A Conflict between Politics and People

By William Keefe

Introduction

This report is about a conflict between two parties. The first of them is Hekia Parata, a politician who is responsible for the closing of seven local schools in Christchurch New Zealand. The opposing party is a group of school teachers based in wellington who are in protest against the closing of the schools.The aim of this report is to examine the conflict and be able to understand the different principles of negotiation. The idea is to try and resolve this conflict as best we can.

Contents

Point of views Common shared interests / understanding Behaviours of conflict Emotions Strategies for negotiation Strategies for resolution Other strategies Conclusion References

Point of views:

Hekia Parata: Closes 7 schools believing to be too dangerous (unsafe) Wants to merge a total of 12 schools and open 5 new school

Teachers: Want the schools to stay open Believe some of the schools are not ‘Unsafe’ No need to build new schools

Shared understandings

Both parties want what they think is best for the children's education Both parties still want schools to be open instead of closed

(permanently)

Both parties share a common goal, they are just approaching things differently and disagree with each others ideas – this is where the conflict is occurring. By identifying shared understandings it supports the idea of trying to find a resolution because there are things that both parties can agree or partly agree on.

Behaviours

Hekia Parata:Being a minister who makes all the big decisions ,this suggests she has more control over the situation. This can possibly lead to a dominant/assertive behaviour.

Teachers:Being in protest against the decisions of Hekia Parata, teaches held a protest against her, this suggests that they are upset and in turn can possibly lead to a more aggressive behaviour.

Emotional factors

Hekia Parata:- Personal- Ranking / Hierarchy Teachers:- BusinessIn my opinion, I believe that both parties have emotional factors that influence their behaviours and decisions.

Strategies for negotiation

Accommodation CompromiseIn my opinion, since both parties partially have things that they can both agree on , it is possible for them to negotiate specific things that both parties may agree on. These negotiations can also help both parties resolved part(s) of there existing conflict.

Strategies for resolution

Are both parties able to resolve the conflict ?My answer is both yes and no , because they have very different views as well as common ideas. In my opinion, I believe that the conflict may even not be able to be fully resolved but only to a certain point to where either party disagrees. Since this type of conflict is associated with a group of people , it can be even harder to resolve fully because of all the individual opinions you have to take into consideration.

Other strategies (Four Fs)

Facts Feelings Focus Feed-backThe ‘four fs’ strategy can be useful to help resolve this conflict. This strategy is effective in this situation because it allows both parties to see eye to eye, they are able to reflect upon not only their own ideas / views but the opposing parties as well. This has the potential of forming shared common logic – reinforcing the idea of resolving the conflict

Conclusion

Overall there are a lot of principles involved when examining a conflict. Throughout the examination of this particular one , I found that a lot of different negotiating principles have to be used in order to help resolve conflict, in addition to this I found that a particular strategy may not be enough to solve conflict – meaning that conflict is best resolves using a variety of strategies and techniques.

References

Christchurch school closure ruled unlawful - National - NZ Herald News. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11138079

Four Christchurch schools to close - National - NZ Herald News. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10885324

ohn Armstrong: Don't blame Parata for this one - National - NZ Herald News. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11140059

Negotiation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negotiation#Negotiation_strategies

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