Burton (1990) once described conflict as stemming from human needs and reflects interests that lead people to use power and coercion to satisfy those necessities.
In as much as life is filled with various and varying interests, so, too, is life filled with different conflicts. I, myself, am not spared from those.Just now, I am experiencing oppositions at school. My classmates and I have recently been having different views regarding the way to address the seemingly lack of competence of an instructor. For a better picture of the conflict, it will be described by analyzing the functions of the T.
R.I.P. (topic, relational, identity, and process) goals of conflict.TopicAll of us want one thing – a good education.
Thus, it can be said that we all have a common interest in mind. Nonetheless, though we are singular in the main goal, we are different in our objectives regarding the attainment of this goal. Some want that instructor to be dismissed from teaching our section while others, including me, want that teacher to be talked into improving her teaching skills.RelationalWe are classmates and thus, we are but at the same level.
This is why everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion on the matter without anyone of us having the right to impose our own ideas on him/her. As youngsters, we also tend to stick with the opinion of our respective groups fearing more the lost of company than the lost of personal position.IdentityIn this conflict, I am one of the students of the instructor whom we charge with inefficiency in teaching. With that, it is her ‘face’ that we might ‘destroy’ once we confront her regarding the problem or worse, once we air the problem directly to the administrators. Also, in coming up with a decision, having some ideas not pursued might have others feel that they ‘lost their faces’.
This is why everyone is battling it out to be the followed.ProcessBeing at the same level, we have difficulties since no one is obliged to listen to any one. This is why, I believe, a democratic discussion headed by an appointed leader must be done so that resolutions can be facilitated and decisions can be made.
