The Importance Of Conflict

844 Words4 Pages
Conflicts are part of human consciousness in all aspects of life (Aula and Siira, 2010). It is when two or more values, perspectives, and opinions are contradictory in nature and have not been aligned or agreed about yet, including: within oneself when you are not living according to one’s values; when values and perspectives are threatened; or discomfort from fear of the unknown or from lack of fulfillment (Ramani and Zhimin, 2010). Clearly, conflict is widespread and universal in societies and their affairs (Berhanu, 2014). This means conflict occurs between people in all kinds of human relationships and in all social settings (Opoku-Asare, Takyi, and Owusu-Mensah, 2015) such as among organizations, within organizations, among the members…show more content…
However, Owens (1998) highlighted that it is in the manner in which conflict is handled determines whether it is constructive or destructive. It is on this premise that language use plays a critical role in conflict resolution. As Johnstone (2008) accentuated that people in every culture can hire politeness markers to use and interpret language appropriately in actual social interaction in order to avoid conflict. In addition, Woods (2006) emphasized that the crucial point in every interaction then can be studied by the amount and type of politeness strategies used by speaker/s and hearer/s in order to construct appropriate interpersonal relationships. Lakoff (1975) elucidated that politeness has been developed to reduce friction in communication thus, considering politeness theory as one of the essential factors for a successful communication. In like manner, Hill, Ide, Ikuta, Kawasaki, and Ogino (1986) pointed out that it is one of the constraints on human interaction, whose purpose is to consider others’ feelings, establish levels of mutual comfort, and promote rapport. On the other hand, Ide (1989) argued that any misuse of these strategies can hinder the effective communication, leading to individuals’ dissatisfaction and…show more content…
Consequently, due to its importance in characterizing the elements specific to polite discourse and behavior, many studies (Matsumoto, 1989; Schmidt, Shimura, Wang, and Jeong, 1995; Hardin, 2001; Pishghadam, 2011) related to politeness theory in pragmatic linguistics has opened the doors to familiarizing the audience with politeness strategies in different cultures. Further, my qualitative study attempts to bridge the gap and issues on the appalling lack of research on the various aspects of training in the field of conflict resolution predominantly academic institutions run by the government throughout the country. Furthermore, there is a pressing need to gather tangible evidences and heavily documented reports from school systems of the positive effects of conflict resolution initiatives beneficial to the school’s stakeholders, hence the conduct of this
Open Document