1. Power: The Structure of Conflict
Chapter 4

2. What is Power? Power is a fundamental concept in conflict theory
Power is seen as
Designated (power given by your position)
Distributive (either/or power)
Integrative (both/and power)

3. Designated Power
Comes from your position, such as being a manager, the mother or father of a family, or the leader of a team

4. Distributive Power
Comes from your ability to achieve your objective “over the resistance of another”
Focuses on power over or against the other party

5. Integrative Power Power with the other
Definition focuses on “both/and” – both parties have to achieve something in their relationship

6. Exercise #1
Application 4.1, page 104

7. Either/Or Power Contest of wills when you are in a “power struggle”
The focus for a dispute becomes power – who has the right to move the other
Power becomes the overriding relationship concern
Getting more power becomes the overriding relationship issue

8. Either/Or Power, cont.
When we solve a dispute based on interests, the goals and desires of the parties are the key elements
When power becomes the only personal goal, the dispute is harder to resolve

9. Both/And Power Often the first choice of women in our culture
Boys learn to relate to power through games and competition more than girls do
Girls learn to play with less focus on hierarchy
For boys, conflict means competition, which often enhances relationships
For girls, competition is often painful and damages relationships

10. Both/And Power, cont. The ability to develop relationally depends on
mutual empathy,
mutual empowerment,
responsibility to both oneself and others,
and the ability to experience and express emotion,
to experience and learn from vulnerability,
to participate in the development in the development of another,
and to enhance each other’s efforts

11. Both/And Power, cont.
Many effective forms of conflict resolution depend on a relational approach
If competition remains the dominant approach, constructive conflict resolution is unlikely to occur, except temporarily

12. Application 4.2

13. Designated Power
Giving power to some other group or entity

14. Power Denial Deny that you communicated something
Deny that something was communicated
Deny that you communicated something to the other person
Deny the situation in which it was communicated

15. Whenever you communicate with another, what you say and do exercises some communicative control – you either go along with someone else’s definition, struggle over the definition, or supply it yourself

16. Relational Theory of Power
Power is a property of the social relationship rather than a quality of the individual
Power is not owned by an individual but is a product of the communication relationship in which certain qualities become important and valuable to others
Power is always interpersonal
Power is given from one party to another in a conflict

17. Power is based on one’s dependence on resources or currencies that another person controls, or seems to possess

18. Interpersonal Power
Is the ability to influence a relational partner in any context because you control, or at least the partner perceives you control, resources that the partner needs, values, desires, or fears
Includes the ability to resist influence attempts of a partner

19. Power Currencies R – Resource Control I – Interpersonal Linkages
C – Communication Skills
E – Expertise

20. Resource Control
Leadership and position, by their very nature, place a person in a situation in which others are dependent upon him or her, thus bringing power

21. Interpersonal Linkages
A set of currencies depend on your interpersonal contacts and network of friends and supporters
Coalition building
“Who you know . . .”

22. Communication Skills
Conflict management skills depend on a thorough grounding in communication skills

23. Expertise Currencies
When you have a particular skill or knowledge

24. Power Currencies
The most effective conflict participant develops several forms of power currencies and knows when to activate the different forms of power

25. Application 4.5
Think of a particular relationship which there is conflict
List your own power resources
List the other person’s power resources
Any that are being overlooked or underused?

26. Power Manifestations
Feminine – safety and power needs are often met by becoming smaller and less visible
Masculine – seeking safety is by becoming the feared individual, by becoming bigger and more visible

27. High Power vs. Low Power A goal that people strive for
May develop altered views of themselves and others
Might corrupt you
Corruption means moral rottenness and inability to maintain the integrity of self
Powerlessness can corrupt also
Powerlessness can lead to giving up, aggression, or violence
Too much losing does not build character; it builds frustration, aggression, or apathy

28. Collaboration
Each person stops directly interferring with the other and actively assists the other in getting what he or she wants
Communication between the two originally in conflict serves as a transcendant function

29. Balancing Power
Face to face conversation is starting point for enacting the internal desire to balance power
Page 134

30. Power-Dependence Relations
When two people elevate their dependence of each other, both increase their source of power

31. Power of Calm Persistence
Substantive change, when power is unequal, seldom comes through intense, angry confrontation

32. Low Power Strategies
Speak up and present a balanced picture of strengths and weaknesses
Make clear what one’s beliefs, values, and priorities are, and keep one’s behavior congruent with these
Stay emotionally connected to significant others even when things get intense
State differences, and allow others to do the same

33. Metacommunication
Focuses the parties on the process of their communication with each other