Conflict and Resolution

Conflict is something we are faced with everyday. Conflict is always present in some form either internal or external. The challenge is how we respond to the problem. Dr. Okwii, the guest speaker of the forum provided insight on conflict ranging from internal and external conflict and different views and steps in resolving and avoiding conflict. Conflict does not place outside, it takes place inside. As people, we need to learn and develop system thinking and global policy. When we feel ourselves acting in conflict, we need to think of how it will affect others and ourselves and determine if in the long run was it worth it?

Dr. Okwill is African professor who studied specifically in conflict studies. He studied conflict resolution because of his background. He was born in Uganda, doing the time off where the president was not a respecter of human rights. There was a lot of conflict where he grew up. The President killed a number of people around that time; some people every dear to him. His mother also played a part in his decision when she required him to protect her from other people when they were out walking. These factors and more lead him to study and learn more about conflict resolution.

The objective of the forum was to learn how to identify conflict. Discuss what causes conflict and converse about how to resolve conflict and proactively avoid disruptive conflict. Conflict is the manifestation of where you see violence; it is not the beginning of the conflict. Conflict is just a behavior being expressed. A good way to avoid conflict is to first start with bridging social devices such as mentoring. Whether informal or formal mentoring is useful in connecting people and helping them progress personally or professional. Mentoring is used to guide individuals down a design path. To start, one must first create a safe trust system or environment for the person. Creating open communication between the dispenser and the receptor enables a sense of trust making it easy to talk and share one concern.

Some key take a ways I took from this forum is understanding that to find a resolution for conflict, the root of the issue, not the situation, must be addressed. Conflict is internal and is expressed because someone has a personal problem within themselves that they cannot solve and wish to lash out on someone else. Conflict in some situations is a learned behavior. When people before us act a certain way in a situation and the way they acted was acceptable, younger generations will come and defend that way as a culture. To avoid conflict must declare as a person for themselves what the solution is or what they will do because conflict is internal. Creating goals for yourself can help in avoiding internal and external conflict because you have a plan on where you want to go in life and what is important. Attitude determines your altitude and it is up to the individual how they want to response in conflict situation.