The narrowness of resolution approaches may solve problems
But miss the greater potential for constructive change.
In any situation, however, the decision of whether to pursue all the potential avenues of change must be assessed and weighed. Our family does not engage in a deep transformational exploration every time we have an argument about dirty dishes. But over periods of time there are episodes that do create the circumstances for deeper reflection about our patterns, the structure of our relationship, and our identity as individuals and as a family. The dirty dishes always hold the potential. We don't pursue it on every occasion. But if and when we want to pursue it, the potential can only be opened if we have a framework that encourages the inquiry, provides lenses to see what is happening, and offers tools to help us think about constructive change. That framework is what conflict transformation offers.
Perhaps most importantly, conflict transformation places before us the big questions: Where are we headed? Why do we do this work? What are we hoping to contribute and build? I am convinced that the vast majority of practitioners who have chosen to work in this field are drawn to it because they want to promote social change. I am convinced that most of the communities who have committed to finding constructive ways to address conflict are likewise interested, not just in maintaining the status quo, but in changing lives for the better. They want to change the way human societies respond to conflict. The change these practitioners and communities desire is to move from violent and destructive patterns toward capacities which are creative, responsive, constructive, and nonviolent.
I am one of those practitioners, and perhaps my biases cause me to see what I wish to see. I see that our human community, local and global, is on the edge of historic change where patterns of violence and coercion will be replaced with respect, creative problem-solving, individual and social capacities for dialogue, and nonviolent systems for assuring human security and social change. This will require a complex web of change processes guided by a transformational understanding of life and relationship. This is my challenge and hope for conflict transformation.
May the warmth of complexity shine on your face.
May the winds of good change blow gently at your back.
May your feet find the roads of authenticity.
May the web of change begin!
Endnotes
[1] The New Sciences are the developments in physics, biology, and environmental studies that in the latter half of the 20th century produced quantum and chaos theories, among others.
|
|
|
See Margaret Wheatley’s discussion of this in reference to learning organizations in Leadership and the New Sciences (San Francisco, CA: Barrett-Koehler, Publishers, 1994) p. 16.
[2] Ibidem.
[3] See Hocker and Wilmot’s discussion of content and relationship in Interpersonal Conflict or Edwin Friedman’s discussion of anxiety, emotional process, and symptomatic content in Generation to Generation.
Selected Readings
Bush, Baruch and J. Folger. The Promise of Mediation: Responding to Conflict Through Empowerment and Recognition (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994).
Curle, Adam. Another Way: Positive Response to Contemporary Violence (Oxford: Jon Carpenter Publishing, 1995).
Friedman, Edwin. Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue (New York: Guilford Press, 1985).
Hocker, Joyce and William Wilmot. Interpersonal Conflict (Dubuque: Brown and Benchmark, 2000).
Kriesberg, Louis. Constructive Conflicts: From Escalation to Resolution. Second Edition (New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2003).
Mayer, Bernard. The Dynamics of Conflict Resolution: A Practitioner's Guide (San-Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000).
Rothman, Jay. Resolving Identity-Based Conflicts in Nations, Organizations and Communities (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997).
Ury, Bill. The Third Side: Why we fight and how we can stop (New York: Penguin, 2000).
Wehr, Paul and Heidi and Guy Burgess. Justice without Violence (Boulder: Lynne Riener, 1994).
Wheatley, Margaret. Leadership and the New Science: Learning about organization from an orderly universe (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1994).
Дата добавления: 2019-02-13; просмотров: 217; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!