Download Understanding Interests in Conflict Analysis: Quotes and Explanations and more Study notes Conflict Management in PDF only on Docsity! 48 Lesson 13 INTEREST ANALYSIS I Quotations The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that is in their best interests to promote yours. La Bruyere Interests: Interest may be defined as a sense of concern with and curiosity about someone or something. The motivations that individuals have during a conflict, including positions (demands), aspirations, underlying interests, principles, values, and basic needs may be described as interests. Interests analysis: Interest analysis is perhaps the most critical step in the conflict diagnosis process. A systematic exploration of a conflict participant’s interests is called interest analysis. Briefly stated, interests analysis is the development of an accurate and complete understanding of each conflict participant’s positions, aspirations, interests, needs and values in relation to the interpersonal conflict. Interest analysis includes an explanation of all the underlying interests, needs, and values of each conflict, participant, as well as an exploration of how all link together and are organized. An effective interest analysis can mean the difference between grudging settlement and real satisfaction. Interests motivate people; they are the silent movers behind the positions people take. Your position is something you have decided upon your interests. So, interest is something what caused someone to decide something. What people normally say they want out of a conflict are positions, whereas the why of people shows what people want are interests. Analyzing your interests When you are involved in an interpersonal conflict, your thought processes are often clouded or diverted by strong emotions and stress. People caught up in a conflict often focus on the lines they have drawn in the sand-there positions-and on beating the other disputant-rather than on getting what is best for them. Analyzing your interests also allows you to develop flexibility in your bargaining position, so that you can find better ways of attaining an agreement. In most negotiated agreements, “the devil is in the details”; failing to make effective arrangements for delivery, payment, and so forth can make the difference between a good sale and a very bad one. Finally, using interest analysis allows you to avoid the negative consequences of drawing lines in the sand, known in the conflict resolution field as positional bargaining. Positional bargaining A process of negotiation that involves each disputant taking successively more moderate positions in hopes that eventually a compromise will result is described as positional bargaining. Negative consequences of positional bargaining There are three negative consequences of positional bargaining. 1. becoming locked into position psychologically- regardless of whether a better option is available 2. becoming blinded to issues unrelated to your position 3. seeing the other disputant as the enemy leading to an unnecessary impasse and additional “spinoff” conflicts docsity.com
