| Overview: The essence of negotiations is conflict. Conflict manifests itself in differences of view, differences of opinion and differences of interest. When one party wants what another party has; when one group fails to agree on how to divide up shared resources; when one person does not see eye-to-eye with another; then there is conflict. Conflict, however, need never be the cause for unresolved dispute. If viewed in a positive way, as a start not an end position, it holds within itself the promise of new possibilities from which all sides can gain.
Without conflict, there is nothing to resolve and so no negotiation; without facing up to conflict, there is no creative tension; and without the need to resolve conflict, there is no progress. |
