Structural elements of the conflict: a list

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Everyone knows the concept of conflict. There are no people in the world who have never quarreled with anyone in their life. And everyday conflict situations that arise, as they say, “on trifles”, often do not get much attention at all, since they happen all the time.

Few people, quarreling with relatives or colleagues, quarreling with random fellow travelers in public transport, think about how exactly such situations develop, what laws they obey, which is why they flare up. Meanwhile, there is a special science called conflictology, which studies these specific situations.

What kind of science?

This is a separate discipline that studies the structural elements of conflict. In other words, this science considers all aspects of disagreements, from their inception to completion.

Conflictology studies the patterns inherent in such situations, their causes and types of development. This discipline originatedat the very beginning of the past century, and Karl Marx is considered one of its founders.

Main theoretical approaches

It is impossible to understand the patterns in connection with which the structural elements of the conflict alternately change without general theoretical ideas about such situations. In this discipline, two theoretical approaches are considered to be fundamental.

In the first of them, the essence of the conflict is determined by the presence of a clash of different opinions, forces, phenomena and other things. In other words, in the first approach, the understanding of the term is very broad. Any forces, including natural forces, can act as participating parties in this case. An example of this type of development of a situation in ordinary life can be absolutely any randomly erupted quarrel.

The second approach denotes the essence of the conflict situation as a clash of opposing goals or interests. An example of this type can be a political or scientific controversy, a clash of economic interests.

How can disagreements develop?

In addition to the general types, conflict situations are also divided into social and intrapersonal ones in accordance with the characteristic paths of development.

A social conflict is considered to be one that, in its development, has acquired an extremely acute form. It arises, of course, in the course of social interaction between the parties involved. Such a situation lies in the opposition of the subjects of the conflict, which can take any form, be both open and hidden.

The core of social conflict situations areinterpersonal hostility. The difference between interpersonal disagreements and social disagreements is quite arbitrary, it comes down solely to the scale of manifestation and how many interests are affected in the course of development.

Intrapersonal conflicts are those in which there are no opponents as such. However, the structural elements of the conflict in this case do not differ from the social type of development, they are simply expressed differently. At the heart of the intrapersonal type of development of disagreements, as in the social form, lies a contradiction. With an intrapersonal conflict, there is no external opposition to anyone. But there are inner experiences and often opposition of the individual to his own inclinations, desires or habits.

Term Definition

Conflict is nothing more than an extremely sharp way to resolve conflicting situations in which opposites collide. As a rule, the development of disagreements is accompanied by overt or covert opposition between its participants.

The process of origin and development of such situations is called conflict genesis. This phenomenon is a dialectical, that is, continuous, process characteristic of evolutionary modernization, the development of social realities. This phenomenon is carried out directly through the conflict, which serves as a kind of core for it.

The general definition of the concept of conflict is a situation in which all parties involved take a certain position. It is incompatible with that which is occupied by the other parties,or it is radically opposite to it.

Structural lists of conflict elements can be both constructive and destructive. This also characterizes the causes of occurrence, the forms taken and the stages of development.

Main signs of a conflict situation

In order to characterize any situation as a conflict, you need to make sure that there are three main features. In the event that it is not possible to single out characteristic features or they are absent, it is not worth calling an event or phenomenon a conflict. For example, not every dispute, quarrel, or controversy belongs to this type of social interaction. Sometimes disagreements, especially if people are eager to discuss them and reach consensus, do not have a negative connotation.

The following distinctive structural elements of conflict must be present in a situation:

• bipolarity;
• activity;
• subject.

Bipolarity refers to opposition, opposition or other types of contradictions, as a rule, interconnected, relating to the same subject of interest.

Activity in this case is a kind of struggle with the opposite side. For example, in military conflicts, these are direct hostilities, and in family ones, leaving “to mom”, filing documents for divorce, and so on. In disagreements that flare up between people within closed communities, for example, in a school classroom or a work team, activity often takes the form of boycotts, ignoring.

The subject is a party to the conflict, as a rule, its initiator. However, if the party to which the activity of the initiator is directed takes retaliatory steps in the same psychological vein, then it also becomes a subject. Thus, to create a conflict situation of a social type, at least two subjects are required, and for an intrapersonal one, one is enough.

Structural classification

Which components make up a complete list of the structural elements of a conflict? The answer to this question begins with the classification of these situations.

All conflicts are subdivided according to the following parameters:

• duration;
• volume;
• source of origin;
• funds;
• shape;
• influence;
• character development;
• percolation sphere.

These are the main structural elements of the conflict, with the help of which it is possible to give a complete characterization of any situation under consideration and, of course, to disassemble and classify it. Each of the above parameters has its own structure that characterizes it.

The full list of the structural elements of the conflict are as follows:

• Parties (participants).
• Terms.
• Item.
• Activities of participants.
• Outcome (result).

It is very important to know what constitutes a complete list of the structural elements of a conflict.

Classification by duration

When classifying by duration, there are disagreements:

• briefdisagreement;
• long-term;
• one-off;
• repeating;
• protracted.

Brief conflict situations include a family quarrel that does not have a serious reason, a quarrel. For example, if the spouses quarreled over who should wash the dishes after dinner or whose turn it was to walk the dog. Such situations are not characterized by the presence of a deep underlying reason, they are superficial and quickly exhaust themselves.

Long-term conflicts differ from short-term conflicts by the presence of more serious motivating reasons on the part of the parties that do not allow the situation to end quickly. As a rule, those who take part in such a conflict pursue their own interests, which are diametrically opposed to the positions of the other side. Any war can serve as an example.

One-time conflicts do not tend to recur after the parties sort things out between themselves. Repetitive, respectively, occur with enviable frequency and very often for the same reasons. Protracted conflicts are those that last for a long time and usually do not have a constant high activity of the participants. An example of such a situation would be the situation in the Gaza Strip.

Classification by volume

According to the volume parameter, disagreements are classified as follows:

• regional;
• local;
• global;
• personal;
• group.

The volume parameter refers to both the territorial distribution and the number of participants in differentlevels.

An example of a global conflict situation is a world war. A family quarrel can serve as an example of a personal conflict. However, if in the course of a showdown, the spouses involve third parties in the conflict, for example, they call the police or call their parents, then the situation becomes a group one.

Classification by origin and means used

According to the source of origin, the structural elements of the conflict are briefly classified as follows:

• false;
• subjective;
• objective.

In accordance with the means used in the development of the situation, conflicts are divided into those in which violent actions are used, and those that proceed without such manifestations.

Shape classification

According to the accepted form, disagreements are divided into:

• antagonistic;
• external;
• domestic.

Antagonism in a conflict is a forced interaction of absolutely irreconcilable parties. The external form is understood as the development of a situation in which there is an interaction of different parties, for example, a person and the forces of nature. But an external disagreement can also be one that occurs between people, but is taken out of the territory occupied by them or beyond the boundaries of the circle of interests. The internal form of conflict development is the interaction of its participants within the boundaries of the object of their interests.

Classified by influence and naturedevelopment

Separation of the conflict according to the given characterizing parameters is very simple. Conflicts have two types of influence on society - they contribute to progress or, on the contrary, hinder development. This characteristic, like all others, applies to all absolutely similar situations - from global wars to family quarrels.

According to the characteristics of development, conflicts can be:

• deliberate;
• spontaneous.

An example of a spontaneously developing situation can be any random quarrel in public transport. And for a deliberate type of development, a conscious desire of at least one subject and efforts on his part are required.

Classification by area of leakage

Conflict situations can develop in any of the spheres of human life. In general, according to this feature, they are divided into the following types:

• production or economic;
• political;
• ethnic;
• family or household;
• religious.

The characterization of the structural elements of the conflict in accordance with this classification parameter is supplemented by psychological and legal aspects.

What is meant by the structure of a conflict situation? Definition

Each conflict situation has a clear structure. This is understood as a set or a combination of a chain of static components that are stable and fold into a single whole - into a conflict.

The structural elements of social conflict are a kind of framework of the situation. If at least one structural component is removed from the general scheme of disagreement, then the situation will immediately be settled.

Summary of components

What parameters make up the complete list of the structural elements of the conflict? The answer has already been given above. It is also worth mentioning the following elements:

• Zone of controversy. This is a matter of dispute, fact or question (one or more).
• Ideas about the situation. Each of the participants in the conflict has its own idea of it. These views obviously do not match. The parties see the matter differently - this, in fact, creates the ground for their clash.

How is organizational conflict different?

The difference between these disagreements and others lies in the fact that the situation is caused by the specifics of the activities of organizations and its features.

Among such conflicts stand out:

• intrinsic or dysfunctional;
• external, interorganizational;
• positional, associated with splits in teams.

The main structural elements of organizational conflict are no different from others. The peculiarity is that the subjects are invariably top and middle managers and leading specialists.

As a rule, all organizational conflict situations arise within one of the following systems:

• organizational and technological;
• economic;
• micro-social.

These systems influence the causes of conflict situations in organizations, but not their structural grid and patterns of development. In other words, a conflict that has arisen between different organizations or that develops within one of them will follow the same patterns as all others.

For example, a conflict that has arisen within the economic system may lie in the dissatisfaction of employees with wages. In this case, people can go on strike, sabotage the work process, or otherwise express their dissatisfaction. These actions are nothing more than a structural manifestation of activity. Of course, the end or outcome of the situation in this example will be an increase in wages or the dismissal of dissatisfied people.

That is, organizational conflicts develop in accordance with general laws, differing from others only in the causes of their origin.