KEYNOTE SPEECH ON CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND ORGANIZATION
DEVELOPMENT, SALISBURY UNIVERSITY, MARYLAND
By: Ambassador Liberata Mulamula
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. The understanding and appreciation of conflicts,
rewards us with the right attitude to deal with them. Today, I am honoured to
share share with you a practitioner view of conflict as lived within and between
organizations and countries.
Ladies and Gentlemen
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;
3. 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
I 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.
Stability has therefore a new definition. Stability is no longer an absence of tension or
chaos, rather it is a balanced tension. In that sense, we need to change our assumptions
of conflicts and use them positively. We often have to allow chaos so that order can
emerge. We need not to avoid chaos and tension in a work place rather, we need to
accustom ourselves to harness and live with them. That can be achieved if we
change our attitudes and our outlook of the world and our work place. We need to
adopt to pragmatic and positive thinking to be able to see beyond horizons. It is
said, 'when we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. Only
then, we can celebrate our diversity, embrace chaos, and enjoy stability and order in our
organizations.
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.
5. 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.
6. The world of dualism which we were so accustomed with no longer exist,
everything is 'contingent'.
7. 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.
8. We have to learn to part with the new reality that 'chaos brings order'.
9. Stability is no longer an absence of tension or chaos, rather it is a balanced
tension.
10. 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!