Truisms About Conflict
Conflict is a normal part of everyday life. Working in a pluralistic organization often heightens the
conflict that exists.
Common responses to conflict are anger, pouting, withdrawal, denial, suppression, and sulking.
While each serves a purpose, they are not productive.
To improve your own effectiveness in dealing with conflict, here are a few truisms about conflict.
Conflict is a natural, normal part of life.
Conflict is neutral. It simply reflects a reality that shows different viewpoints, priorities, or
choices.
Not all conflicts can be resolved. Often times people have much more invested in keeping the
conflict going than in dealing with it or solving the problem. Conflicts exist because someone,
somewhere gets something out of keeping the conflict going.
Conflict can result from clear communication. The prevailing belief is that conflict is the result of
a lack of communication. Usually, conflict will be the result of very clearly communicated differences
in priorities or values. That clear conflict helps you understand how wide the gap is and where you
can begin to narrow it.
Learning to view conflict as a potential source of creative energy rather than something destructive
can change not only how it is viewed, but also how it is handled.
Managing Diversity, January 1998
Conflict and Culture
In order to make good results happen, there are some things you need to know about how people
manage conflict cross-culturally.
Below are some mainstream American attitudes and viewpoints about conflict, and views that are
more dominant in the rest of the world.
Think about past conflicts within your own workgroups and apply these norms to any differences
you were part of or tried to settle.
The American Way
- Communication is very direct. "Don't beat around the bush; tell it like it is."
- Airing of differences is seen as helpful to the team.
- Emphasis on being assertive.
- Conflict is negotiated within the team.
- Frustration is felt from avoidance behavior or refusal to deal with conflict directly and openly.
The Rest of the World
- Communication is much more contextual and indirect.
- Harmony is prized more highly than airing differences.
- Directness is viewed as offensive and crass in resolving differences. Formal team structure is seen
as a very inappropriate forum for negotiation.
- Conflict is solved informally after hours in social situations.
- Third party interveners are useful and can function as negotiators.
- Confrontation is seen as potentially face losing.
Managing Diversity, February 1998
Upcoming Events
May 28-31, 1998
Washington, D.C.
"Beyond Rhetoric: Redefining Diversity through Common Ground," the National MultiCultural
Institute's 13th Annual National Conference.
Cornel West, Harvard University Professor on Afro-American Studies, author of Race Matters, and
leading authority on race relations will be the keynote speaker. Professor West was the keynote
speaker at the University of Arizona in January 1996.
The plenary panel discussion will include Cornel West, Abigail Thernstrom, Ronald Takaki, and a representative from the President's Initiative on Race.
Thirty half-day, two-day, and four-day workshops will include:
- Training of Diversity Trainers,
- Exploring Our Cultural Assumptions,
- Breakthrough Strategies for Revitalizing the Workplace,
- Interviewing in a Multicultural Workplace,
- Mediating Cross-Cultural Conflict,
- Dialogue and Identity,
- Using Campus Climate Assessment for Effective Diversity Development,
- Incorporating Multiculturalism into the Curriculum,
- Cultural Competency in Health Care.
Contact: The National MultiCultural Institute. 3000 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 438, Washington, D.C. 20008;
Phone (202) 483-0700; Fax (202) 483-5233; Email nmci@nmci.org; Web http://www.nmci.org