Hi. I'm Julie Tietz and welcome to Conflict Resolution, Putting the Pieces Together. Today, we're going to talk about addressing the benefits of unresolved conflict.
Sometimes, certain situations individuals involved in conflict may find it to be a benefit to them. And what we mean by the benefit of conflict is an individual or group's interests or needs are being met by continuing on with the conflict. So rather than resolving it, they see that it's more beneficial for them in meeting their needs if they continue with the conflict.
So why and where do we typically see benefits of conflict? Well, for example, we usually see them in long-term or more complex conflicts. It's less likely that we would see this benefit of conflict in shorter or less complex conflicts. So we may not see this type or this benefit of conflict in a workplace situation, but rather more on a larger scale, let's say, in an international conflict we see this happening quite a bit.
Why would somebody want to continue conflict? Well, for one thing, it could be that it is promoting, or they're perceiving their actions as moral or ethical behavior. And so if they would stop engaging in the conflict, they wouldn't be acting morally or ethically.
Also, it could be seen as promoting group cohesion. So the conflict is what's keeping our group together. And it's our driving force. It's a commonality that we all share as a group. And without it, we may not have such great cohesion.
And another example could be the conflict is reinforcing our identity, whether that's individually or as a group. So the conflict is really a part of our sense of self and takes upon our world views. So without the conflict, we may feel that we are losing a part of our identity and ourself. And we typically see this in intractable conflicts.
So how are we going to uncover these benefits of conflict? Well, first of all, we're going to conduct our conflict analysis and make our conflict map. So we can have a broad perspective and overview of the conflict as a whole. And once we get that bigger picture, we can really start to identify the interest that the parties are getting from the conflict. So looking at the benefits and uncovering the reasons why the parties are feeling that this conflict is a benefit to them.
And again, some of those reasons could be moral and ethical behavior or promoting group cohesion and reinforcing their identity, individually or as a group. So once we conduct our conflict analysis, we then can really assess the situation. So we have identified the needs from the conflict.
And really, once we do that, we have to take these needs as a legitimate interest within the process. So these benefits, or the underlying reasons why the benefits are keeping the parties in conflict, is an interest that we have to keep in mind and needs to be met in the process, in order for a successful resolution.
So we can also think of the position then as continuing the conflict. And the interests are those underlying reasons why, and the benefits, the parties are receiving from continuing the conflict. So now that we know that the benefits of conflict is a legitimate interest for the parties, we then need to determine if a conflict resolution process is suitable or even desirable.
Because in some situations, it's better not to attempt conflict resolution if it gets to a certain point where the parties really are viewing that maintaining the conflict or remaining in the conflict is really benefiting them more than a conflict resolution process might do for them.
Let's take a look at our key points on addressing the benefits of conflict or unresolved conflict. We know that conflicts may be a benefit to the parties. And that's where their interests or needs are being met by continuing in the conflict. And once we conduct a conflict analysis and conflict map, we can really have a broad perspective on what the situation is in the conflict and really try and identify those interests and uncover the reasons why the parties are feeling that the conflict is a benefit to them.
Because the benefits of conflict are a legitimate interest in the process of conflict resolution and the conflict itself, we then have to determine if a conflict resolution process is suitable or worthwhile for the parties. Because in some situations, conflict resolution is not going to help the parties and they would rather meet their interests by maintaining the conflict, rather than trying to resolve it.
Here's your key term. Feel free to pause and look at it closer. Thanks for taking the time out to view this. And I can't wait to catch you again next time.