Conflict And Negotiation In The Context Of The 'Does Islam Promote Violence?' Essay.

But if vast numbers of Muslims across the world believe, and they do, that humans deserve to die for merely holding a different idea or drawing a cartoon or writing a book or eloping with the wrong person, not only does the Muslim world have something in common with ISIS; it has too much in common with ISIS.

The Interview Procedure and the Participants Involved

Conflict takes place when individuals differ in their beliefs, ideas or theories (Van der Vliert,  2013). Conflict and negotiation are amicable solutions when parties are involved in a conflict. In the current video uploaded, the topic of conflict is ‘Does Islam promote violence?' CNN channel aired this interview with the point of view of Bill Maher and Reza Aslan. The anchors Camerota and Lemon were conducting the interview procedure taking into consideration all amicable views from Reza Aslan. While Maher tried to ignite a conflict, Reza Aslan tried to provide instances and facts to arrive at a negotiating point of view (Jackson, 2010). Debating a topic of religion is bound to be a conflict procedure, with each party having their point of view. In this debate, suitably Reza Aslan, a Muslim and religious scholar was selected and the other parties to the debate were Christians. This group creates an appropriate mix of individuals were intentions of each participant is clear. Once the topic of conflict is established, in order to negotiate a solution bargaining strategies has to be implemented (Ting?Toomey, 2017, p. 1-6). The current discussion analyses ways each participant could have managed themselves and conducted the interview in a more effective manner.

The interview procedure on the topic initiated with Camerota and Lemon introducing viewers the participants to the discussion and expressing for and against views to the topic (Lewicki, Barry, Saunders, and Tasa, 2011). The discussion was initiated by a rather strong notion introduced by Maher stating point of view regarding Islam. The entire discussion had four participants with three participants sharing the same point of view with only one participant Reza Aslan having a contradictory point of view. Bill Maher's opinion can be considered to be the rather harsh and non-sophisticated expressing point of view regarding Muslim countries (Autesserre, 2014). Bill Maher is a comedian but when he expressed his opinion regarding Muslim, he extended his personal of the allegation against Muslims in the entire world. His participation in the interview can be regarded as one to create a conflict. He clearly expressed his negative opinion even including President Obama’s point of view. His views on the TV show threatened viewers. He was imposing his views rather than discussing the pros and cons of it (Wallensteen, 2018). He seemed to be rather unprepared for the interview with Aslan. As Aslan is a religious scholar and Muslim himself, he knew provided various points against the arguments provided by Maher. Maher was almost out of words for replying back to Aslan.  

Analyzing the Behavior of the Participants

The anchors, Camerota and Lemon then changed the discussion focus to get point of view from Reza Aslan. Reza Aslan is a professor of religion expressed his views against the topic debated. The anchor's purpose since the beginning of the interview was to establish that Islam as a religion does promote violence as they had various supportive facts such as the ISIS, female genital mutilation, women's rights and so on (De Dreu, 2010). At every instance Reza Aslan replied to a comment made by the anchors, they tried to reinstate and provide a new perspective against Islamic practices. Negotiation is necessary to arrive at an amicable solution but neither anchors were trying to negotiate a solution. The discussion to the topic is a rather ‘hot' topic due to the various worldwide instances of rising Militant Islamic attacks. However, the anchors provided no solution to the problem or no relief for Reza Aslan (Buchbinder, 2011, p. 106-122). The anchors were rather accommodative in their outlook on Islam and the point of view they held, they were ready to accept Reza’s point of view. The discussion or the anchors could have progressed in with better bargaining in case each of the anchors discussed their position on the topic rather than extending other’s opinion on the same. Their point of view was contradicted Reza Aslan, who was trying to establish his point of view from point of view of a religious scholar. Aslan seemed more prepared for the interview as compared to the anchors, putting them at a disadvantageous position.

The anchors suggest various points of view from practical instances to make Reza Aslan agree and not rebuke their point of view (Creed, DeJordy and Lok, 2010, p. 1336-1364). They offered various instances from real-world scenarios where Muslim countries are only faced with challenges. The point of view of the anchors is rather clear as they offer a number of points on which the negotiation could proceed, however, Reza being a scholar of religion offered fresh viewpoint at every instance (Fiol, Pratt and O'Connor, 2009, p. 32-55). Though at times, the anchor's point of view appeared to be aggressive, they offered with every discussion of fresh opportunities for negotiations. However, each of the anchors when debating the issue with Aslan appeared to be rather particular and assertive. They needed Reza to agree to a minimum one point of view amongst the multiple points suggested by them on the topic (De Wit, Greer, and Jehn, 2012, p. 360). They possessed calm behavior with a potential opposition and they intended to bring Reza to agree to their point of view. When proposing various facts and data regarding the topic, the anchors were suggesting facts that were prominent worldwide rather than solely expressing the opinion of others. However, the issue was such that there was no opportunity for accommodating or comprising could arise (Tekleab, Quigley and Tesluk, 2009, p. 170-205). Though the anchors did prepare for the interview and knew various factors that they were to talk about, they seemed to be changing topic after topic. They did not possess as much detailed knowledge as Aslan to bargain regarding one particular topic. Due to which they kept introducing one topic after another and two interviews (Deutsch, 2011, p. 95-118). They should have known that they will be confronted with a religious scholar with a decade of learning, hence they could have been better prepared. As the topic concerned evaluating Muslim with violence, they should have gained knowledge and in-depth understanding of the different violent activities globally and provide an exact percentage of such violence caused by Muslim (Keashly et al., 2011, p. 423-445).     

Bargaining Strategies for Managing Conflict

The process of negotiating can proceed either by way of distributive bargaining or integrative bargaining. Analysis of the transcript it can be said that the anchors and Aslan wanted distributive bargaining such that each party to the conflict achieves a winning position. Hence, the anchors had created a range of outcomes and preparations to provide points of view regarding the topic. All the points were relevant instances from what was happening currently in the world (Mahmood, 2009, p. 193-215). Evaluating the interview of Aslan, it can be said that he is a well-learned man who had come prepared with loads of data and information. Moreover, his decade of scholarly practice provided him with the knowledge regarding Muslim religious happening around the world. While negotiating each time to reply on each particular issue he seemed well connected between one point to another, rather than simply stating facts. His negotiating powers are immensely positive due to his behavioral skills (Hamperl and Cimprich,  2016, p. 1455-1467). He had been assertive in each point he was given to conflict at. He reflected tremendous efforts and reflected each aspect with appropriate facts making his point of view clear every time. Due to his assertion, he has almost won the topic of the debate, making clear to the other participant his point of view (Hipel and Walker, 2011, p. 279-293). He made the anchors agree to the point he was trying to put forward however with his consistently calm behavior.

Conclusion

In the case of debates, conflict is bound to arise. An appropriate panel for discussing a topic allows exploring the ideology with in-depth and detailed knowledge. The above conflict and negotiation reveal that not having appropriate background or detailed insight to a topic can be disadvantageous especially when debating. While one of the parties to the conversation possesses immense knowledge, others lacked knowledge which could allow them to explore the issue in depth. Each party's motive was at one time to cause a conflict then it was managing conflict, Aslan tried to express mostly his own opinion, whereas the other participants often included opinion from others. The reliance on facts by Aslan proved his winning in the conflict situation where he was comfortably able to express his views. The success of the Aslan was totally dependent.

References

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