One theory that seeks to explain how people understand situations in which they face is called standpoint theory. This theory explores how people’s background (gender, ethnicity, family, religious experience, etc.) influences perceptions on any given topic or event. All people have background experiences, positive and negative, that influence how they perceive things, including conflict. For instance, your family life may have more influence upon the way that you handle conflict than you may realize. In some families, the way to handle conflict was to avoid the topic altogether; while others “resolved” conflict through verbal (and perhaps physical) abuse. These experiences may have a strong influence upon you as a person seeking to negotiate resolution. It’s important to know how your background has influenced the way that you currently handle conflict. It will help you understand why you react the way that you react in the face of conflict. Further, it is advantageous to you as a negotiator and mediator to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your own current negotiation and mediation strategies. This will allow you to understand your limits and the kinds of conflict in which you may best suited.

•  Conflict and Communication is define by JANDT how?
• Now that you have explored various negotiation tactics through the reading and class discussion, evaluate how you have handled conflict in the past.
• Describe a major conflict that you, personally, have encountered in your past. How did you negotiate that conflict? Did you fight? Did you flee? Were you caught somewhere in the middle? Does this method of negotiation generally describe how you typically handle conflict?
• How does your past negotiation methods compare with the negotiation methods you have learned from this week’s reading?
• Once you have thoroughly described your past methods then explain steps that you plan to take to incorporate these new tactics into your conflict management strategy.
• As you respond to each other take the time to affirm what others have done well and offer constructive feedback on how they can incorporate these new conflict negotiation skills.