Conflict Resolution

00:01 Hi and welcome to third party formats for resolving conflicts.

00:06 Have you ever been in a conflict and everything seems upside down? You don't know what to do.

00:13 You've been round and round with the person several times and you sit there and you say, Help, I need help.

00:21 I need mediation.

00:23 Mediation is a general term used in our society to talk about a broader group of third party formats which can help us in resolving our conflict.

00:35 Actually, mediation is only one method within that group.

00:40 This course will give you an overview of what you should consider when seeking third party support.

00:46 You will also be exposed to a variety of third party support formats, and you'll be given a way to understand which format is best useful in your given situation.

00:58 Now you might be asking yourself, when is third party assistance helpful? When you're looking at the conflict parties, there needs to be a willingness to engage in the process, to have open communication, a willingness to share information and perspectives about the conflict.

01:17 And most importantly, there must be a commitment to inclusion and participation. Everyone involved in the conflict should be able to freely participate in the conflict.

01:30 Third party assistance focuses on improving the relationship, moving the parties from destructive conflict to constructive dialogue and problem solving.

01:41 It deals with the negative emotions raging inside of us, and it helps to facilitate negotiations when difficult issues arise. Lastly, it allows the parties to freely participate. I'd like to introduce what I like to call the conflict management spectrum.

02:02 Now imagine that there is a spectrum that moves on a continuum from soft to robust intervention.

02:10 At the very beginning, we have more control of the individual and less focus on the whole.

02:17 And on the other side of the spectrum, we have more control by the whole and less focus on the individual.

02:25 Now, at the same time, on the same continuum, we look at how the third party might intervene in this process.

02:34 And on the one side of the spectrum, you have full control by the parties to say, Hey, I don't want that to happen, or to say, You know what, I think we should do something differently to on the other side of the spectrum, no control by the parties to decide how and when the process develops.

02:55 Here on the screen, you see the continuum in its totality, dealing with issues ranging from communication to rights, including relationship and interest.

03:07 I'd like to take you step by step through these four categories. At the very beginning, we have what's called communication issues.

03:19 The types of instruments in this category include focusing on good offices, focusing on providing open communication, increasing the clarity and the purpose of the communication through the parties.

03:36 The objective is to support their parties, the parties in their individual development of reflective practice.

03:46 Thinking about how I, the individual can improve myself so that I can communicate with my counterpart in a clear manner.

03:57 These types of processes are confidential and personal.

04:02 A coach may come in and help me with my issues, but that coach would not be able to speak to anybody else about the work being done within our confidential meeting.

04:16 At the same time, we'll be able to work on difficult dialogues.

04:20 When people are sitting around the table and they're screaming, I'm angry, I'm angrier.

04:27 We need to unpack those types of dialogues and figure out why the person is angry, what do they need, what are their needs, and if they can reframe, I'm angry to I felt disappointed when you did not arrive on time to our meeting because it's important for me to collaborate with you.

04:50 We're on the way to healthy dialogue.

04:54 Dialogue formats usually are informal and more interpersonal. Now, on the screen, you will see that we have the next category of problems that can be dealt with, which are relationship problems.

05:11 This has increased the conflict spiral from communication disagreements to interpersonal disagreements.

05:18 In this category of conflicts, the people tend to work on their team dialogue.

05:25 How is the conflict impacting our team or our organization? We might even go to a couple of capacity building workshops where we learn to restructure our communication.

05:38 We'll do interpersonal.

05:40 Exercises to build trust will be able to have facilitated negotiations about substantive issues in our conflict.

05:50 The objective of facilitated format is to help groups achieve a common outcome.

05:56 However, the facilitator is limited to ensuring that there is fair process, fair procedures, a flow of information and clarification of misunderstandings in a facilitated process.

06:11 The third party is not allowed to get involved in the search for a common solution.

06:18 The format is usually either bilateral together with the facilitator, or it could be a group facilitation in a collegial environment. In any case, confidentiality continues to be one of the main issues that binds all of these processes. In the third category of conflicts are interest based conflicts.

06:44 These are dealt with what with what people call mediation. Mediation and its broadest term is the efforts by an impartial third party to assist people in conflict to reach a mutually acceptable solution. It can be highly structured or informal.

07:07 It could be bilateral.

07:09 Or it could be within a problem solving workshop.

07:13 Problem solving workshops tend to focus on the long term relationships for systemic solutions.

07:21 They are also interest based.

07:23 They involve some form of dialogue.

07:26 But in the end, the group needs to find healthy options that can move the group forward.

07:33 The atmosphere and the format are more workshop setting and still informal.

07:40 Any conclusion out of a workshop needs to be formalized in a formal decision making process within the organisation or within a decision making body.

07:53 Finally, once we have worked on interest conflicts, we might want to look at rights based conflicts within our rights based conflicts.

08:02 We have to differentiate between what we call adjudicated processes, which involve, for example, arbitration and judicial process, which involve a formal court.

08:16 Arbitration involves outsourcing the decision making to a third party, impartial authority who listens to the claims and arguments of the parties, and then using standards of fairness and judicial standards, will reach a decision that is binding on the parties.

08:39 Judicial processes, on the other hand, are sometimes made because the parties do not feel they have any other recourse.

08:48 It involves holding a hearing in a court to determine who is right under the existing framework.

08:56 It does not deal with emotional or other conflicts.

09:01 I'd like to go back to the entire scheme and spectrum and look at these four categories one more time.

09:08 Now you might be thinking, but the issues are more complex.

09:13 There are some communication problems, there are some relationship problems.

09:17 Well, it is my interest and I know my rights.

09:20 So how do I decide? Well, in other lectures, I've given you some conflict analysis tools.

09:27 I've given you, for example, the negotiation triangle to separate the people from the problem and the process.

09:34 You're going to have to use your analytical skills to be able to make the conflict into smaller, more manageable issues and divide them so that you can have the right format for the right issue. Now, let's turn to some questions that I would like to ask you.

09:52 Number one, how much control over the outcome do we want? If we want a lot of control, we might shy away from judicial processes.

10:03 We might lean more towards coaching and dialogue.

10:09 Do we want an internal or an external process? Manager Quite often people think mediation has to be done by somebody completely external. However, there are some organizations who employ and train their people in their organization to do mediation internally for the organization.

10:30 Number three, is this a two party conflict that can be facilitated or mediated, or is it a group conflict which needs a more? Workshop atmosphere.

10:42 Number four.

10:43 Is this an interpersonal conflict where the parties have relational issues or interest based issues that can be mediated? Or is this a rights based contractual conflict that requires legal input? Number five.

11:00 Does the conflict have a systemic component? Do we need to have a workshop with all the stakeholders involved, or is it an isolated incident that can be dealt with within a dialogue format? And finally, what is the level of communication amongst the parties? If the parties are still talking to each other and are still engaging in each other in the search for common solutions? It might be better to leave them in dialogue formats if the communication, on the other hand, has completely terminated and they have no relationship with each other at this moment in time, we might be looking at things like mediation or arbitration to help the parties solve their disputes.

11:51 In the end, you have a broad base of choices and methods that you can choose which cover communication, relationship, interest and rights based conflicts.

12:02 I hope that during this lecture you were able to get an overview of what you need to consider when you're thinking about a third party format. Number two, I hope that you have been able to understand the various approaches available when seeking third party support, and lastly that you are able to determine and distinguish between the different approaches. In closing, what I would like to say to you is if you are currently thinking about third party support, to not shy away from visiting a third party expert, such as a facilitator or a mediator, and having yourself informed about what they can do for you.

12:47 Thank you very much and good luck with your conflict.