Source: Image of Co-Workers, Public Domain, http://www.morguefile.com/archive/#/?q=office
Hi, I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to Conflict Resolution, putting the pieces together. Today, we're going to talk about how we can gather the data and important information that we need for conflict analysis. So in order to gather some information that we will need for our conflict analysis on particular situations involving multi-parties, intense conflicts, complex conflicts, or long-term conflicts, there are a few things that we are going to need to do, and one of those is through conflict mapping.
Conflict mapping and conflict analysis is really important in our process in really viewing the conflict as a whole in a really complete picture, and it's going to require a lot of information gathering on the behalf or on the part of the intervener. We can gather information as an intervener through archival materials, so information that has been recorded, and we can look up some documentation and get some information that way about the facts of the conflict. And this is a way of going about gathering information, but the best way is through direct communication through interviews. So we can really have a face-to-face conversation and meeting with parties so they can develop a relationship with us as an intervener and build our trust, and we can really pick up on a lot of different verbal cues and emotions when we have direct communication, things that we can't necessarily get from just looking at some archives. So whenever possible, we want to try and have direct communication with the parties involved in the conflict.
So how are we going to go about gathering our information? Well, the first way to do this or the best way to go about this is through interviewing parties, so where we're having a direct conversation and inquiry with the party about the facts and feelings associated with the conflict as the party sees it from their perspective. And interviewing involves a private meeting, so that's very similar to a private meeting or caucus that we may have in your typical run-of-the-mill conflict resolution process. Here, as well as in our other conflict resolution processes, confidentiality is important. And so we have to really respect that confidentiality when we are meeting with other parties during our interview and data-gathering phase.
There are some exceptions to the confidentiality. For example, if it's a public dispute and it's going to be a matter of public record, then the parties specifically agree that the information is not going to be confidential because it's going to be made public. Through our interviewing process with our parties in the conflict, we may be directed towards other people or individuals or groups that aren't necessarily directly involved with the conflict, and we call these parties indirect parties.
So they are not directly involved, but may be affected by the outcome or the conflict itself in some way or another. So we may be directed to go to them to get some specific information or facts. And when we have this meeting with indirect parties, we're going to have to maintain our confidentiality with these individuals as well, unless there's the exception that the group agrees the information is going to be made public.
When we are interviewing, we are going to utilize those same interest-finding techniques that we utilize in our typical conflict resolution processes. And we're going to also utilize questioning techniques. We're going to try and find out the differences and understanding of the facts. So we're going to ask specific questions directed towards the facts about the conflict, and we're also going to then direct specific questions about their perceptions and disagreements about facts and their interests, as well as their emotions and feelings about the conflict. So we want to get those concrete facts as well as those feelings and emotions involved so we can really have a clearer understanding about certain party's perspectives of the conflict so we can put that on our conflict map.
And when we are questioning and interviewing the parties, we want to look at specific statements or questions that review the facts-- that reveal the facts, rather. And these are actual and verifiable events and occurrences that are within the conflict, whereas we're also probably going to find some statements or questions about party's perceptions of facts, and that's the emotions and intentions or feelings that the party associates with those facts in the conflict. And when we're questioning, we're probably going to start off with some open-ended questions and utilize those open-ended questions throughout our interview process so the parties have the opportunity to really open up and give their point of view without us leading them to a certain perspective or point of view and scenario within the conflict.
So we may start out by asking the parties, what brought you here today? Can you please give me a better understanding of what's going on in the situation? And so that gets the ball rolling so we can try and figure out some facts, and then we can ask more clarifying questions as we go along so we can distinguish facts versus perceptions. And we're going to ask-- we're going to engage, rather, in active listening skills. So we're going to have some eye contact, we're going to use our non-verbal communication skills, and we're also going to utilize some summarizing, paraphrasing, and reflecting so we can let the parties know that we are listening to them, and so we can be sure that we are understanding exactly what's going on for that particular person in the conflict.
Let's look at our key points on gathering data. We know that when we are doing a conflict analysis, a conflict map is really beneficial in getting the history and the broad perspective and overview of conflict. And when we interview parties, this is a way in which we can gather the data for our conflict map. We can get some information from archives, but the direct communication is best.
And when we interview parties, it's like a private meeting that we have or a caucus that we have in a party-to-party conflict resolution process, and we're also going to maintain our confidentiality, unless otherwise stated that information is going to be public in this process. We also may be directed to parties that are not directly involved in the conflict, and we might go to them to gather some other information that will be useful in understanding the conflict. And when we interview, we want to use our interest-finding and questioning techniques that we use in our conflict resolution processes, so those open-ended questions, clarifying questions. And we're also going to engage in active listening where we are giving nonverbal communication cues and summarizing, paraphrasing, and reflecting for the parties.
Here are your key terms before we go. Feel free to pause and look at them closer. Thanks for taking the time out. I hope that you learned something, and I can't wait to catch you again next time.