Characteristics and skills of development practices - Essay Example

Characteristics and Skills of Development Practices Introduction: It is observed that many nations, organisations and corporates try to establish the best suitable and desired activities to their nations/organisations for the positive development. [1] The primary issues related with the development characteristics are the "change" and the "conflict". It is always an issue of debate that what is the reason for the change. It has been an interesting issue for researchers and historians that how and why social, economical, political changes takes place. Even geographers examine the climatic change in relation to the emergence and failure of any civilization. [5] Broadly speaking the reason of change and the concerned issues are always a subject of academic interest to all the fields. The social change and growth of particular sect/religion can be the issue of academic interest for the sociologists. The change in Human behavior during the development process adds to the research knowledge of the psychologists. In spite of the similar kind of origins why there are differences in the class of economy, what changes have created the poverty etc. are the prime concerns for the economists. [5] The second important issue for the development is the conflict. It is interesting to note that conflicts are quite natural and unavoidable. Conflict is the outcome of human interactions. In a due course of time, conflict can be termed as an opportunity to rise. Conflict can be expressed in many ways: "The non level playing competence among humans can lead to conflicts" "The interests of one group may be forced on the other party without their wish leads to conflict" "Conflicts can have certain possible reasoning- what is the reason for something to happen, why it is the reason, how the reason is justifying". Even if conflict leads to challenges it can be uncomfortable and stressful. The way one handles a conflict determines whether it is a constructive conflict or a destructive conflict. If more conflicts are handled efficiently in a long run, it may lead to fostering of the relationship. Handling of more and more conflicts leads to betterment of one's skills to resolve the issues and finding of solutions. In a global perspective conflicts shall not be termed as constructive or destructive but they shall be termed as neutral. Its up to the humans who handle the conflict, leads to the positive or negative outcome. The one who manages to resolve conflicts effectively and amicably may view a conflict as the key to constructive development. Avoiding of conflict or improper treatment of conflict can lead to destructive development. There are several misbelieves about conflict: "The conflict leads to one winner and one loser", "Birth of conflict is a sign of wrong doing", "Professional approach never leads to conflict", "The party which starts the conflict is always wrong", "Never make a point which leads to conflict" It is very important to note the own views while considering a conflict. The personal concepts play a crucial role that how a conflict is analyzed. The analysis of conflict leads to the response. The approach of both the concerned parties in a conflict are crucial for determining the outcome of the conflict. [1] Change - a prerequisite for development: In the development process change is inevitable. It is necessary to find out the reasons associated with the change. The general queries are- "what was associated with the change" (individuals or the organizations) "Change happens as the outcome of which activities" (reforms, mobilization etc) "With respect to what a change has been influenced" (processes of social restructuring, economic development etc) "How the change proceeds" (the successive results or observations during the change process.) History finds out the clues for justifying the origins of change. Earlier it was considered that the great individuals made to happen the changes. Military rulers like Hitler and Napoleon are quoted as the examples for the drastic change in the international scenario. The 9/11 incidences have changed the global concern about political and international relations of the Islamic nations. Even though such acts were the outcome of some fundamental organization, it has brought a major change in the world perspective. [14] There is another proposition, which supports the idea that social and economic changes made the historical happenings. It is quite obvious that a country where trade and industry are flourished has better economy and potential to force its interests on other nations. Apart from the western nations where industrial development has triggered the changes, the Islamic nations have microenterprises, which has generated the socioeconomic changes everywhere. As per Schumpeter's views and his business cycle explanation, technological revolution is insufficient to bring the socioeconomic and political changes. It is the entrepreneurship, which amalgamates the technological advance to result into historical changes. Microenterprises are prime movers for the socioeconomic changes in Islamic nations. For them its not the technology or management but an enterprise which brought out the change. [10] Change in Islamic Nations: In the Islamic nations there are complex issues related to socioeconomic modernity or democracy, developing civic society, freedom of speech and gender based inequality. No forced policy is going to resolve these issues in the Islamic nations. There needs to be long term changes in political arena, sustained economic development and gradual adaptation to the change in culture founded on transparency and trust. The democratic setup emerges from deep routed processes. The secular dictatorships in Islamic regime are comparatively lenient and may be transformed into future democracies. Deposing one dictator may lead to formation of another military regime and national instability, which is harmful for the socio-economic development of the nation. Gradual change is coming up in many Islamic nations and they are rising up into the developed nations' list. It is necessary for the western countries to change their trade, economic and international relations with the Islamic nations for the mutual interest and overall development of the regions. [14] Class: The Marxist concepts described history change as the result of changes in class structures. The failures and success are termed in history were discussed with respect to the industrial & financial perspective. Under the sociological arena, change has been refereed as per gender, ethnicity etc. The other reasons for change as per historians are i) above and below ii) Internal and External iii) Cycles iv) Nature v) Reform and revolution vi) Politics etc. The changes have been considered as the effects propagated from top to bottom i.e. from rulers to the citizens and later on from bottom to top. It was debated that civilizations pass through the cycles of rise and fall. Natural calamities and other reasons were also recognized as the source of change in the countries history. Changes have also been termed on the scale of gradual and rapid changes viz. reforms and revolutions. Politics also played important role in the social change. A political change in a nation can bring about social and economic changes.[10] In the development process all happens is the change, which is inevitable. The whole society and nations live under the paradox of change. Nations are bound to face the changes and its impacts on the society. In a society there is always reluctance for the change. The sociological reluctance to change is based on the hierarchical needs. These needs are ordered as - Physiological requirements, Security, Sense of Belonging and Respect. For an individual any change leads to a neurobiological learning. The learning from change has following categories: Cognitive- it is learning from analysis of facts and information. Emotional- experiences which bring out emotions. Social- Acquiring knowledge about others via social activities. Physical- Learning via actions. Reflective- The knowledge acquired is integrated to reflect own views. Change Curve : Every individual absorbs the change and grasps knowledge via processes as seen above. Everybody has different ways to cope up with the change. As one understands that change is destined to happen, the person will calculate the expected outcomes of the change. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross found that there is a sequence of emotions related to the change. This sequence is called as the "Change-Curve". Change Curve is a model prepared to describe the grieving process. This curve has been accepted as the way of getting people along through a radical change. The change curve helps to explain the stages that everybody goes through when exposed to change in the life. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross had years of experience of interviewing terminal patients and their relatives for understanding the ultimate change, death. Elizabeth found that irrespective of different culture, gender, age, nationality, whenever there happens to be a major change, all the persons follow the same sequence of emotional transitions. [11] Right from an emotional change to a technological change, people move through the same stages of development. These stages have nine states of emotion: Stage 1 : Shock, Denial, Numbness Stage 2 : Fear, Anger, Depression Stage 3 : Understanding, Acceptance, Moving ahead. Lets discuss these stages with respect to a major change: Stage1 : People may feel relieved after listening to a positive information, generally those who are suspicious about something wrong. But people who anticipated nothing may experience a shock. This happens because after receiving initial information, denial takes place. During this situation people show numbness and unresponsiveness. Stage2 : At this stage people start showing depression, anger and fear. They show fear about the uncertainty that's going to prevail in the future. This stage is a very alarming stage of change curve and highly destructive for organization functionalities. The negative impacts of this stage can hamper the productivity, sales and profits of the organization/society. Stage3 : This stage is an indication of acceptance of the change, acquiring new positions. This stage is a sign of moving ahead in the development of the organization/society. A positive input or incentive at this stage can enhance the productivity of the people. A more forward looking business oriented models has proposed three key phases to change of any kind, viz. strategy, execution and sensitivity. Sensitivity has further five states as 1. Stagnation 2. Preparation 3. Implementation 4. Determination 5. Fruition Here determination is the strength of management to implement the change through the Valley of Despair recognized by stage of anger and depression. The effective implementation of change can result into rise of productivity. To recognize the successful implementation of change, Change Management Models are devised. There exists numerous models to evaluate the change process, some of them are: The 4 A's, Boston Consulting Group's DICE etc. [11] Application of Change-Curve to Islamic Nations: As per the Change curve the three stages of change can be studied as - Stage 1 : There is refusal to accept the western concepts or to relax the religious ideologies. Any such change may result into a shock. The Islamic nations may show a big wave of depression during this phase. Stage 2 : There is strong fear of losing cultural and social values. This may raise a sense of anger and depression. Some Islamic nations have shown rebellious incidences during the phase. This is a difficult phase and takes longer time to pass through. Stage 3 : Gaining the benefits from the acceptance of new concepts and policies. Increases liberal views and accepts the social and cultural changes. Achieving the third stage shall make the change effective and sustainable. Once this stage will be reached, there happens to be progressive development in the Islamic nations. At the final stage, the nations are ready to accept the new concepts, new policies and views of the other nations. All new concepts are grasped to result into socio- economic development of the nation . Conflict Handling : Nature of conflict depends on how one reacts to it. Though most of the people term conflict as a negative, in reality conflict is neither positive nor negative. Conflict is essential in an organization/society. [1] Benefits of conflict resolution: Rise in motivation, more clarity of issues, more transparency, outcomes that leads to innovation, resolution of internal issues, building better relationships. Facing conflict is a learning phase. Showing confidence in yourself during conflict makes you self-reliant and results to personal growth. It prepares us to face future situations in an effective manner. It becomes our habit to deal our competitors with due respect and note down their point of view. Constructive conflicts leads to common solutions and mutual benefits of the conflicting parties. In perspective of the management, avoidance of the conflict may lead to resurfacing of problems. Consequences of unresolved conflict: Loss of productivity, Weaker relations and, negative interactions, Stressful working, Non transparent working, Improper decision making. Irrespective of the conflict situation, the outcome depends on how we react. With proper techniques, a conflict can be taken on a constructive path. Common Causes of conflict: Lack of coordination, Difference of opinion, Misunderstanding, Issues related to authority, Personal grudges, Rivalry etc. Approach for conflict resolution: Irrespective of the cause of conflict, there are two main approaches- 1. Power based or rights based. This approach relies on an authority for the conflict resolution. Rights based approach is useful for resolving disputes in a grievance process. Conflicts of interpersonal nature cannot be resolved by this approach. 2. Interests Vs positions: If we try to analyze the requirement of other party instead of their stand in the conflict, the solution is of mutual benefit. Conflict Cycle: Many times conflict occurs in a predicted manner. One needs to observe that how the evolution of conflict can be made helpful in the study of conflict dynamics. The conflict dynamics includes : Issues, Triggers, Behaviors and Consequences. Islamic Nations and International conflict: Analyzing conflict for the Islamic nations in today's scenario, there is a lot of friction with the west. Especially Iran has developed a spiral conflict in the international relations with the USA. A spiral conflict brings the conflicted parties to the new heights of each other's extreme positions. The extreme positions are based on misunderstanding, distrust, misperception and fiction. Relations are ill-managed in a spiral conflict and negotiable grievances turn into non- negotiable issues. Among the Islamic nations, Iran has developed the most strenuous relations with the USA. The political change and the radical shift in ideology in Iran and USA has given rise to the spiral conflict. [13] Conflict Management Style: In two separate situations where one has to face a conflict, a disagreement with somebody. The other person may be a colleague or a peer. As per Thomas Kilman, Conflict Management Style, scores are assigned for situation A and B. Each question shall have two scores: The scores are 1=never, 2=seldom, 3=sometimes, 4=often, 5=always. [12] The names of two parties in conflict can be written as: Party A ______________________________ Party B ______________________________ The scores are denoted as : __|__ for the set of questions. A B Some sample questions are: 1. I avoid being "put on the spot" 2. I use my influence to get my ideas accepted. 3. I usually try to split the difference to resolve an issue. 4. I generally try to satisfy the others' needs. 5. I try to investigate an issue to find a solution acceptable to us. The set of 25 questions is so devised that 1,6,11,16,21 questions are of avoidance nature. Questions 2,7,12,17,22 are competitive. Questions 3,8,13,18,23 are of compromising Nature. Questions 4,9,14,19,24 are of adjusting/accommodating nature. Questions 5,10,15,20,25 are of mutual interest. [12] The total scores of the respective category gives the nature of conflict between the two parties. [6] The five styles ( Accommodate, Avoid, Collaborate, Compete and Compromise) of the profile, as proposed by Thomas- Kilman Conflict Mode Instrument, are positioned on two dimensions - cooperativeness and assertiveness. The basic purpose is to shift to the more collaborative style that is a win-win situation for both the parties. [2] The application of Thomas- Kilman conflict model to the Islamic nations and the West can have following styles: Avoid : There is a strong degree of avoidance on the fundamental religious beliefs of the Islamic nations and the liberal western concepts. Accommodate : Several secular policies in Islamic nations can accept and accommodate the western principles similarly western countries can accommodate some Islamic ideologies. Compete : Islamic nation are competing for the nuclear proliferation with the USA and other nations. There is a competition in the field of trade and energy as well. Compromise : Technology against fuel and such other proposals are agreed mutually. Collaborate : Joint efforts to escalate trade and socio-economic development, implementation of nuclear energy for peaceful civic applications. Transfer of technology and supply of fuel in each others regions without any hassles. It is seen from the above discussion that the more the shift from avoidance to collaborative issues, there will be reduction in the conflict. On the two-dimensional map of Assertiveness Vs Cooperativeness, both these positive parameters shall have highest value when the collaborative efforts are stronger. Conclusion: Change and conflict are the essential aspects for the development and growth of an individual, organization or the society. Change and conflict both are inevitable. The change curve takes an individual and the organization from an initial state of denial to an unproductive/depressed second stage situation before reaching the final stage of acceptance of change and growth. Charles Darwin, the godfather of evolution, quoted that, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives nor the most intelligent but the ones most responsive to change." Conflicts are neutral in nature but can turn as positive or negative depending upon your reaction. Conflict resolution in a constructive way leads to the positive development of the individual or the organization or the nation. Conflict Resolution tools are quite useful and their effective use in the organizations/society can certainly resolve the conflicts in a collaborative way. Among the Islamic nations there is a conflict over ideologies that has divided them into two factions, one is pro-US and the other is anti-US. To encourage development, Israel has shifted from traditional militaristic approach to friendly foreign relations, motivated by trade and economic interests. On the other hand Iran has taken an opposite stance, ruining its earlier economic relations with the west. This has happened as a result of the political revolution and change in their military objectives. Despite of the fact that the Islamic Republics has changed their strategy into a political- military regime, there is no substitute to economic and technological growth for the development of the nation. The US-Iran relation has become a major concern for the rest of the world. To resolve the spiral conflict, Iran needs a major change in its diplomatic relationships with Iraq and the USA. It is also necessary for USA to reciprocate with the changed strategy of Iran and help them out to implement technology for the civilian developments. It is in the interest of USA and the region to strengthen Iran for the mutual growth. There shall not be any alienation from West and USA while dealing with the different military/ dictator regimes of Islamic nations. Secular dictators may be encouraged by developing strong international relationships. It is quite obvious that the disturbances in the Islamic nations may bring down the economic and political development all over the world. A gradual change in the diplomatic strategies and effective resolution of conflicts with the Islamic nations along with international cooperation and binding rules for all, will definitely boost up the socio-economic and technological development. [13] References: 1. Conflict Resolution, from http://www.gov.ns.ca/health/primaryhealthcare/bbt_module/bbt_Conflict_resolution.pdf 2. A Report on Conflict, from http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/D.Ridley/PY303/ConflictTAPEFinalVersion2a.pdf 3. http://www.aboutlistening.com/Tools%20for%20Social%20Change.htm 4. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/uploads/approved/adt-QGU20040416.141210/public/02Main.pdf 5. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/misc/downloads/research_change.pdf 6. http://www.usafp.org/USAFP-Lectures/2006-Lectures/Monday,%206%20March/Whitney%20T-K%20CONFLICT%20MODE%202005.ppt 7. http://www.acenet.co.uk/documents/Dealing%20with%20Difficult%20Clients.pdf 8. http://www.rsis.edu.sg/publications/Perspective/RSIS0102007.pdf 9. http://www.islam-democracy.org/6th_Annual_Conference__report.asp 10. http://islamic-finance.net/islamic-economy/chap7/chap7-6.html 11. http://www.simply-communicate.com/cgi-bin/item.cgiid=66 12. Analyze Your Conflict Management Style: The Thomas Kilman Instrument, from http://e-courses.cerritos.edu/anagao/Conflict_Scale.pdf 13. Iran and the international community: roots of perpetual crisis, from http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-irandemocracy/iran_perpetual_crisis_4128.jsp 14. September 11, One Year Later, from http://info.jpost.com/C002/Supplements/911_OneYearLater/story_02.html Read More