You are at:
[Mediation
Services]
[adrr.com
> Index > Patterns,
Pathologies and Paradigms]
[Mediation
Books] New material will be at http://adrr.com/srm/ |
Issues and Elements in Human Conflict, Beyond Needs Based Analysis
Introduction
Needs based analysis is very useful in seeking solutions to conflicts.
However, while there are needs, there are also basic human patterns
that exist wherever there is conflict, there are pathologies in human
interactions that create conflicts, and there are two paradigms whose clashes
create conflicts within otherwise aligned groups. Understanding these
three areas leads to the next step in understanding conflicts.
(Defining conflict)
Patterns
There are standard patterns of human response. To understand conflict,
it is important to understand human response patterns. For the on-line
version of my seminal essay (as used in a graduate level class) -- an essay
that covers the basic human response patterns in the context of negotiation,
visit
.
This essay applies basic human response patterns to the negotiation
context in a very accessible fashion. The same material, looking at
the human response pattern in a simplified fashion and from a different
perspective is at
.
For another look -- in a different context and with some additional
detail --
.
The bottom line is that instead of two basic patterns -- used for negotiation
and other responses to stress and conflict, there are five relevant coping
patterns that are used in situations of trauma -- including the stress of
negotiation -- and that the interactions of these five should be understood
in order to understand how participants in conflict are approaching the
interaction.
Pathologies
There are reoccurring social pathologies that create forces and groups in
conflict. These historical "standard" viewpoints are social pathologies
when they go "too far." These are a major source of human conflict.
I have attempted to catagorize the most common social pathologies using
an historical metaphor. For a simple essay on this topic that tries
to make the topic approachable --
.
Paradigms
There are two major paradigms that tend to swallow up various political and
philosophical movements. Paradigm conflict is a major element in human
conflict that is generally undeveloped and unexplored. There are two
major paradigms that come into conflict over and over again, in various
iterations.
[]
For my recent discussion of this point (providing some context for the theory),
.
Conclusion
It is my intent to take these three areas and develop them as they relate to the issues and elements of human conflict. By doing so, I plan to take analysis of the issues past "needs based" approaches that do not resolve the basic elements of human conflict (though are quite useful in seeking solutions). These factors are the human elements that go far beyond "needs" and that are founded in the basic patterns that define all that are human.
This Website is by Stephen R.
Marsh
Contact Information at:
http://adrr.com/smarsh/