Skills for Conflict Managers

Short course in conflict management: basic skills
Advanced abilities and tactics in conflict management
Advanced conflict assessment tools

• Wilmot-Hocker assessment guide

• Australian conflict map
• Metaphor analysis
• Typology of conflict

Metaphor Analysis

Metaphor analysis suggests that individuals can learn how others perceive conflicts by listening to how conflicts are described metaphorically.

A metaphor is a comparison of unlike things. Cognitive metaphor theorists believe that an association is made between the characteristics of the terms that are compared.  For example, when the language of warfare (shooting, nuking, targeting) is used in a conflict, it is probable that the individual using the war-like language feels attacked and defensive or is in a mode to utilize competitive, and perhaps unsavory, tactics.

Metaphor analysis suggests we study the associations connected with particular metaphors commonly used to describe conflicts.

• Conflict is like war
• Conflict is explosive
• Conflict is a trial
• Conflict is a struggle
• Conflict is an act of nature
• Conflict is animal behavior
• Conflict is a mess

The key to metaphor analysis is to determine the associative meaning within a metaphor. McCorkle and Mills (1992) suggest five questions to guide the analysis of a metaphor:

1. What is the general nature of the conflict process within the metaphor?
2. What is the role of the person who uses the metaphor?
3. Into what role does the metaphor cast the conflict partner?
4. How is power distributed in the metaphor?
5. What conflict management strategies or tactics flow most easily from the conceptual metaphor?

For example, if conflict is like "being in a rowboat in a hurricane," the analysis of associations might suggest:

1. Conflicts, like hurricanes, are unpredictable and uncontrollable events that cause great devastation.
2. People exposed to conflicts/hurricanes are generally helpless.
3. The other person in the conflict is an irresistible force like a hurricane.
4. The other person/hurricane has all the power.
5. Hiding and running are better than confronting something you can't control.

Another aspect of metaphor analysis is the ability to use metaphors creatively to alter perception during a conflict.  Instead of utilizing metaphors with competitive or negative connotations, consider these views:

• Conflict is a non-competitive or non-violent game
• Conflict is a dance
• Conflict is a garden