Hi, I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to conflict resolution, putting the pieces together. Today, we're going to talk about the incident stage of conflict. In the incident stage, this is the stage of conflict in which parties become aware of each other's roles and needs not being met through a concrete occurrence in their relationship. Conflict can be modeled as going through a number of stages. And these describe the intensity and nature of party's behaviors and attitude as the conflict continues.
There are several ways in which conflict can be broken down into stages. But all models look at pre-conflict, conflict, and post-conflict. In each of these stages, conflict can escalate or de-escalate from one stage to another. So let's go over some previous stages of conflict that lead up to the incident stage. First, we have pre-conflict. And this is where parties needs are not being met but they may be unaware of the relationship between that.
And then we have discomfort. This is where the parties become more aware that their needs are not being met but really aren't sure how that fits in, and it's a really vague feeling, and there aren't too any concrete details. Now that leads us to the incident stage of conflict. In the incident stage, parties are now become aware that their needs are not being met. And this happens through a definable event. And this could be an incident that's minor or major in the eyes of the party. But it brings the conflict into a sharper focus and consciousness.
So here is where conflict often begins, although it can happen in the previous or next stages of conflict. But for the most part, this is where we say the conflict actually starts. A good example of an incident stage of conflict could be an argument or a disagreement between a parent and teenager over using a car. Let's say that the parent uses the car to go to work, run errands, et cetera. But the teenager really needs to use the car, as well, to foster friendships and relationships to socialize. And they both need the car at the same time. And, wham, that's when the argument ensues.
It's important to remember that beginning conflict resolution processes at the earliest possible stage of conflict tends to make the conflict a lot easier to resolve. So let's go back to our example of the parent-teen conflict and the car and what an intervention might look like. Let's say another parent in the household recognizes the fight and comes to try and intervene and sort things out between the parent and teen. And through this intervention, it comes out that the teen recognizes that the parent needs the vehicle to do daily tasks and to provide for the household. Whereas, the parent, then, also recognizes that the teen does need to socialize and that neither of them really want to compete with each other's needs. And so, they come up with a plan or a schedule on when and who uses the car.
So let's cover the key points of this tutorial on the incidence stage of conflict. And, remember, all models of conflict resolution look at pre-conflict, conflict, and post-conflict stages. And conflicts may escalate or de-escalate through each of these stages. And all of the stages represent a varying degree of intensity in the conflict. In the incident stage, parties are aware that their needs are not being met. And this happens through a definable event. And this definable event, it brings the conflict into sharper focus.
And the incident stage is typically where the conflict begins. And remember that the earlier that you start a conflict resolution process in the stages of conflict, it results in an easier resolution of the conflict. Thanks so much for taking the time out to view this lesson. And I hope to catch you again next time.