3rd Sem. ITM
8083: Soft Skills (PE): Communication Skills
           Fr 14.00-19.00 h, H 02

  Conflict management

 Possible reasons for conflicts:

 Personal: Lack of conflict experiences, mistrust, jealousy, bad mood, etc.

 Situational: Lack of communication, feeling of unfair treatment, loss of face, etc.

 Structural: Dependence, power struggle, struggle for resources, etc.

 Societal: Group antagonisms, class struggle

 Conflicts are necessary and unavoidable. They can create new ideas and better solutions but only if managed in a proper and constructive way.

 Forms of conflicts:

 Distribution conflict

 Role conflict

 Value conflict

 Methods conflict

 Goal conflict

etc.

 Open agenda vs. hidden agenda of conflicts:

 "This time I get the cake, you had it last time"
 vs. "Who did not wash the dishes?"

 Open and hidden signs of conflicts: Spoken language and body language, action

 Example Mediation: http://www.eucon-institut.de/index.html

"Mediation is a modern, cooperative method of conflict resolution in which a neutral third person, called the mediator, supports the parties in settling their dispute.

The mediation procedure is a flexible and confidential out-of-court method in which the adversarial parties jointly work out an agreement in professionally managed and structured negotiations.

The essential difference from court litigation lies in the fact that the parties themselves actively and on their own cooperate in finding a solution to their dispute that accords with their interests. The power to decide on continuing the mediation procedure and its outcome remains with the parties at all times. The mediator in this context is neither a judge nor an arbitrator but a broker brought in by both sides to guide them, on the basis of his/her training and experience, through the procedure without coercion. With professional competence and appropriate methods the mediator provides the parties with support in defining their interests and jointly developing problem solutions oriented towards the future.

As a flexible and adaptive procedure, a rigid procedural route is alien to mediation. Its classic structure makes it possible to distinguish five phases.

 Confrontation patterns:

 Germany:

 Voicing of existence of conflict,

 exchange of arguments,

 attempt to find compromise,

 attempt to find rule for future conflict situation

 (Cool - Hot - Cool)

  East Asia:

 Denying of existence of conflict,

 stressing of common ground,

 use of third parties,

 after establishment of winner: lenience by winner or

 without establishment of winner: abrupt stop of communication

 (Friendly - more friendly - friendly or break up)

 Example "Shall we dance?" Japan 1996 and Remake R. Gere, J. Lopez 2004

 The accountant Shohei Sugiyama (Kôji Yakusho) is feeling bored with his routine life, limited to hard work and stay at home with his wife Masako Sugiyama (Hideko Hara) and his teenager's daughter. One night, while traveling home by train, he sees the beautiful face of Mai Kishikawa (Tamiyo Kusakari) in the balcony of a dance school, and a couple of days later, he decides to visit the school and secretly take ballroom dance lessons every Wednesdays night. However, he becomes ashamed to tell his family his secret. Meanwhile, Masako feels the changes in the behavior of her happier husband, and hires a private eye to investigate whether Shohei is having an affair.

 John Clark is a man with a wonderful job, a charming wife and a loving family, who nevertheless feels that something is missing as he makes his way every day through the city. Each evening on his commute home, John sees a beautiful woman, staring with a lost expression through the window of a dance studio. Haunted by her gaze, John impulsively jumps off the train one night, and signs up for dance lessons, hoping to meet her. At first, it seems like a mistake. His teacher turns out to be not Paulina, but the older Miss Mitzi, and John proves just as clumsy as his equally clueless classmates on the dance-floor. Even worse, when he does meet Paulina, she icily tells John she hopes he has come to the studio to seriously study dance and not to look for a date. But, as his lessons continue, John falls in love with dancing. Keeping his new obsession from his family and co-workers, John feverishly trains for Chicago's biggest dance competition. His friendship with Paulina blossoms, as his enthusiasm rekindles her own lost passion for dance. But the more time John spends away from home, the more his wife becomes suspicious. With his secret about to be revealed, John will have to do some fancy footwork to keep his dream going and realize what it is he really yearns for.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bibtqDxXv1o

 Please form two groups. Each group should develop a role play:

 A group of students from China, Germany, France and the USA have to design a research project together. They will get one mark for the whole group, if they design a good project but they have no further information on what will be judged as a "good" project.

 
 You have 90 min. to prepare. Develop roles and some script for the participant of the other group to play according to Hofstede categories.

In the first 15 minutes the participants of the group B should act out the discussion according to the roles assigned by the group A.
After 15 minutes two members of group A will then be called in as mediators. They have to try to mediate with the goal of reaching a solution.

After that group A and B change sides.

So each groups has about 30 min. to present their role play.

We will then compare and discuss both results.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, Study Program Director
Bachelor and Master Program International Tourism Management
arlt@fh-westkueste.de, Office 2.018, Tel. 0481 8555-513
Consultation hours (during lecture period): Wednesday 11.00 - 12.00 h