Negotiation and Conflict Management Third Party Interventions

Negotiation and Conflict Management

Third party interventions are often needed in order for conflicts to be effectively resolved. Whether or not a third party intervention is necessary depends on the severity of the conflict and whether the parties involved require outside assistance to maintain some sense of objectivity and reason while sorting through their dispute. Several skills characterize an effective third party in conflict resolution.

The readings outline several helpful attributes third parties demonstrate in effective interventions. These include: integrity; effective inquiry; listening; summarizing; framing; feedback; assertiveness; confidence; objectivity; sensitivity; empathy; the ability to give unconditional positive regard; and courage. I agree that all of these attributes and skills are necessary for successful third party interventions. The following discussion explains how all of these attributes fits into the context of a third party intervention.

The first helpful attribute of a third party is integrity. Demonstrating integrity within the context of conflict resolution helps to establish an atmosphere of mutual respect, where all the parties involved give and receive a sense of equality. Integrity entails adherence to a high standard of ethics and morality, which translates into effective conflict resolution that factors in the best interest of all parties involved.

The second helpful attribute outlined in the readings is effective inquiry. This essentially entails the ability of the third party to ask the write questions in the right context. By asking appropriate questions of each party involved in a conflict, the third party is able to gather all information necessary to proceed with an effective intervention. Asking important, relevant questions also encourages the parties involved in the conflict to engage in a thought process that illuminates where the conflict may lie and where compromise and understand may emerge from.

The third skill that characterizes a helpful third party in conflict resolution is effective listening. A good listener is someone who can forget themselves and focus their attention entirely on the expression of another person. Listening effectively means allowing another person the time and space to express their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives in a way that most suits them. Effective listening is characterized by a lack of judgment on behalf of the listener. This encourages the parties involved in the conflict to feel valued and more open to expressing themselves. Effective listening only further amplifies the benefits seen with effective inquiry.

The next three attributes that characterize an effective third party are all associated with one another. Effective summarizing skills allow the third party to take all of the information provided by the parties involved in the conflict and extract the pertinent, important points necessary for proceeding with conflict resolution. Effective framing by the third party entails taking the key information from each side of a conflict and organizing it in a way that it most accurately represents the perspective of each party. Furthermore, the framing of each side of a conflict allows the third party to provide effective feedback to each party involved as to how to proceed with the conflict resolution.

Assertiveness is a positive quality that characterizes effective third parties in conflict resolution. Being assertive provides an example of conduct to parties in a conflict who may be fluctuating between aggression and passivity. The attribute of being assertive entails knowing and demanding certain rights and respect while not compromising the rights and respect of other people. The quality of assertiveness really ties in with integrity and confidence, which of course is another attribute that characterizes effective third parties.

One of the most important attributes of an effective third party in conflict resolution is objectivity. The ability to remain unbiased while sorting through details of a conflict between parties is crucial. Being objective entails suspending all judgment while dealing with both sides of an issue in order to most effectively reach an agreement in conflict resolution.

The next four attributes of an effective third party, sensitivity, empathy, the ability to give unconditional positive regard, and courage, are all interrelated. Often the issues being addressed within the context of conflict resolution are personal and charged with a lot of intense emotions. Therefore, the third party involved in conflict resolution must exhibit sensitivity to the parties involved. Along with sensitivity, empathy towards both sides of a conflict must be expressed. Empathy entails expressing to the parties involved that the third party has an understanding and identifies with their experiences in the situation in question. Furthermore, giving unconditional positive regard means giving both sides of a conflict a sense of acceptance regardless of whether they are "right" or "wrong." Finally courage is required on behalf of the third party to integrate all of these attributes together in order to confidently play a highly important role in the lives of people involved in a conflict resolution.

Third party intervention and mediation is often an effective option in conflict resolution. However, there are instances and circumstances that may decrease the effectiveness of these interventions. In the readings there could have been more of an emphasis on what may contribute to parties in mediation unable to effectively engage in the conflict resolution. Some of the factors outlined in the reading included power imbalances, abuse, or emotional weakness, and explanations of how these factors impact and influence the mediation process could have been expanded upon. Another point that could have been better expanded upon was ways in which the motivation of the parties involved in the conflict are shaped and how they can be influenced most positively in order for a third party intervention or mediation to be most effective.