KEYNOTE SPEECH ON CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND ORGANIZATION
DEVELOPMENT, SALISBURY UNIVERSITY, MARYLAND
Courtesies
I feel honoured to
join you for this panel discussion on conflict resolution and organizational
development. I feel privileged to be among the learned. I, for
sure, am not an academician rather a
diplomat. I don’t study conflict, I live them. As I
live them, I am compelled to learn to manage them. I come
from Tanzania, a country that has played extraordinary role in conflict
resolution in the Great Lakes Region and beyond. Therefore, my career path has
exposed me to organizational conflicts, as well as interstate and intra state
conflict.
It is for this very reason, I thank the Salisbury University for inviting
me to share with you my humble contribution. Moreover, I thank the
organizers for their choice of topic. The importance of the subject matter stem
from the very basic admission that conflicts are inherently part of human
nature.
It is important to
note at the outset that conflicts are not necessarily violent, destructive or
unproductive. If there is anything wrong with conflict, it is how we respond to
them. Luckily, despite the acknowledgement that conflicts are inevitable,
little has been done in impacting skills on managing them. We often respond to
conflicts instinctively, therefore we miss the opportunity to harness the
goods that may come out of a conflict.
Our
instinctive response to conflict, particularly in organizations,
results from the following wrong assumptions that:
1.
Diversity frustrates unity and Unity is
synonymous with homogeneity;
2.
The world and life in particular is all
about 'either...or..' (dualism), this view reinforces that everything
in life has only two sides such as peace vs war,
rich vs poor, my way vs your way and so on;Peace and stability is an absence of tension, a fight or a
war.
Diversity Frustrates Unity and Unity is Synonymous
with Homogeneity:
The common trap
that the Executive is likely to face in a multicultural work place is
attempting to create homogeneity. This arises out of fear that diversity
will impede on the attainment of the organization objectives and goals. The
Executive immediate pressure is to register results to the Board. It becomes a
wish of the Executive to get unanimous consent of the management team
in executing the tasks. In that case, diversity and dissenting voices becomes
an obstacle and 'sabotage' as they divert time and resources that could
otherwise be used to achieve the goals. Emphasis on Unity of purpose becomes
key and is taken as synonymous with homogeneity. Diversity is seen as
frustrating Unity.
The value of
diversity and conflicts in society and organization has been acknowledged even
by early philosophers. George Hegel had it, "Contradiction in nature
is the root of all motion and of all life." This philosophy was later
be propounded by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels was privileged to serve as the first Executive Secretary of the
International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) from 2006 to 2011.
The evolution of this organization is traced from the wars in the Great
Lakes Region between 1994-2004. It is an organization of 11 member states (then
Foes and Friends), with interested parties as Group of Friends and Co-opted
Members. The main objective of the organization is to build confidence between
member states and leaders coming out of the conflict, towards cooperation for
economic development and stability. It is the process of shifting engagements
from the jungle to the table, from exchange of fires to the exchange of trust.
The Secretariat team that I headed was as well reflected the diversity of
entire membership. That means, I had at least 11 senior personnel from 11 nationalities
and 11 cultures. In such a scenario, the main function of the Executive
Secretary and of the leader in that matter is first and foremost, bridging
gaps, breaking walls and blurring barriers.
I must confess that it is easier said than done. Harnessing diversity
and conflicts in today’s working environment is not an easy task
to Executives. We are living at the times of broken trust, fragile
relations and insecurity. Unlike the past, the Executive of today are supposed
to manage change not order. Technology has impacted on speed and time
between one change and the other. We are constantly organized and reorganize reform
and deforms. Deadlines have become so close, resources so scarce, labour
so mobile and skills so displaced. Executives are constantly under pressure and
have less and less time to deal with conflicts. The need
for shortcuts becomes a toll order, hiring and firing becomes a new
option to maneuver from conflicts within organization. This approach
has not worked up so well in many organizations as it contribute less
in creating a culture of performance organization. The answer therefore
lays in leadership. Never than before, leadership skills are pre-requisite to
Executives. Leadership skills that equip Executives to manage change, and
harness diversity through bridging gaps, breaking walls and blurring
barriers. The world and life in particular is all about 'either...or..'
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Organizational
conflicts also results out of our limited understanding of the world around us.
We often prone to our own confined thinking and values. We carelessly judge
people and events around us basing on our confined set of values and beliefs.
It is most of the time 'us vs them'. Samuel Huntington on his famous
book ' Clash of Civilization' put it simply, ' We can only
love ourselves if we can hate what we are not'. That view worked so
well for so long time. Things have changed.
The globalization has
changed the world. No institution has been immune from this. These changes are
so immense to comprehend and manage. The world of 'either...or' is the story of
the past. The world of dualism which we were so accustomed with no longer
exist, everything is 'contingent'. Task and challenges that we work upon no
longer have two answers such as 'yes or no', 'right or wrong', 'profit or loss'
or 'success or failure'. We are compelled to part with a third way
and at times multiple results.
Technology has affected the way we work, who we work with and our
relations at work and hence, makes
conflicts more visible and a reality of today’s work place. The tools
we were equipped with in leadership and management schools no longer
give answers to today's ever changing work places. While in our ideal
world we were taught to administer, today we are supposed to manage. We are
forced to work with the person we don’t know well, we
often don’t like, and we cannot bulldoze him/her to 'fit in
our way', since we are constantly reminded to harness diversity and respect
people's choice and rights.
Managing conflicts is not about avoiding them rather harnessing them. We
can only manage conflicts if we take time to appreciate others point of views
and open ourselves to new solutions and
possibilities. We can do so by accepting that 'midway' can at times be a
best solution, and that mid-way is not necessarily found at the
middle. In this way we will be able to manage conflicts and harness differences
at the work place.
Peace and stability is an absence of tension, a fight or a war.
The misconception on what constitute stability, tranquility and peace in
an organization or nation brings to us another challenge. Traditionally, we
have taken for granted the stability that we enjoyed in family, work place and
in our countries. We wrongly thought that
stability and tranquility is an absence of chaos, fights or tension. The education
and management studies also wired us to work with stability instead of managing
the stability. We ended up paying less attention on what constitutes
stability, and taking it for granted. It worked so well in our cold war days.
Things have dramatically changed.
Globalization has brought up diversity, or has made diversity today’s
reality of a work place. The things we used to have a control about such as
labour, capital, market and product are no longer in our control. Globalization
forces has opened and democratized markets,
labour, capital and products. We now have multicultural workers, buyers,
suppliers, financiers and markets. Business and organization of our age
can only survive by harnessing diversity.
The reality of today’s diversity requires transformative
leadership and management at work place. We have to learn to part with the
new reality that 'chaos brings order'. The challenge before management
and leadership today is on how to bring together completely varying
and sometimes opposing units to work together to achieve a common goal.
Managing diversity necessitates to listen to new ideas, harnessing
risks, open-ended conversations and flattened relations at the work place and
team work.
Closing
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I thank you once again for your kind attention. I hope I have shed light
on my perspective on organizational conflicts. That is how I survive and
live with them. I can sum up my intervention in the
following few sentences:
1.
We cannot stop conflicts, we can
turn conflicts into energy for positive changes in our organizations and
countries.
2.
If there is anything wrong with
conflict, it is how we respond to them.
3.
Diversity and conflicts if well
harnessed and tapped can bring to the organization energy needed to move
forward.
4.
Conflicts can be best managed in
organizations once we harness the diversity than suffocate it in the name of
Unity. Unity should not be confused to mean homogeneity.
1.
We are living at the times of broken
trust, fragile relations and insecurity. Unlike the past, the Executive of
today are supposed to manage change not order.
2.
The world of dualism which we were so
accustomed with no longer exist, everything is 'contingent'.
3.
The world of 'either...or' is
the story of the past. 'Midway' can at times be a best solution, and that
midway is not necessarily found at the middle.
4.
We have to learn to part with the new
reality that 'chaos brings order'.
2.
When we change the way we look at
things, the things we look at change.
Chinese have it
in their wise sayings, "To every Conflict, an
opportunity". With those few remarks, I beg to conclude!
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