Conflicts and Disputes: Causes and Types

Conflicts and Disputes: Causes and Types 1. INTRODUCTION The two key terms conflict and dispute are interchangeable, as this was supported by dictionary meanings of these terms which are as follows: conflict is a fight, struggle and disagreement and dispute is debate, argue and quarrel. Conflict is a natural and unpleasant disagreement between parties who want to achieve their independent goals. Dispute is a time consuming, expensive and unpleasant circumstance in which the claim is rejected as particularly or entirely or simply disregarded by the other party. Claim is a demand of ones right, but disagreement is the difference in opinions of the parties. The contrasts between conflicts and disputes are useful for investigating the fact whether conflict is only inevitable or both conflict and dispute are inevitable. Conflicts are categorized into two which are functional and dysfunctional conflicts. Functional conflicts are the positive, manageable and productive ones which have outcome, but dysfunctional conflicts are non progressive, destructive and insufficiently managed ones which will lead to disputes. According to this perception conflict refers to disturbance of the human interactions. Conflicts must be managed whether they become functional or dysfunctional by the methods of domination, compromise and integration. These methods used can also be defined as avoidance of disputes. Disputes need third party resolving actions in other words an independent third party should accomplish to identify and contemplate main aspects and be able to affirm that a dispute is present, but it may not be as obvious as this especially in commercial projects where one party can cautiously prevent rejecting the claim, as the party may inquire supportive information about the claim. If the parties do not agree the claimant will hold right to arbitration which this will help the claimants who aimed to proceed their claims against the other partys delay strategy. As arbitration the other dispute resolution techniques are employed to bring disputes to a concluded and resolved status. 2. CONFLICT AND DISPUTES ARE INEVITABLE ON COMMERCIAL PROJECTS 2.1 Causes of Conflicts and Disputes Causes of conflict were analyzed by Thamhain and Wileman. According to their view three main sources of conflict are project priorities, project schedules and workforce where on these extents project managers have limited control. Furthermore, technical estimations, performance trade offs and administrative and organizational contention, cost and interpersonal disparities are other sources. From one stage to another in a project life cycle the causes of conflict change. Sources of conflict in each phase of the project life cycle were summarized by Thamhain et al. on the table below. In the beginning stage of the project, the ambiguity may be high. A successful commercial project relies upon the good communication between the client and the lender which is the project sponsor. The sponsor or client in the beginning phase whether may not have definite confidence of the project or they may have the certainty, but not sufficient communication is available. Subsequently, this sort of ambiguity will contribute conflict to emerge in the initiating phase. The uncertainty and risk in a project will lead to conflict, if these circumstances come into existence: Firstly if one of the probable events of risk develops and parties are affected through the consequence of this. Secondly, when a condition emerges in which either the risk applicable for the project had not been determined by the suffering party or risk had been characterized, but inadequate proceedings were achieved to reduce its effects. Thirdly, if there is a condition which the risk distribution between the par ties was not certainly set up as a primary issue. During the time in which ambiguity characterizes the initiating phase, negotiation and communication constitute the planning process. According to the table above, priority conflicts expand from the previous phase and additional to the priorities, technical requirement issues, schedule pressures and procedures are other sources of conflict in the planning phase. Good communication between project manager and resource manager is vital at this point, as conflicts normally emerge form the underestimation of project managers. Execution and Control stages in a commercial project lifecycle are interconnected with each other. During these phases, deadlines for delivering the services become more difficult to handle and labor demands and pressures from stakeholders increase. Conflict emerges in case which the expectations from the stakeholders are not operated suitably. Lastly, in the close out phase, schedules persist to be the principal factor for conflict, because pressure meeting the goals on time increases. Besides, concerns for a new project intensifies the personality associated conflicts, as oncoming new projects and incorporation of the personal back into factional divisions generate conflicts of labor force. The causes of disputes were analyzed by Groton et al. and according to his analyses cause of disputes are under one of these headings: Project Uncertainty: Uncertainty arising from pre-existing conditions, outside forces and the complexity which cause change beyond the expectations of the parties. Process Problems: Problems in the contracting process including contracts, incomplete scope definition, unrealistic expectations with regard to cost or completion date, and poor performance in the execution of the work. People issues: Issues and problems arising between people as a result of poor inter-personal skills, poor communication, lack of responsiveness and unethical or opportunist behavior. Taking lead from the analysis of Groton et al., it is seen that conflicts lie under the main causes of disputes. When the whole process of conflict and disputes are concerned, both arise from project uncertainty and during the project lifecycle both have similar sources in causing them to emerge. Accordingly, it is necessary to mention that disputes are the combinations of dysfunctional conflicts. 2.2 Functional and Dysfunctional Conflicts Functional and dysfunctional conflicts were described by Smith. Functional conflict was named by him as conflict (with a small c) and he continued that One party contends one thing, the other something else. It requires work by both parties to resolve. This inescapable consequence of a contract is therefore a functional conflict. Furthermore, he named dysfunctional conflict as conflict (with a capital C) and commented that if two parties are in ditch having a fight and one is on top of the other, they are both in ditch and they are both suffering. Some would define this as a dysfunctional conflict. Conflict can create two possibilities in a project which it can either develop confidence, creativity, team cohesiveness or as a second possibility it can harm personal relationships and professional relationships and increase employee turnover. Functional or dysfunctional conflicts arise from these possibilities. In the early theory, conflict was designated as a disruptive matter of fact which should be prevented. Three systems of dealing with conflict which are domination, compromise and integration were analyzed by Mary Parker Follett and supported by Glasl (1999). Domination is a win- lose situation where one party have more superiority than the other. Secondly, compromise is a lose-lose situation where both parties lose things without recording gains at the end of the process. Lastly integration which can be named as positive-sum is a win-win situation where both parties gain something without losing. Domination and compromise can cause further conflict, but integration is suggested by Follett as the best method in managing functional conflict. According to Gray et al. (2002), the management of dysfunctional conflict is much more challenging assignment than stimulating the functional conflict, because uncertain, unmanageable and unsettled conflicts (dysfunctional conflicts) give rise to disputes as stated by Robbins (2008). The contrast between conflict and dispute was explained by Burton (1993) by which disputes are disagreements which are able to be solved in a short period of time and conflicts are long term non negotiable issues which oppose against resolution. Moreover, it was stated that conflicts and disputes can be formed either interdependently or independently. In short, during the project lifecycle disputes which are short term disagreements can be present in the long term conflict process which demonstrated in the diagram below. Respectively, conflicts are inevitable and disputes should be avoided in a project. This was supported by De Bono (1985) who specified that conflict is inevitable but dispute is not. Furthermore, disputes appear in such a circumstance where conflicts can not be managed. Conforming to the diagram above, the whole process starts before the disagreements come into existence. The conflicts should be avoided in order to prevent disputes from emerging by using number of interconnected techniques which are risk analysis, procurement plans and contractual arrangements. The risk involved in a commercial project can be listed as technical, schedule, organizational and financial risks. The risks in these areas should be identified and allocated properly so that conflict will be avoided.

To What Extent Were Hitler and Stalin Similar?

To what extent were Hitler and Stalin similar? Hitler and Stalin were both cruel dictators around the time of WW2, but to what extent were these two men similar? Firstly they were both dictators throughout WW2; however they were both of different beliefs. Hitler was a fascist and Stalin was a communist, however they were both such extreme versions of these beliefs that they were, in many ways alike. Starting with childhood, Adolf Hitler was born on April 20th 1889 in a small Austrian town called Braunau, near to the German border.His father, Alois Hitler was an abusive drunk similar to Stalin’s father, Besarion Vanovis Jughashvili. This evidence suggests that perhaps the bad relationships these men had with their fathers, who made very poor role models, may have had some contribution to the turnout of these dictators. Stalin did not graduate, unlike Hitler; instead he devoted his time to the revolutionary crusade against the Russian monarchy. He spent 15 years as an activist, who was arrested on a number of occasions and exiled six times in total.In 1913 Stalin was captured for the sixth time, and was exiled to a region in Siberia near to the Arctic Circle called Turukhansk. He was then released for a final time in March, 1917, by Alexander Kerensky’s revolution. When you compare Hitler’s life before dictatorship it is obvious that this portion of the men’s life was extensively different. Stalin rose to power as general secretary covertly, into one of the most dominant communist parties at the time. And when revolution leader Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, control was thought by the Russian public, to belong to Leon Trotsky who was the head of the red army.However Stalin rose to power instead and, although he incorporated fear into his tactics of leadership, like Hitler did, his actual claim of control over Russia was visibly dissimilar. Hitler’s early adulthood was difficult, after leaving his school in Vienna he was devastated by the loss of his mother to cancer. Shortly after which he was struck by another heavy blow, as he was rejected from art school and forced to give up his dream of becoming an artist.He was now very poor and living in a doss house with the homeless, it was at this time many historians believe he developed his hatred of Jews as they were generally well-off people thriving in a time when he had nothing, this hatred would later play a major part in the mass genocide he lead during his dictatorship. When Hitler rose to power in 1933 Germany was facing a crisis, the great depression had struck, and America had stopped funding them or buying their goods, causing 6 million people to lose their jobs, on top of that the restrictions Germany had already suffered due to the treaty of Versailles were catastrophic.So, the public began to question their current democratic leadership. For Hitler turning the public against democracy and communism was easy, they already doubted the democratic leade rship and since the communist uprisings between 1919 and 1920 that had caused a major panic and the horror stories from Russia and Stalin, people already disliked the communists greatly. He used the similar beliefs between himself and the people to strengthen their relationship and allow them to worship him. Similarly, when Stalin came into power he influenced the people to turn them against his opposition by pointing out their similarities.Stalin was a man of the people, a peasant who had fought in the revolution, and was in the public eye having attended and given the main speech at Vladimir Lenin’s funeral. However, his opposition Leon Trotsky was a Jewish Army leader who did not attend Lenin’s funeral (however sources tell that Stalin tricked Trotsky into not going). This was similar to Hitler because they both focused on what they had in common with the public , and ensured they kept themselves in the public eye as the hero when in actual fact they turned out to b e the villains.Another likeness between the two leaders was their use of terror to control their country. Both of the dictators enforced the secret police, who were one of the biggest fears of both countries public, in Russia the secret police were called ‘Cheka’ and in Germany they were known as Gestapo. The secret police were the secret force put together by the government to spy on and capture those who spoke out against them, in Hitler’s case for example the Jews. Once captured by the secret police the prisoners would either be executed or taken away to concentration camps, gulags or ghettos to be tortured and forced to work manual labour.Both men additionally, believed in using children to spy on their parents, in many schools across Germany and Russia the dictator’s beliefs were broadcasted to young children, they were taught to snitch on their parents if they spoke out against the government. When using propaganda Hitler was linked to Stalin through their use of twisting the public’s mind. Many historical sources depict images of Hitler or images of Stalin hugging women and children and leading the army, in addition to this almost all of their osters depicted their political parties symbol, which with Nazis symbol (swastika)ironically meant good fortune and peace. A major difference was that Stalin’s posters were much more general, much more of Stalin loving the public whereas Hitler’s posters clearly defined his policies. For instance Nazi propaganda was widely images of the Hitler youth army, the Aryan race (the race Hitler believed to be superior to all others- blonde hair/blue eyes) and many images of ugly Jewish people perhaps eating German babies.Often when observing Hitler and Stalin people overlook the changes they made for the good. In Hitler’s case he promised policies such as Lebensraum (the need for living space) -the reclaiming of land lost in the treaty of Versailles and, he promised t o increase the army size from 100,000 to 1,400,000. He also came up with the Hitler youth army providing leisure events such as holidays, trips and sports events, moreover he gave the Germans cheaper cinema and theatre tickets and provided them with better meals.He greatly improved the quality of German working facilities, as well as providing loans to married couples, and encouraging the birth of children by saying that the more children you had the less you had to pay back form the loans. Overall the main thing he provided to the poor Germans who had lost so much since WW1. Stalin gave the public hope for triumph for over the cruel grip of fascism taking the current revolution a step further. He made his country a world power alongside the USA, not like Hitler who made Germany suffer a colossal loss after WW2.He greatly improved Russian industries and economy, the farming in Russia increased by 200 %. Additionally Stalin increased by decades the life expectancy of many Russians, h e also enriched the lives of many Russians who lost faith especially throughout WW2. Furthermore, during Stalin’s rule he significantly enhanced the standard of women’s rights by allowing them to receive education and employment and permitting them to give birth in hospitals with prenatal care. Opposing Hitler immensely, who sacked hundreds of women believing their purpose was to stay at home with the children, and cook and clean.On June 22nd, 1941 Hitler, feeling himself losing the war and growing paranoid of Stalin’s communist power invaded Russia calling it Operation Barbarossa. It was a foolish decision which lost him a large portion of his army, and the war essentially. Stalin triumphed and by mid-April of 1945, Soviet forces had pushed their way into Berlin, and Hitler and his wife Eva killed themselves in order to escape the terrible punishments of losing the war. Stalin died later on in 1953 on March 5th, 1953 a stroke.In conclusion although they were bo th at the furthest ends of right wing communism (Stalin) and fascism (Hitler), they were indeed so extreme, that in a way, they were a like. There methods of control, torture and advertisement were so remarkably alike and, their mass genocides will go down as two of the most dreadful, but painfully similar events in history. So to a certain extent I do agree that these dictators were very similar from a particularly young age, though at many significant points in their lives they did show great dissimilarities.

Sun Tzu

OD 13-00706Mar13 SUBJECT: Book Report on Sun Tzu The Art of War and its Pertinence to Combat Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty. He was believed to have lived somewhere in the time period of the Warring States from 476-221 BC. Scholars believe he is the author of The Art of War, an extremely influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy. Other scholars however, believe that Sun Tzu was in fact a combination of different generals and tacticians and that The Art of War was a collection of their combined efforts and wisdom.The Art of War was discovered in the 8th century in Japan where it was released to the masses and saw an explosion in popularity during the 20th century. Prior to that, it was a collection kept under secrecy allowed only to the reigning emperor. The entire work is the foundation for military tactics today. There are three key principles developed by Sun Tzu, know your enemy and know yourself and in 100 bat tles you will never be in peril. To win 100 battles is not the height of skill, to subdue the enemy without fighting is. Avoid what is strong and attack what is week.Utilizing these three key principles, Sun Tzu focused on achieving his goal with the minimal amount of casualties and resources. In his book, Sun Tzu teaches â€Å"winning without conflict. † Conflict is expensive and the cost is ultimately burdened by the people of the states. Beating opponents and winning battles may satisfy the ego, but Sun Tzu considers that goal a foolish one. This belief can be seen through every war that American has been engaged in and the cost it has taken monetarily as well as emotionally on the people.In every conflict that America has been engaged in, tactics and teachings of Sun Tzu were either utilized by American forces, or against American forces. During the Vietnam war, General Vo Nguyen Giap, the military mastermind behind victories over American forces in Vietnam, was an avid s tudent and practitioner of Sun Tzu's ideas. General Giap understands Sun Tzu’s teachings of indirect attacks to confuse and utilizes insurgents to stage hit and run attacks against the Americans.This is similar to Sun Tzu invasion of Chu, where he would attack weaker outposts drawing the main forces to that area. When the main forces arrived, Sun Tzu was already gone attacking the next weak outpost causing his enemies military to constantly stay on the move and grow tired and weaker. As Sun Tzu says, it is more important to outthink your enemy than to outfight him. Looking at Sun Tzu’s teaching, you can see that he predicted the loss of the Vietnam War by the U. S as well as the victory of WWII.As Sun Tzu states, in war numbers alone confer no advantage, do not advance relying on sheer military power. This tactic was utilized heavily by the United States in Vietnam and they learned that despite their overwhelming military might, they cannot win this war. General Giap t akes Sun Tzu’s teaching of know your enemy and know yourself and in 100 battles you will know no peril, and learns the habits of the Americans. He comes to realize that the Americans are incredibly predictable; they prepare all landing zones by blanketing the area with artillery strikes and then bring in the troops.General Giap has his soldiers lying in wait after the artillery rounds land and ambushes the incoming American soldiers. Through knowing his enemy General Giap utilizes Sun Tzu’s teaching of indirect attack, attack the weak points avoid the strong points, and through this the CIA comes to realize that roughly 80% of the conflicts occur due to the Vietcong choosing to engage. The Vietnamese chose whether they wanted to engage American soldiers due to the utilizing and understanding of these key principles of Sun Tzu. General Giap shows his understanding of Sun Tzu no better than the Tet offensive.Sun Tzu states, let you plans be as dark and night then strike like a thunderbolt. This is portrayed perfectly by the Vietnamese when they attack roughly 100 targets at once during the Tet holiday in Vietnam. General Giap receives orders from his superiors to conduct a full frontal assault on American forces. Realizing this is suicide he instead coordinates a massive multipronged simultaneous attack on a hundred different locations on 31January1968. The Tet offensive was prepared in total secrecy and utilized to the fullest one of Sun Tzu’s favorite tactics, the spy.Sun Tzu states that if you discover an enemy has spy’s within your ranks, to offer him luxury and monetary incentives to turn against his country and serve you. He also emphasizes utilizing a spy to properly disseminate false information to mislead your enemy into thinking you will attack one area when you are truly attacking another. One week prior to the Tet offensive, the Vietnamese attack Khe San, one of the marine outposts. This was a distraction to draw as many t roops away from the other posts prior to the Tet holiday.This onslaught progressed for days, at one point the President of the United States made the generals of each branch sign a letter stating they would not lose Khe San. This was all going according to plan for General Giap, know your enemy’s weakness, let your plans be as dark as night, utilize indirect attacks, have spies plant misinformation, and it is more important to outthink your enemy. All of these Sun Tzu teachings come together for the main operation on 31January1968, simultaneously Vietnamese troop’s assault over 100 American military positions taking them all.It is the most successful attack done by the North Vietnamese. AS Sun Tzu states, use a direct attack to engage and an indirect attack to win. Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, depicts to the reader the foundation for any successful military engagement. General Giap utilized these principles to their fullest during Vietnam to the detriment of the Un ited States and other allied countries. If you look at all wars, past and present you will see that those who follow his teachings are victorious, while those who do not are doomed to fail.By following Sun Tzu’s three key principles of know your enemy and know yourself, and in 100 battles you will never be in peril, to win 100 battles is not the height of skill, to subdue the enemy without fighting is, and avoid what is strong and attack what is week, your military will never know defeat. LAURANCE KENNY 2LT, OD References: Sunzi, Ralph D. Sawyer, Mei-chu? n Sawyer, and Bin Sun. The Complete Art of War. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996. Print. Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Tokyo: Project Gutenburg, 1910. Sun Tzu/ Lionel Giles. The Art of War: Sun Tzu. London: Pax Librorium, 1905.

The Election Of A Black President - 876 Words

The election of a black president was a happy, yet shocking time for many Black people in America. I never thought that I would live to see the election of a person who has the same skin color as me. I realize that even we had elected a Black president it took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to do this. Many people in the past suffered so that we would be able to elect someone who represented millions of American based on skin color. However, there was a long road ahead for Black people and they eventually were able to get the right to vote. Black men were the for people who were allowed to vote then women. Even though laws were passed so that Black people could vote there were plenty of obstacles put in the way to hinder their effort to do so. Some politician engaged Black people to vote for them because they viewed them as a voting population that could be used. So in 1920 presidential candidate Warren G. Harding held a â€Å"Colored Voters Day.† He pandered to black people stating that blacks should not be lynched and if the military could not stop segregation in the military American is no democracy. Once he was elected with the help of black people he essentially abandoned all the promises he made to this voting block. This was one of the many promises made to help the betterment of Black people that did not come into fruition. In the1928 presidential election neither major political party made an effort to get black votes. Economic times had begun to worsen on the blackShow MoreRelatedHope And Change : The First African American President Of The United States1091 Words   |  5 PagesHope and Change? History was made in 2008. The first African American was elected President of the United States. In Barack Obama’s acceptance speech he described his election as a defining moment and one that would bring change to America. Has that change come? 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