Communication
and Power
The Root of Conflict
Humans are commonly assumed to be the highest living form on earth's evolutionary chain. Since we believe our relative power is higher than anything else in our environment, humans have attempted to control and dominate the environment. Everyone has their own energy, or personal power. Humans all have the same basic needs in life that motivate us to use our energy. Mazlow's pyramid of human needs is a simplistic model of what motivates us to use our personal power.
Humans are creators.&; Our energy is flowing in a positive direction, which we perceive will fulfill one of our needs. Power can be defined as "the capacity to act effectively" and "the ability to influence or control events."(Folger et. al.,pg.69) The most basic form of communication is a response to a stimulus in the environment.(Dance, cited in Zak-Dance, 1993) We process information about the stimulus and determine if the stimulus will block or enhance our energy flow. Once we calculate the probability of success, we begin to react on the information and direct our energy toward the intended goal. So, what we perceive we need, determines how we respond to, and control our environment. We use our personal power, through communication, to manipulate our environment to get what we need. The power to communicate effectively and influentially is a power that each of us can improve to enhance our creative personal energy.
Conflict occurs when one experiences their personal power being suppressed or blocked. There is a perception that the energy can't be expended in it's intended way.
The stimulus in the environment is perceived to block the flow of directed energy. Sam Leonard (1994) said that "Conflict is just an interface pattern of energies." This is the root cause of all conflict.
If they don't have enough personal power to keep their energy flowing toward their goal, they can either give up the goal and remain neutral, or they can turn the positive creative energy into negative energy that is focused on destroying or overpowering the block.
Our general conflicts occur between humans who have the equal "evolutionary" power, but have different degrees of relational power. This is an assumption that all human are created equal. But are we equal? Hatfield promotes the notion that "equity doesn't mean equality."(cited in Hocker & Wilmot, pg.91) Humans are all the same, but each person is uniquely different. This dualistic definition is not common to Western thought, but the dualism needs to be recognized in order to achieve harmony among humans.
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