Negotiation and Conflict Management Research

Question: Discuss about the Negotiation and Conflict Management Research. Answer: Introduction A WIC clinic in the city of New Jersey, in the United States of America. The front end of the clinic is reasonably small with a front desk and chairs and benches situated in front of it for the people to accommodate themselves. It is often the case that the clinic waiting room is filled with visitors and it creates a claustrophobic environment. Negotiation and Conflict Management Once, Mrs. Alonso who is considerably analytical and observant walked into the clinic with her children Sergio and Rafael. Sergio was the elder of the two and was of calm and caring nature but on the contrary, his brother Rafael can be easily deemed as erratic and impatient. Both the kids were running around the clinic and shouting in a loud voice which turned out to be a cause of concern for the other visitors present in the clinic. The Alonso family conversed in Spanish between themselves (Tracy, 2013). Andrea, the receptionist of the WIC clinic, was a bit impatient and impulsive by nature and was getting frustrated with every tick of the clock with this scenario. After half an hour passed, she lost control and told another WIC employee that a person, who does not know how to control his or her kids, should not bring them outside. She yelled these things in such a loud voice that it was audible to everybody present in that small space (Eunson, 2007). She assumed that the Alonso family spoke and understood only Spanish, so she uttered the above-mentioned words in the English language. But, Mrs. Alonso understood English perfectly and as a result, this occurrence hurt her self-respect immensely. She felt terribly insulted in front of all those who were present. She immediately took both of her kids and left the clinic without even collecting her checks for the month (Wheeler, 2015). Though in this whole process, the elder son of Mrs. Alonso named Sergio was determined to stay at the clinic and stand up to Miss Andrea and do something about the insult that was inflicted on her family. Sergio was outspoken as well as challenging at the same time and he had an immense sense of self-respect as well (Beardsley and Lo, 2013). His fundamental objective was not to involve in a quarrel with Miss Andrea but to make her realize the mistake she had committed by insulting his family. But Sergio was not allowed to convey his thoughts to Miss Andrea, by his mother as she did not have enough confidence in him and she was fearful of conflict as well. From this whole scenario, a great sense of conflict arose fundamentally between two parties. On Miss Andrea's part, a major mistake was made when she publicly insulted Mrs. Alonso's family. Although it can be also noted that in that claustrophobic clinic, the kids were making a fuss, and Miss Andrea could have told Mrs. Alonso to look after them or stop them in another way rather than insulting them in public. Another major mistake in Miss Andrea's part was the fact that without in-depth knowledge about the person, she assumed that Mrs. Alonso did not understand English, as she primarily spoke Spanish (Negotiation and Conflict Management Research - Call for Papers, 2010). Her assumption was completely wrong and it was a major cause for the arousal of conflict in this case scenario. On Mrs. Alonso's part, a fundamental mistake was committed that she did not ask her children to behave themselves in a public place. She was incompetent in controlling her children and this resulted in the arousal of the conflict. She should have realized beforehand that the situation was bound to get out of control at some point in time sooner or later if she did not intervene and checked on her children from time to time. On Sergio's part, the major mistake committed was the fact that he should have taken control of his younger brother Rafael when he behaved out of bounds. Rather than controlling and monitoring is the younger brother, Sergio also opted to engage with him in his mischiefs and this can also be regarded as a possible reason for the arousal of the conflict (Hyvri, 2006). Conclusion It can be concluded from this case scenario, that a conflict can arise in practically any situation, and every involved individual has a small or major part to play in the arousal of the conflict. It can also be observed that if the individuals involved in the scenario kept their wits about the given situation at that given point of time, then the conflict could have been easily avoided. References Beardsley, K. and Lo, N. (2013). Democratic Communities and Third-Party Conflict Management.Conflict Management and Peace Science, 30(1), pp.76-93. Eunson, B. (2007).Conflict management. Milton, Australia: John Wiley Sons. Hyvri, I. (2006). Project management effectiveness in project-oriented business organizations.International Journal of Project Management, 24(3), pp.216-225. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research - Call for Papers. (2010).Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 3(4), pp.400-401. Tracy, B. (2013).Negotiation. New York: American Management Association. Wheeler, M. (2015). Learning to Teach Negotiation.Negotiation Journal, 31(4), pp.477-490.