KEYNOTE SPEECH ON CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND ORGANIZATION
DEVELOPMENT, SALISBURY UNIVERSITY, MARYLAND
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.
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!
AMBASSADOR
MULAMULA SHARES HER EXPERIENCE AT THE GREATLAKES WITH SULISBURY UNIVESITY STUDENTS
AND FACULTY
“If there is anything wrong with conflict, it is how we respond to
them” remarked Ambassador Mulamula in her keynote address at the University of
Salisbury in Northern Maryland at a panel discussion on Conflict Resolution and
Organizational management on Friday October 25, 2013.
Addressing students and
faculty, Ambassador Mulamula shared her experience as the first Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes
Region (ICGLR) from 2006 to 2011, stating that unlike the learned Salisbury
community, she doesn’t study conflicts, she “live them”
She explained the
meaning of her name “Mulamula” an arbitrator, a plant that is planted on the
ground after mediation of land dispute
is concluded. She added even with such a name, she still faces, like many others,
challenges that exist in managing the humanistic instinctively reaction to
conflicts.
“We often respond to
conflicts instinctively, therefore we miss the opportunity to harness the
goods that may come out of a conflict” she said.
Linking her message with
recent global changes which she explains make it more difficult for
organization Executives to manage conflicts in their institutions and work
places. She summed her speech outlining success in mediation and
facilitation as well as challenges, in a ten action
points that she believes to be helpful in managing conflicts.
Ambassador Mulamula
was invited to give a keynote speech at the Salisbury University by Jacques Koko,
Assistant Professor and Director of the Graduate Program of Conflict Analysis
and Dispute Resolution at the Fulton School of Liberal Arts at Salisbury.
After her speech, a group
of panelists from the University and the community provided some light on
causes and implications of organizational conflict, and how such conflicts can
be addressed constructively.
Ends.
Embassy
of Tanzania
Washington,
DC
October
26, 2013
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