Thursday, February 16, 2012
Week 3, Post #2
When dealing with any issues of conflict I believe that it’s all about how you approach the situation. For example, when framing is used mediators ask neutral, friendly questions to avoid passing blame or passing judgment. Also, reframing is a way to diffuse a situation dealing with conflict. This involves taking negative or biased statement and turning them into a more neutral, or relatable idea making it more approachable. Common ground is also a major thing that mediators must highlight. If commonalities are expressed an agreement is more likely to be met. Also, by using fractionation we can turn complex issues of conflict into smaller more approachable ones. I believe that conflict is bound to happen it’s just a matter of how we deal with it. These four techniques I listed are effective ways to address conflict and determine a route towards agreement when conflict is involved.
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Common ground is so important because, as you state, an agreement is far more likely to be met using this approach. At some point during the conflict, if either parties ever hope to reach a solution, both sides must meet somewhere in the middle. What is it we have in common? What are the basic issues which underline this problem that we can agree need work?
ReplyDeleteFractionating is equally important. Approaching an issue head-on will often cause more problems than it fixes. Any significant conflict will have side-issues and emotional baggage attached to it, often effecting the outcome of the dispute. By way of fractioning, we can separate each issue into it’s own set of subcomponents, thus making it far easier to digest.
-Ben
In my opinion the approach of conflict defines the whole communication process. As we are learning and as you said it is all about how you approach the situation. Framing is a perfect technique to use in order to handle conflict and I think concepts such as this are important for communication us to remember. I think framing is the most practical way used to firstly calm down the individuals in the situation. As most often mediators are knowingly entering themselves into a atmosphere of anger, aggression and over flowing emotions so it is a good idea to start of slow and calm by asking simple questions.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think the biggest issues when solving conflict is finding common ground. Once that happens it's really just getting the two people to look at how they are framing the issue and seeing if maybe they can reframe it to find even more common ground. It's almost like you visit the issue reframe--common ground then re-evaluate until the issue is solved.
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