Conflict analysis with a focus on community polarisation: a case study of a wind energy project in Switzerland
- Authors: Bachmann, Melanie
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Conflict management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42428 , vital:36654
- Description: Switzerland, like many other countries, wants to expand the production and usage of renewable energies, including wind energy. However, wind energy causes much conflict due to the emissions and possible impacts on the people, nature and landscape. In the canton of Glarus a wind energy project called LinthWind is currently projected. This has resulted in a public dispute involving several parties and members of the community. In opposition to the project, the association LinthGegenWind was formed with the aim of keeping the area free from wind turbines. The project developer, as well as LinthGegenWind, are organising information events and provide information through other platforms. The aim of this research is to provide the community with a thorough understanding of the conflict, including its dynamics and possible destructive processes. Through the conduction of conflict analysis, it investigates the conflict evolving around the project LinthWind. With the help of an online questionnaire, the opinions of the participants regarding the project and also the factors influencing the opinion-formation were enquired. This allowed for an examination of the polarization of the community and the factors contributing to it. The conflict analysis presents detailed information regarding the conflict history and background, the parties involved, issues under contention, sources and causes of the conflict, driving factors and the dynamics. Many factors indicate that the dispute is in an escalating phase. It was further shown that the affected community is clearly polarised regarding the project LinthWind. The polarisation is most likely enhanced by certain measures applied by the parties and the voting process. Independently gathered information by the people themselves seem to be the strongest influencing factors for the opinion formation. The success of the tactics applied by the project developer and the association opposing the project vary regarding their influence on the opinion formation. Missing communication between the parties and a polarised community exacerbates effective conflict management. In the case of LinthWind, a forum is therefore suggested where communication and information – the basics for constructive conflict management – are enabled.
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- Date Issued: 2018
A text-critical analysis of potentially conflict-provoking genres of the Christian bible
- Authors: Grigor, Pierre
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Church history , Transformation groups , Conflict management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/11289 , vital:26906
- Description: This dissertation wants to understand the church history regarding the divide which resulted in the so called fundamentalist and the liberal movements in the church being birthed in identifying the reasons for the conflict between the aforementioned groups. It then presents principles of conflict transformation and management in order to understand and to help transform and manage potential confrontational situations between the aforementioned groups effectively. It further propose alternative interpretations to potential conflict-generating Bible texts by extrapolating new information from those texts in order to stir the potential of birthing a second naïve love for the discredited texts by offering new meanings to those same texts. Unfortunately, this objective can’t effectively be measured within the scope of this dissertation, but will nevertheless remain as an objective of hope.
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- Date Issued: 2016
The need for conflict management in organisations (a health insurance company, Port Elizabeth)
- Authors: Ajam, Razaana
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Conflict management , Organizational change -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Interpersonal relations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/3852 , vital:20469
- Description: Conflict is evident in many spheres of life, however this study concentrated more specifically on conflict relating to organisations. Organisational conflict is seen “as any social collectivity, organisations such as private sector companies, government departments, schools and universities, non-governmental organisations, and political parties all experience internal conflict in varying degrees” (Bradshaw, 2008: 22). Each individual coming into a workplace has created his or her own set of challenges especially in the brutal arena of business. Conflict has destructive and productive qualities that can diminish or elevate processes within an organization (Stone, 1999). If it is not harnessed properly or dealt with in the correct manner, it can damage the reputation of a business; resulting in its downfall and this in turn contaminates and affects peripheral businesses associated with the organisation downstream. This study explored the following key aspects: Background of organisational conflict and its management; Background of the organization; Whether these two areas mentioned above can work together to create a cost effective and efficient outcome when dealing with conflict. The research adopted a mixed method approach with predominant focus on qualitative research methodology. The main focus of this study was conflict management within organisations and to probe and determine whether companies see the need to employ the field of conflict management as a strategy in times of fluctuating dispositions. It is evident that the organisation may not be fully aware or make use of alternative conflict resolution strategies and that the main causes of conflict can be eliminated such as poor communication, ill-defined job descriptions and objectives and differing of opinions. The need to employ alternative methods of conflict management may be emphasised by looking at the costs that conflict produces and the use of limited vital resources and the loss of human capital.
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- Date Issued: 2016