Conflict Res

11 Pages 2668 Words

be by voting. If conflicting numbers of viewpoints can be settled down to a couple of choices, all members could vote on which choice could represent the group’s decision collectively by majority rules (Thompson, pg 224). Several problems arise by this method due to the fact that it both “ignores members’ strength of preference for alternatives” (Thompson, pg 231) and also “discourages the information exchange about those preferences” (Thompson, pg 231) amongst the group. Three types of these voting related problems include the Arrow paradox “weighted voting”, impossibility theorem “impossibility of group preference maximization”, and strategic manipulation “altered settings promoting desired outcomes”(Thompson pg 225,226).
Thompson considers there to be two main types of conflict: A-type, or “affective” conflict and C-type, or “cognitive” conflict (pg 219). A-type conflict is emotional. It occurs over problems such as balance-of-power, leadership, pride, or personality differences. A-type con...