LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA: RELATIONSHIP WITH WOLLONGONG CITY AND KIAMA COUNCILS

11.1 LOCATION ON THE ILLAWARRA COASTAL SUBPLAIN


11.2 DEMOGRAPHICS


ATTACHMENT 12: MATERIAL DEVELOPED IN THE CONTEXT OF PREVIOUS CONSIDERATIONS OF THE ISSUE OF AMALGAMATION:

12.1 1975 RESPONSE TO BARNETT REPORT - LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND

LOCAL AUTONOMY


12.2 1979 CONSIDERATION OF THE ISSUE OF INDEPENDENCE FOR THE

LIBRARY SERVICE



ATTACHMENT 13: RECOMMENDATIONS TO SHELLHARBOUR CITY COUNCIL RE STAFF TRAINING:

13.1 RECOMMENDATIONS FROM "EQUIPPING STAFF TO HANDLE DISPUTES EFFECTIVELY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT":

1. That Shellharbour Council enunciate a vision for dispute management based on the

theme that the management of disputes is undertaken, as far as possible, by the first

receiver being able to take effective action to resolve differences before they become

disputes.

2. That Shellharbour Council review and revise its current structures (policy and

practice) to ensure that these support the above vision.

3. In particular, that Shellharbour Council strengthen its current corporate training and

corporate development program to

3.1 develop this ethos and

3.2 enhance the development of the skills, knowledge and consistent

behavioural responses which equip staff to handle disputes effectively

in the workplace

amongst its current staff complement.

For Recommendation 2 above, the following are the key strategic areas for ongoing change

and development to reach this vision:

2.1 recruitment and promotion: on merit, focussing on interpersonal skills as well

as (and with a higher weighting than) the usual technical areas

2.2 induction: majoring on authority and accountability in dealing with

interpersonal aspects of difference, and the solving of problems, including the

relationship component, on the principle of a mutually balanced interest-based

collaboration

2.3 corporate focus on generic training relevant to the development of the skills,

knowledge and consistent behavioural responses required to achieve these

objectives

2.4 a performance management focus to reward the effective application of such

knowledge and skills, and to reward, even more, the effective training of others

in such knowledge and skill areas (the relevant level of training responsibility

being devolved to all staff)

2.5 appropriate delegation of responsibility to act


2.6 appropriate flexibility, from broadly framed policy objectives, to give

guidelines which allow staff to make consistent, and responsive, decisions

For Recommendation 3 above, the following are the key strategic areas for ongoing change

and development to reach this vision:

3.1 training in the revised policies and procedures arising from 2.1-2.6

3.2 generic training for the key interpersonal skills:

communication

negotiation

facilitation

3.3 expression of these priorities in the performance management system/s:

3.3.1 personnel performance appraisal

3.3.2 corporate management plan

3.3.3 the measurement and monitoring structures for the organisation at the

individual, team, Division, and whole-organisation levels

13.2 RECOMMENDATIONS FROM "ISSUES IN TRAINING IN NEGOTIATION SKILLS FOR AN ORGANISATIONAL SETTING": EXPLORING A PREFERRED PROCESS TO UNDERTAKE BASE NEGOTIATION TRAINING AT SHELLHARBOUR COUNCIL:

For some in-house training, for volunteers, at Shellharbour Council, my preferred process at

this stage is:

1. to select the provider/ approach

2. to provide the context: place; time; limitation on numbers; range of

participants

3. to provide adequate follow up if required - ie have in place the Employee

Assistance Program support system

4. And having presented the chosen option, in the preferred way, review its

effectiveness, explore other elements to improve the process. Eg: explore UTS

one-day route.

At this stage, because of personal knowledge I would recommend the Harvard Negotiation

Program approach for the content, and order.

Before the course is offered, I would deliver some awareness raising opportunities, and

PSYCHOLOGY & DISPUTE RESOLUTION ASSIGNMENT: Dianne Allen p... 130 NATURE OF CONFLICT & ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY recommend some prior reading: "Getting to Yes".

I would look for a timing of the presentation which meets to the content needs and the

organisational/ personal needs: some break between presentation/s components.

This would serve two purposes:

1. allow for the "aware" gathering of "workplace" and/or "life" examples

2. allow for the internal confronting of self-assessment issues, with an offer of

self-assessment process and feedback from the EAP, for example; or, in the

negotiation skill building area, post-training consultancy access to the provider

I would look to see how there might be more recognition and opportunity to input examples

from the current participants, and from the current workplace into the "learning" presentation:

to build the ethic/ culture/ context of:

1. reflection and deliberateness in learning from experience

2. debriefing of training

3. debriefing of experience -> team training

4. critical incident analysis

5. commencing the process of providing "institutionally" acceptable and effective

positive and negative feedback, within our own resources

I would look to see how the "formal presentation" part of the UTS course assessment process

could be applied to the workplace.

The advantages of the "presentation" are:

1. as per 1-5 above

2. it commits the participant to greater interactive participation with the course

3. provides a structured opportunity to reflect on their own experience, analyse

the experience from their point of view; organise the presentation of the

material to a supportive group (who are also experiencing the same terrors of

performance - even in the safe, supportive training context)

4. it begins to help ground it amongst the practicality of day-to-day operations

5. it demonstrates the level of the individual's own work on top of what has been

presented; and the essence of diversity is shown here: each one, from their own


choice, chooses something they can be comfortable in presenting, each

presentation is different and will have its different emphasis - helping the

participants get to know one-another at a level not otherwise readily reached -

enhancing rapport and empathy and tolerance to support ongoing teamwork in

the organisation

It needs to be remembered that in the in-house context, for Council , the following issues

arise with these two additional components:

1. involvement in course presentation - ownership/ commitment -> more

effective/ and/or more intense and intimate course

2. sharing instance: how would you; how did we;

3. problem of intimacy: knowing the participants; therefore no matter how it is

dressed up someone could twig to the reality and therefore become privy to

(revealed) confidential material/ the breaching of a confidence.

13.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FROM "FACILITATION: THE USE OF MEDIATION TECHNIQUES & PROCESSES IN RESOLVING DIFFERENCES IN GROUP DECISION-MAKING"

The following skill/knowledge development for facilitation was added to the list from

Assignment 1 (12.1 above):

In addition, to these, from the preceding information, the facilitator needs knowledge and

skills to deal with the "group" context.

There, the application is of elements of:

1. individual psychology and behaviour and the likely (and not so likely)

consequences of the interaction of the variety and potential brought to the

group by its individual members

2. the formation (over time) of a group psychology and behaviour and the

expression of its form

3. the likely impact of certain strategic interventions to a group context,

There are now significant differences compared to the operation of an

intervention in, say, a two-party mediation. The context is now one where the

impact is being directed at the "group dynamic". That impact will be at two

levels:

1. on the individual as an individual in the group, but also

2. on the group as a whole, which may have an expressed group


behaviour quite different to the sum of the parts, or a "mean" of

the "types"

4. a range of alternative procedures to allow a process to be selected which meets

the needs of the problem/ dispute or the particularities of the

stakeholders/disputants

The level of depth of knowledge (of group behaviour and group processes) required for

facilitation, will, in my view, depend in part on how "old" and "ongoing" is the "group"

relationship which the facilitation seeks to enhance.

By comparison, this knowledge, while useful and helpful when facilitating a public process

with an essentially zero-history group, or mediating multi-party disputes, may not be so

critical to such a process. In the public process facilitation, and the multi-party dispute

mediation, relationships, while important, are in fact more distanced. Certainly, in the

multi-party dispute the relationships factor is still considered important and mediation will be

chosen over litigation in an endeavour to maintain the relationships, at the very least, so that

they can continue to operate at an appropriate "business" level. The public process

facilitation and the multi-party dispute tends to be more focussed on the determination of the

substantive difference.

Further, Argyris (1970) makes the case for additional skills in the facilitator ("intervenor" in

his context). These additional skills are in relation to a capacity, at a personal level, to

undertake the task of intervention. The important factor identified here relates to an ability

to deal with the potentially isolating and the actually isolated context of the role. This is

especially acute when intervention is a person's primary role, and that person is operating

from a position external to a formed group. The usual "social" support provided in

membership of the group is not available. Indeed, the group facilitated may oppose/ resent/

passively resist the intervention. The intervenor can be a convenient scapegoat for

dysfunctional groups which do not want change. See details in the bibliography.

13.4 RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THIS STUDY:

1. That formal studies in basic concepts in psychology be included in studies receiving

"base sponsorship"

2. That the availability of formal studies with TAFE and Wollongong University in basic

concepts in psychology be explored, eg one-off access to the appropriate study unit,

without commitment to the "whole" diploma or degree;

3. That the Local Government industry negotiate agreement with providers of

professional training that a unit in basic concepts in psychology can be one of the

electives available to diploma, undergraduate or postgraduate degree students across

the various disciplines applicable in local government. (eg Town Planning;

Environmental Health; Building Surveying; Civil Engineering; Commerce;


Accounting; Public Administration; Management; Business Administration; etc)

4. That staff be advised of alternative modes of undertaking such study

5. That the library service collection be reviewed with a view to

5.1 checking that its material on basic psychology concepts is current

5.2 ensuring that this is enhanced by material on the application of psychological

concepts to the processes of conflict resolution

6. That the Library Service & staff responsible for Council's corporate training program

prepare a recommended reading list to encourage the exploration of this issue.


PRESENTATION:

1. Teacher, use this opportunity in presentation to teach, to resource folk for the task of

mediation:

2. This time the imperative is: KNOW THYSELF

3. The source from the literature for this is Mary Power's treatise, and my additional

work from Assignment 1 --

4. And now my readings: deBono, etc

Left Brain/ Right Brain; thinking function/s and improving it

The need/ benefit of stirring the emotional, for some

5. The tools:

Visual - Harbour curve

Verbal - Poems

Auditory - Music

Pan pipes: Zamfir/Cintec din Ardeal: Mocirita cu Trifoi (Picnic at Hanging

Rock)

Ole Man River: Jerome Kern/ Showboat

African song: Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Unomathemba (Coffee Ad)

Bogavlie's plaid: Alasdair Fraser - Swoon 2

6. The Analysis:

What is it that stirs/ why?

Is the stirring common - Jung?

For common reasons?

Does it matter anyway??????? I am after improved right brain activity, not left brain

stuff!!!

Nature of authenticity /originality

CS Lewis:

Originality: "Applying this principle to literature, in its greatest

generality, we should get as the basis of all critical theory the maxim

that an author should never conceive himself as bringing into existence

beauty or wisdom which did not exist before, but simply and solely as

trying to embody in terms of his own art some reflection of eternal

Beauty and Wisdom." CS Lewis Christianity and Literature in

Christian Reflections. p.22


PRESENTATION HANDOUT:CONCLUSIONS FROM PREVIOUS STUDY WHICH STIMULATE THIS APPROACH:

8. REVIEW OF LITERATURE OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION - WHAT INSIGHTS

THE LITERATURE MAY PROVIDE TO DEAL WITH THE TASK OF

EQUIPPING STAFF TO HANDLE DISPUTES EFFECTIVELY IN LOCAL

GOVERNMENT:


exhaustive. I have started with the recommended reading for the course, together with some



needed and, in some cases, been able, to chase back through their references.

Then, as I have compiled this report, with its focus on skill formation and development, in the

local government industry, the bibliography charts another strand of literature survey.

The most recent comprehensive survey of the training required is provided in either

Mary Power's article in the Australian Dispute Resolution Journal (1992) 3

(214-226).

or

Astor & Chinkin's "Dispute Resolution in Australia".

My conclusions, from the information in the sources reviewed, are:

1. The key areas, where skill development is needed, for effective dispute

resolution are:

1.1 the interpersonal skills of:

1.1.1 communication

1.1.2 perceiving emotions

1.2 negotiation skills

1.3 analysis to help clarify interests

1.4 invention and creativity in devising realistic options

1.5 organisational and planning skills

2. The key areas, where knowledge development is needed, for effective dispute

handling are:

2.1 interpersonal knowledge

2.1.1 self-awareness & personal development

2.1.2 other-awareness

2.2 alternative strategy knowledge for


2.2.1 negotiation

2.2.2 counselling

2.2.3 mediation

2.2.4 training

Training? If you can handle disputes effectively and know how and why - then teach others

to do it as well!!

2.3 ethical norms knowledge for

2.3.1 personal behaviour

2.3.2 other party behaviour (including cross-cultural knowledge)

2.3.3 codes of conduct for negotiation, counselling, mediation,

training

2.3.4 the community standards expressed in current arbitration/

litigation

3. The key areas, where the development of theoretical understanding is needed,

for effective dispute handling are:


3.2 nature of power


3.4 nature of learning

SOME EXTERNAL SOURCES IN SUPPORT:

Power, Mary R "Educating Mediators Metacognitively" (1992) 3 Australian Dispute

Resolution Journal, 1992, Vol 3, 214-226

p.214

[The] model advanced here is that beginning mediators be taught to be "metacognitive", that

is, to "plan, initiate, and evaluate their own learning experiences", to integrate them with prior

experience to facilitate the growth of independent, reflective problem solvers who are not

limited by past practices and conventions but are constantly subjecting their own performance

to scrutiny to improve it.

Lillard, PP "Montessori today: a comprehensive approach to education from birth to

adulthood". New York: Schocken, 1996

Principles:

exploration - humans need to explore; humans need new things for such exploration;

exploration is the source of motivation; a prepared environment that invites


exploration will be explored

orientation and order - humans need order to allow for orientation in exploration -

safety ; -> well-structured environment; sequencing of material;

the consistency of educational approach; -> sense of

predictability; control and mastery over environment

imagination

manipulation

repetition

precision

control of error and perfection

communication

p.16

"It is psychological security, engendered in part by a properly structured environment, which

gives children the impulse to try harder to face the unknown, including the unpleasant facts of

life."

p.17

"Human tendencies of imagination and abstraction, manipulation and repetition are,

therefore, interdependent with the remaining human propensities for precision, control of

error, and perfection."

"When young children are engaged in this circular process from abstraction to manipulation,

repetition and control of error in their striving for precision and perfection in Montessori

classrooms, there is both an earnestness and a peace about their activity."

[This cycle process is the basis of continuous improvement!!!]

[Note the mind/ action relationship in NLP!!!]

p.21

the educational plan that Montessori eventually evolved .. contains three essential elements:

* a prepared environment

* a prepared adult

* and freedom with responsibility

the adult education model:

prepared environment - prepared students, others' experience

prepared adult - prepared teacher, research background

freedom with responsibility - it is your learning you need to be responsible for it

****************************************


REFLECTIONS 30/3/67

Sunlight dances there

where waves shatter the mirror

surface of the sea.

Ephemeral stars

sparkle into existence

and leave with a wave.

THE SEA SHELL 27/6/67

What the sea

Has given to me

I give to thee -

A token of love.

The sea is the lover,

The earth, the lov'ed.

At first with gentle waves

The water softly falls,

Caressing the shore.

Then with passion fiery

The living sea speaks

forth its love.

In pain, in almost-anger,

Cries the sea,

Crying to be heard.

Oh listen earth, to its call.

Hear the gentle "I love you",

And whisper back again your love.

Oh hear its raging passion roar,

And with your heart and soul

Respond, giving all.

Then when the tide of passion has ebbed

See how your lover

left you

the token of his love

- a shell.


CATHEDRAL IN BRONZE 20/8/67

(RODIN'S "CATHEDRAL")

It was the pray'er

They said, that the hands portrayed -

But they did not look.

Two hands, strong hands shaped

In metal, strong metal touched

And in the touching

The lovers' hands revealed

A place of worship.

ROSE 5/6/69

Wearing the green mantle of leaf

Intermingled softly with the rich blood

Red: flower.

Bearing the red underlay of bud

Gently burning through the network

Of green: leaf.

TURN, TURN, TURN, TURN 1/1/70

In this age of aquarius

Remember that the desert

Is in the heart of your brother.

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Dispute Resolution: Nature of Conflict & Its Role in Society

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