Understanding Deutsch's Model of Conflict
Deutsch's model of conflict is based on his theory of cooperation and competition, which helps us better understand how conflicts develop and how they can be resolved. He says that the type of conflict and relationship between parties' goals determine the outcome of the conflict.
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Cooperative or Competitive
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Morton Deutsch starts from the premise that conflicts include a mixture of cooperative and competitive motives, and positive or negative goals. Negative goals --my success is your failure--lead to competitive relationships. Positive goals--my success is your success too--lead to cooperative relationships.
Relationship Characteristics
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Cooperative relationships involve more positive attitudes and effective communication and coordination. Competitive relationships involve suspicion, desire to reduce the other's power and difficult communication. The former lead to constructive outcomes, and the latter to destructive ones.
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Role of Mediators
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From the perspective of a mediator, it is important to have a good understanding of the conflict and parties involved, and to create a cooperative relationship between them so that it leads to a win-win outcome. To achieve this, it is sometimes important to re-frame the conflict, so that the parties see it as a cooperative one.
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References
- Beyond Intractability: Article Summary of "Interpersonal and Intergroup Processes" by Morton Deutsch, et al.
- Conflict Research Consortium: Morton Deutsch, "Constructive Conflict Resolution: Principles, Training, and Research"
- "Cooperation and Competition"; "xcerpt from the "Handbook of Conflict Resolution"; Deutsch
Resources
- Photo Credit conflict image by Dmitri MIkitenko from Fotolia.com
