CAS404:

Lesson 02: Conflict as a Process of Communication

---

Lesson Overview

This lesson explores successful conflict management and gives ways to identify destructive conflict behaviors.

Learning Objectives

The readings and questions in the lesson will help you to

• understand that conflict progresses through different stages of communication;
• recognize that the progression of a conflict is not always straightforward but can be characterized by destructive cycles of rigidity, hostile escalation, and avoidance; and
• appreciate how knowledge of the properties of conflict interaction can minimize the likelihood that the parties involved will become caught in destructive cycles.

Lesson Readings & Activities

By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Lesson 02 Course Schedule.

Key Ideas from the Reading

1. Conflict, when successfully managed, typically progresses through two stages: a differentiation stage (the airing of what is at issue) and an integration stage (an effort by the parties to deal with their differences in a manner that leads to an outcome or set of outcomes they find to be acceptable; in short, exhibiting positive forms of problem solving). See pp. 14-15.
    
2. Conflict can become “stuck” in the differentiation stage as a result of rigidity or inflexibility and an inability to clarify differences intelligently on the part of those involved, and in the process, induce one of two forms of destructive cycles: spiraling escalation or avoidance (pp. 15-19).


3. Symptoms of escalation include taking longer to deal with issues than anticipated; repetition of arguments and threats; and other issues listed in Table 1.1 (p. 22). Symptoms of avoidance include expressed indifference to reaching a settlement, tuning out, withholding of information, and other symptoms also listed in Table 1.1.


4. When the parties to a conflict succeed in not following either of the paths above (escalation or avoidance) and move to the integration phase, the odds of achieving workable and acceptable resolutions of differences improve considerably. Reaching such a point, however, often entails a process that Folger, Poole, and Stutman liken to “tacking” (a set of maneuvers in sailing that sailors have learned to use in moving the boat forward against the wind). The parties engage in a sometimes delicate balancing act of evading the pitfalls of either escalation or avoidance (Figure 1.2, p. 22).


5. To assist in escaping the trap of rigidity, an understanding of the properties of conflict interaction is needed; four of these properties are especially noteworthy (pp.23-36):
   
   
   1. Conflict arises as a result of how individuals react to incompatibilities in positions concerning goals, the means of achieving them, and the obstacles they each seem to pose; in short, the moves and countermoves of the interactants.
   2. Patterns of interaction are self-perpetuating and intensify over time, which suggests that one needs to take steps early to prevent destructive cycles from taking hold, namely, escalation and avoidance.
   3. Conflict interaction both affects and is affected by the relationships of those involved.
   4. Conflict interaction is affected by personal and relational histories and climate, or the prevailing temper of the situation, which presumably can in turn affect climate. Individuals having such understandings are better equipped to steer a course that enables them to move from the differentiation phase of conflict to the integration stage.

Thought Questions

1. In Chapter 1 of your text, the authors present a model of effective conflict management (pp. 13-23). They then discuss four properties of conflict interaction. (See the list on p. 23 and the elaboration on pp. 23-36). How, in your judgment, does knowledge of these properties affect the likelihood that one can behave in accordance with those aspects of the model related to effectiveness?
    
2. Folger, Poole, and Stutman identify numerous signs that the parties to a conflict are stuck in destructive cycles of either spiraling escalation or avoidance. (See Table 1.1, p. 22.) In your experiences with other people, what signs have you relied on in determining when a conflict appears to be heading in the direction of either escalation or avoidance? In arriving at such recognition, what have you typically attempted to do to move the conflict toward a point of resolution (in other words, to enter the integration stage)? Have your tactics usually worked or failed? In either case, why do you think that they have had the effects they have?


3. Conflicts, according to the text authors, emerge as the result of actions and others’ reactions to them. Identify an example from your own knowledge or personal experience of an action or set of actions and subsequent reactions that resulted in a conflict that escalated into additional actions/reactions. An example might be when a roommate invited a significant other to stay overnight without informing the other roommate. Identify the triggering actions and reactions and the subsequent ineractions that sustained the conflict.


4. One of the properties of conflict interaction that Folger, Poole, and Stutman emphasize is that patterns of interaction in conflicts tend to be self-perpetuating. For instance, being insulting leads to further insults, shouting leads to further shouting, being condescending leads to further acts of condescension, and the like. It is almost as if the parties become involved in a game of one-upmanship. Why do you think that we tend to persist in such patterns even when it becomes obvious that they are destructive?


5. Case 1.1 (pp. 34-35) nicely illustrates how a single remark can radically change the climate of a situation in which conflict occurs. In the example, the emergent conflict did not appear to be one to which the parties responded effectively. If you were in the position of the visiting journalist, how might you have responded to the student in question in order to restore the previously welcoming climate of the brown-bag discussion? Why do you think that your strategy would work in this type of situation? How do you think the professor in the case should have responded to the student? Why?


6. In light of the authors’ observation that relationships both influence and are influenced by conflict interaction, create a dialogue between two people that you feel illustrates this sort of reciprocity. You might think of incidents in your relationships with others when the characteristics of an instance influenced the responses of the parties involved and, in turn, altered the relationship. For instance, there may be a situation in which a person is upset by a friend's treatment of a mutual third friend.

Activities

Written Assignment

For Lesson 02, prepare an essay of approximately 750 words in length in which you address Question 2 of the Thought Questions in this lesson. In developing your essay, be sure to address all of the specific sub-questions.

Expected Outcome

You should develop a better appreciation of Folger, Poole, and Stutman's view that conflict is inseparable from the interaction in which the involved parties are engaged and that conflict also evolves as a result of the communicative acts that occur during the interaction.

Contribution to Course Grade

5%