Power - Conflict resolution at home--Day 32

Values • Conflict Resolution Ideas - Day 32

While we are keeping social distance and have a lot of time on our hands, let's do some conflict resolution...

Conflict components--Power

Power in conflict resolution

Much below is excerpted/derived from Dissecting Power and How it Influences Conflict by Ellen Kandell

Power is the ability to influence an outcome or get a task completed. To understand power, it is vital to know the context in which it is being exerted and the other forces and influences in play. In the context of conflict, power is defined as the ability to get one’s needs met. For a conflict to exist each of those involved must have some degree of power and the ability to influence the outcome of the conflict.

Understanding Structural and Personal Power

Power is an elusive concept because it has so many manifestations. Everyone has many potential sources of power, most of which he or she is often unaware. Some are independent of the conflict while others can be enhanced or diminished by the process of conflict. Structural power is derived from the situation. One form of structural power is formal authority. Changes in structural power usually require systemic fixes. Personal power is inherent in the individual, their personal characteristics and traits. Personal power may come from communication skills, training or experience.

Key Types of Power

Formal: The authority given by an institution, by a set of laws or policies or by virtue of one’s position, such as school principal, board president or city council member.

Legal : Rights and choices defined by law or policy. Related are the resources a person has to pursue legal action.

Information: Data and knowledge. If one party to a conflict has information that the other doesn’t then they may have power in a conflict.

Association: This kind of power comes from the connection with other people or groups, such as political entities, trade associations or any other organization.

Resources: The ability to control resources whether tangible in the form of money, labor or time, or intangible, such as reputation and stamina, is a significant source of power

Rewards and sanctions: The ability to confer benefits or rewards and impose sanctions or penalties.

Morals: Power can flow from an appeal to the values, beliefs and ethics or from an attack on the values of those with whom you are in conflict.

Personal characteristics: This kind of power derives from an individual’s inherent make up, such as their perseverance, endurance, intelligence, communication skills, determination, and emotional and physical strength.

Some of these types of power are compatible with each other while others are not. For example:

A person with tangible resources may be effectively able to use the threat of a lawsuit to negotiate a settlement.
The use of an appeal to morals may not be effective if one doesn’t have personal characteristics to evoke this use of power.
In the workplace context, a manager may have formal authority based on her position which was obtained by virtue of her intellect but her power may be diminished if she doesn’t have the skills to manage people on her team.

The amount of power an individual has is less important than how effectively it is marshaled. According to Bernard Mayer in his book, The Dynamics of Conflict Resolution , “Sometimes it is important to use power to change a situation, and sometimes it is necessary to show a willingness to use power.” And sometimes is important to put clear power differences aside and create a more even playing field.

Conflicts are connected to power

Pick a conflict, any conflict. You don't have to look too deeply to see that the conflict is happening within a framework of power. Ignoring power relationships does not make it go away.

In mediation, we review the power relationships between both disputants in order to see if it is possible to mediate. In a workplace mediation, we make clear that mediation has be be between employees who are on a relatively equal footing, in order to not be part of a supervisory process that might lead to the loss of employment for one person. In family conflicts, if we are mediating between a parent and a teen who is dependent on the parent, we often spend more time with the teen than the parent in order to help the young person to prepare their thoughts and create a more balanced process. When lawyers are participants in mediation, we give them strict parameters on when and where they can participate, in order to make sure those without legal training are not negatively affected.

The topic of power is much bigger than we can fully cover in this short article. The first step is awareness and acknowledgement of power and the part it plays in our conflicts. There are ways to consciously relate to power. And as the image above shows, the best structure is when power becomes a more minor player in the conflict resolution process and interests are what disputants emphasize as they work things out together. ( Interests are our topic for next Thursday.)

Do this:

Read this from the Harvard Program on Negotiation about power in conflict resolution.

Look through your life and pair yourself up with others (co-worker, family, others). See if you can look at each person in the pair, you and the other person, through the power lens.
Where do you derive your power?
Where does it come from in the other person?
Is the power structural or personal or a combination of both?
How do each of you use or not use your power?

Look at the depictions of various people below. Where do you think each gets power--either structural or individual.

Talk to others in your life about power. Try this especially with others who have different backgrounds that you are less aware of and see if you can find out the really diverse way at looking at power and its effect on individuals.

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