Conflict
Introduction Research Situation
Applying conflict in the real world - A case of two countries
This part of the paper talks about India and Pakistan, situated in South Asia, as the two countries that have been facing conflicts for decades now. This part focuses on understanding of conflicts occurring due to many factors on a macro level. This case will be better able to make us understand the occurrence of conflicts on the micro level between individuals in the workplace (which is discussed in the paragraphs that follow the Pakistan-India case study).
This study discusses their history in a brief paragraph, moving onto the history of the issues itself. The paper then highlights the key reasons for the existence of the conflict of the two, through presenting an analysis of their culture etc. as key intra-cultural communication conflict factors. As a conclusion, it then points towards a resolution to this conflict between the two countries. India and Pakistan after their partition in 1947 from the Subcontinent to being two separate countries have been dealing with the conflict of Kashmir Dispute since then. This has been hence going on for more than fifty years now. It is a clash of civilizations- here, the case being that of Muslims and Hindus. (Santagostino, A., 2004)
History of the Dispute
The Kashmir Dispute dates back to 1947, which is a territorial dispute. India, China and Pakistan are the three countries involved in this dispute, alongside the People of Kashmir. India claims to have 47 percent of Kashmir, Pakistan 37 percent and China 20 percent, which it got hold of after the China-India War in 1963. India also claims that it is an integral part of itself, which means that Kashmir should go to India, whereas Pakistan has always called for a position that according to this country should be decided by the people of Kashmir rather. And then there are also certain Kashmiri people who say that it should be made independent. Three separate wars have been fought between India and Pakistan over this dispute- these three years being 1947, 1965 and 1999.
Analysis of the Conflict - Factors
Hindus and Muslims are the two groups involved in the India and Pakistan dispute over Kashmir. This basically calls for a few things that need to be taken under consideration so as to establish a detailed analysis of the conflict.
Culture
The culture and lifestyle of both these countries is by far quite similar since they were both once united dating back to 1947, after which the division took place. However, the concepts of intra-cultural communication conflict tell us that despite the culture of two beings being similar, or same theres always a few hidden elements that make the two different in a way that leads to the up rise and prolongation of conflicts. Culture has many layers and what it might appear from on the surface it maybe isnt so in real below the surface. There are hence also no standardized generalizations that can be made about two or more entities having conflicts within them. (LeBaron, N., 2003) It therefore, takes time to form views about two groups, like Pakistan and India since the dimensions of analysis with respect to time, context and individual differences need space. Pakistan and India have people residing in each that belong to similar class of cultures yet the ethnic groups are so varied in their lifestyle that conflicts arise. The culture in both countries is very much collectivist, focusing on familial relationships, and giving minimal importance to individual differences and most to maintaining a healthy social and familial structure.
Differences arise where religion takes its foot in as it is a common fact that eighty-one percent of all of Indian population belongs to the religion Hinduism, whereas only thirteen percent belongs to the religion Islam. In Pakistan, the majority is that of Muslims by a far greater percentage ratio. (InformationPlease, n.d.)
Communication and Identity
Tajfel says, Social identity is that part of the individuals self-concept that derives from his knowledge of his membership in a social group together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership.
Racine says that identity plays an essential role in the Kashmir Dispute since elements of religion, ethno-lingual, caste, language all exist together in one collective form. The reason for the Independence in 1947 is hence also said to be the birth of an entity resulting out of these diversities in the form of multiple identities. There is generally no clear territorial demarcation residing in Kashmir, since these multiple identities are so well amalgamated together. On the Pakistan side, another division takes place that of sects in terms of Shias and Sunnis and on Indias side, there is of course the presence of such a crude form of a caste system, whereby the presence of even a low caste in a high caste belonger could result into killings. Such is the extremity in between the two countries. (Rawat, A., n.d.)
VerbalNonverbal context
The ethnicities that reside in each country need a solution since many riots have also been seen in both countries leading to a bad internal socio-political situation even, all owing to the Kashmir Dispute. The mindset of the population of both areas is very chauvinistic cum communal since India has always considered Kashmir to be its crown owing to secular thinking, whereas, Pakistan is considered as its jugular vein. The dispute is multi-dimensional since it deals with inter-ethno-regional conflict between the two. Singh, H. (n.d.)
The identities within the two countries have a shallow thinking since each community wants to act in its own interests. Emotionality within these groups results in very ill communication, since nothing but the language of physical power is used through the might is right ideology. This results into no communication and more of non-verbal communication in the form of bloodshed, corruption, burglary, oblivion etc. Only because the Kashmir issue has so many identities within it involved, can it be said that yes the Jammu-Kashmir issue has the element of multi-ethnicities involvement within it. The factor of religion plays a humongous role in the entire issue and this fact is greatly ignored when the entire world-view is taken. Religious differences played a huge role in the number of killings and voluntary bloodshed that took place between the two groups back in 1947 too, when the two countries were getting separated. (Singh, H., n.d.)
Social Conflict in the real-world Case of an organization
Organizational dissent refers to disagreements in views and perceptions of people in relation to the workings inside the organization. These very well relate to social conflicts that maybe present within the individuals due to again inter-cultural differences as well. This leads to conflict and which calls for resolution, otherwise bad feelings arise. Dissent however, is considered to be good inside organizations as it leads to innovations and new ideas and their implementation inside the organization. Also, because it helps in the managers realizing which of his employees is dissatisfied and de-motivated, which helps in eradication of that factor. Research has shown that the response in the form of feedback provided by organizational dissent, results in corrective either by coercion or by persuasion all behavior that might have unethical consequences. Research has also shown that when de-motivated workers due to dissent are not given positive feedback in the form of helpful policies or favorable decisions, then productivity of the organization gets affected due to a consistency in motivation decrements. (Papa, M., Daniels, T., and Spiker, B., 2007)
Organizational communication involves various interplay of forces that directly or indirectly affect its effectiveness inside an organization. A few of these include, gender, conflict, ethics, technology, creativity and job roles etc. Communication inside an organization focuses on leadership, motivation, management, creativity, assertiveness and persuasion to a big great extent. As far as it as a process is concerned, it deals with the different levels in communication and its different types, the former of these shall be discussed in the following paragraphs. Communication can exist as informal, grapevine, formal and even non-verbal. (Peggy Byers, 1996)
Literature Review
There are many theories pertaining to organizational conflict as well. These are
Hartnel Expansion Theory This theory talks about the positive internalities arising from knowledge based processes and perceptions and the transfer of complex information inside an organization. This model tested channel expansion with respect to deriving knowledge about the transfer of complex information through one medium only, in this case e-mail. Differences in media, according to the research pertaining to this model showed that a positive relationship exists between information richness and medium richness. Also, that the same kind of relationship exists in telephonic transfer, face to face communication and electronic mail. It was also found out that whenever there are differences found in information richness then this is usually the result of differences in the medium being used. (Erik, T., and Naga, M., n.d.)
Critical approach to organizations This theory looks at communication not as a process rather as a tool through which language is used as a medium to influence social reality and perspectives. Stanley, the theorist of this theory, stated managers then use a companys values to balancing the aims and demand of each stakeholder with respect to their participation. This is stated in Griffin, 3rd edition. Deetz further explored upon this theory through holding a humanistic perspective on this theory and said that communication is a perpetual process that is not a reflection of reality, rather something that derives from it. Hence he said that participation of employees should be given a high involvement privilege in an organization. The criticism owing to this theory is one that relates to changes happening in the processes and perceptions about communication in the modern age, this criticism talks about consent and participation but not from an individuals perspective.
On the other hand, in this approach there is a greater likelihood of job satisfaction because of the importance given to employee participation and to empowerment through sharing information with them. This eventually stops upward dissent also. Even though dissent cannot be completely eliminated, this theory makes the organization more cohesive and displays it as a closely-knit unit. It could even be directed towards the concept of Japanese concepts in management, because of the giving of employees the feeling that they too have a stake in the organization they are working for. (Deetz, S., 1982)
Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT) This theory talks about communication scholarship according to Michael Kramer. Kramer talks about uncertainties in organizations and how to deal with them through the effective use of communication. This theory unlike the Critical Approach Model takes into account both individual and collective perspectives. This theory of URT focuses its attention on understanding and studying uncertainties arising in communication. This theory holds a lot of importance to scholars, researchers, employees, supervisors, interpersonal and also group communication. (Michael Kramer, n.d.)
Social Conflict Theory and Family dynamics This theory applies the male domination and conservatism in our society to the structural difficulties that plague it resulting into conflict arisal. Many a times, the dynamics with reference to family structures and processes are ignored when taken within the social context. This theory outlines the importance of this and talks about how it all can lead to positivism. These conflicts can be due to the mainstream processes and roles that exist within a family unit. These could include relationship between a husband and wife, communication difficulties within parents and children, inheritance issues leading to conflicts, siblings disputes, male chauvinism and not allowing girls higher education conflicts etc. (Farrington and Chertok, 1993).
C-R-P Model This model discusses the basic explanation of the concepts involved in communication in organizations. This theory talks about content of the message with respect to its information richness, complexity etc processes and the way that its transmission takes place and roles pertaining to who is responsible for what. (Church, A., 1996)
Prattos Theory Contemporary Group Dynamics This theory underlines the phenomenon of conflicts with respect to contemporary times. The interaction between individuals in groups basically conflicts occurring due to or in group behavior has been mentioned in this case around which the theories rest. The author describes group dynamics by mentioning how feelings of fear and insecurity came out due to the behavior of many Arab Israelis as a result of ethnic defensiveness between them and the Jews in Israel at the time of the Gulf war. Also, the context of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima wherein many issues are still left to be unanswered completely even after so many decades after the bombing stopped. The author applies the processes occurring within these groups just like the India-Pakistan case study to actually have their roots in very basic psychological and sociological processes. (Pratto, 1999)
Organizational conflicts occurring due to social dynamics
Employee dissent occurs when employees express their disagreement or contradictory opinions about workplace policies and practices to various audiences. The most notable and obvious cases of dissent occur when employees engage in whistle blowing by dissenting to industry regulatory bodies, the media, or both. However, not all employees feel the need to voice their concerns in this manner. Rather, employees often express their dissent within organizations either directly to their supervisors, often referred to as upward dissent, or to their co-workers, known as lateral dissent. (Wolfgang Donsbach, 2008) Employees often when showing dissent, have various ways to show it. They also do this through expressing it to their supervisors, bosses, coworkers, friends, media outlets and even regulatory bodies. The organization should aim at providing the employees an outlet through provision of an upward dissent program. This can decrease the seriousness of negative effects inflicted by the effects of dissent on employees. This upward dissent issue relates to the right of employees as said by various organizations to freedom of speech, employees work related experience inside the organization and his or her reputation, and also previous history.
Upward Dissent
Upward communication, which involves the transfer of information and receipt of feedback from, lower level in the hierarchy to upper level hierarchy position.
There are three situational factors, which affect the showing or hiding of upward dissent. These are
Functional characteristics
Protective issues
Other characteristics
Policies and rules adopted inside the organization in the form of employee appraisal decision making processes and the presence or absence of delegation organizational change and taking care of work efficiency all in some way or the other form the reasons to upward dissent by employees at the workplace. Also, when employees feel insecure about their work rules, or believe that unethical practices are going on and they have no say into these official internal systems at the workplace, is when again upward dissent might pose a threat to their efficiency and productivity negatively. (Goliath, 2006)
Effects
The value given to the work that a worker is in charge of, the kind of boundaries that exist also form in one way or the other to the linkage of organizational dissent. Meaningful work creates sense and significance to an organizations overall work processes. In contemporary times, it has become even more important to ensure the open flow of information and maintaining balance of work with job roles and no discrimination of any type whatsoever is present in organizations. There is also significance now in greater amounts given to work that has been delegated to give employees greater empowerment in usage of their capacities which thereby also affects positively their efficiency and chances of innovation. A learning organization, which has an open information-sharing environment, is the best form any organization can take to get competitive edge over other firms in the same field. (Kirsten, B., David, C., Carvyn, M., Mark, A., Elena, G., and Karen, T., 2008)
Application
Solution Discussion
Condon and Yusef (1975) work pertaining to value orientation is said to be relevant here. It is said that out of the six spheres of self, family, society, human nature, nature and supernatural when the inner sphere of group membership within society is taken, differences can be seen in both the countries that results in again no collaboration. Another justified point is that of the presence of a strong belief in India in the supernatural, and therefore the huge difference in rituals also takes place, as the Indian people believe that magic and the supernatural is a substantial part of their religion. Also, this belief counteracts the religious beliefs of Muslims, resulting into another mesh of ideas.
There have been various solutions proposed that could have helped in dealing with the issue and resolving it, including the three wars that were fought between the two countries. Taking into account all the factors discussed above it can be said that when peace and conflict resolution in intercultural communication is taken, it has proved to be difficult often times. (Blomquist, H., n.d.) The conflicts get caught in status quo and peace talks resulting into negativity. Positive structures need to be built, through integration of social construction and communication within the similar aspects of culture takes place. A new type of communication needs to be set in between the two countries so as to recognize each other properly and then move towards formulation of a formal talk-situation. A new culture of conflict resolution when is the resultant, it will give way to peace building, which can be further promoted through external parties and International Peace Associations. (Blomquist, H., n.d.)
Prattos Theory Contemporary Group Dynamics talks about social dynamics along with conflicts arisal application and solution analysis with respect to social a group dynamics. Feelings of fear and insecurity came out due to the behavior of many Arab Israelis as a result of ethnic defensiveness between them and the Jews in Israel at the time of the Gulf war. Also, the context of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima wherein many issues are still left to be unanswered completely even after so many decades after the bombing stopped. The author applies the processes occurring within these groups just like the India-Pakistan case study to actually have their roots in very basic psychological and sociological processes. This form the application of group conflict dynamics that we see around us today. (Pratto, 1999)
From a typical theoretical perspective, the theory outlining Critical approach to organizations Ive chosen as an application however from the organizational perspective. This theory looks at communication not as a process rather as a tool through which language is used as a medium to influence social reality and perspectives. Stanley, the theorist of this theory, stated managers then use a companys values to balancing the aims and demand of each stakeholder with respect to their participation. Deetz has further explored upon this theory through holding a humanistic perspective by for instance applying the concept of perpetual communication in the context of two countries like India-Pakistan with a mediator in between or dealing with negative group behavior occurring in organizations. There is hence on application a greater likelihood of job satisfaction through this theory due to the importance that it can give to employee participation and to empowerment through sharing information with them at all levels. This eventually stops upward dissent also. Even though dissent cannot be completely eliminated, this theory makes the organization more cohesive and displays it as a closely-knit unit. It could even be directed towards the concept of Japanese concepts in management, because of the giving of employees the feeling that they too have a stake in the organization they are working for. (Deetz, S., 1982). The reasons as to why this theory has been chosen by me also are mentioned in the following paragraphs wherein the benefits of the concept of perpetual communication in the organizational context (catering to social dynamics) have been outlined.
Effective Communication as a way out in the organizational context
The various functions provided by communication inside an organization deal with
- Controlling employees and work-relate behavior,
- Delegate work
- Motivate employees
- Provide work-related information to boost an open information-sharing environment.
One of the much acclaimed models of communication involves the Perceptual Model of Communication. It talks about different behavior as displayed by many components of the whole communication process that play their respective roles inside this model.
A. Sender Behavior
This involves an entire process, which becomes reciprocal on reaching the receiver. This process incorporates the following
- Encoding meaning is formed through the use of words and languagecodes.
- Message message itself form the second component as a thought or conceptual component, emotional component.
- Medium medium is a very essential element in the effective transfer of the message and receipt of the same message with accuracy. This medium could include direct in person communication, electronic mail, instant messaging, voice mail, telephonic, letters, memos, bulletin and fliers and even photographic communication.
B. Receiver behavior receiver forms the part at the other end of the communication process. Just like at the sender end, there are components involved here as well.
- Decoding the giving meaning of the message in the communication process by the receiver through translation into verbal or pictorial representation of information. The decoding process involved and is dependent on cultural and social values the recipient holds. And according to many researches involving organizational psychology, meaning is created in the mind.
- Feedback noise or any disturbance in the medium can present itself as a hindrance to the effectiveness of the message.
Conclusion
The Contingent Model for Choosing Media talks about effective communication which needs to have the following two characteristics as the centre point in terms of focus. These include information richness and complexity of the message (Functions and Models of Communication, n.d.) Critical approach to organizations weve learned looks at communication not as a process rather as a tool through which language is used as a medium to influence social reality and perspectives. Stanley, the theorist of this theory, stated managers then use a companys values to balancing the aims and demand of each stakeholder with respect to their participation. Deetz has further explored upon this theory through holding a humanistic perspective on this theory and said that communication is a perpetual process that is not a reflection of reality, rather something that derives from it. Hence he said that paWe can definitely conclude that participation of employees should be given a high involvement privilege in an organization. The criticism owing to this theory is one that relates to changes happening in the processes and perceptions about communication in the modern age, this criticism talks about consent and participation but not from an individuals perspective.
There is moreover a greater likelihood of job satisfaction because of the importance given to employee participation and to empowerment through sharing information with them. This eventually stops upward dissent also. Even though dissent cannot be completely eliminated, this theory makes the organization more cohesive and displays it as a closely-knit unit. It could even be directed towards the concept of Japanese concepts in management, because of the giving of employees the feeling that they too have a stake in the organization they are working for. (Deetz, S., 1982) In similarity to this theory the Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT) too discusses communication through the concept of communication scholarship (according to Michael Kramer). Kramer weve learned has mentioned uncertainties in organizations and how to deal with them through the effective use of communication. This theory unlike the Critical Approach Model takes into account both individual and collective perspectives. This theory of URT focuses its attention on understanding and studying uncertainties arising in communication. This theory holds a lot of importance to scholars, researchers, employees, supervisors, interpersonal and also group communication. (Michael Kramer, n.d.)
One thing that really comes clear through the discussion of the two countries cae, along with the organizational perspective is that communication is key to conflict solution and removal in the social context with particular emphasis to the organizational context in this case. Having information sharing and a feeling of empowerment within individuals is the best thing any entity can do to erase out any negative feelings and differences. Catering to individual differences and societal differences therefore can be done through the provision of a theory like this that supports perpetual communication as deeply as said by Deetz.
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