Conflict Resolution: I Need Those Oranges!
Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
by Sarah DeSimone
Polished Pages
Interpersonal communication has always been a passion for me. I love the fact that words and patience can solve anything. If I could speak another language (or two or three) I would probably go and work for the UN as an interpreter. As it stands, I'll stick with all the communication problems in English .
I was sitting in class one day and the teacher separated us into pairs. She gave one partner a green piece of paper and the other partner a yellow piece of paper.
"You are both scientists," The teacher said. "One of you is working on a cure for cancer; the other is working on a cure for multiple sclerosis. Now, you are both convinced that you need this one batch of oranges to finish your research. The orange crop was horrible this year and there are no other oranges available for your research. And you both need all the oranges to conduct a proper experiment. Your job is to decide which one of you gets the oranges. Then you must explain which experiment was more important and why?"
As I looked around the room, I watched my classmates debate with their partners about which disease was more horrible. Cancer effected more people, so they should get the oranges. MS was more debilitating, so they should get the oranges. It seemed to be a stalemate. I looked down at my paper. It explained my theoretical experiment, the importance of these oranges in my experiment, how everyone was counting on me to get those oranges.
"Ok," I said, "Why do you need these oranges so badly?"
"I need them so I can make a cure for cancer," my partner said.
"Can't you use anything else in your experiment? My paper says what need is only present in oranges."
"I can't use anything else either." My partner sighed. "According to my sheet, only the 'complex mixture in the orange pulp' will make my experiment work."
Suddenly it all made sense. "Really? You only need the pulp? My experiment says I only need the orange rind!"
My partner looked at me, "That seemed way too easy."
I love this story because it takes a mountain of a problem and turns it into a molehill instantly. Because, I had focused on the real problem (we both needed those oranges) instead of trying to prove the importance of my experiment, the problem nearly solved itself. I'm sure a couple more interpersonal lessons are in here somewhere but this article would end up very long.
Incidentally, the teacher allowed the rest of the class to debate for about fifteen more minutes and no one else could figure out a compromise.
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Hi Sarah.Welcome to the Searchwarp Community of Writers.I enjoyed reading your well written article. I am looking forward to reading more of your aticles at Searchwarp. Thanks for sharing.Best regards to you and yours,NenitaThank you for the welcome. And thank you for the comment.
I enjoyed reading this article Sarah, thank you for sharingYou're welcome. And thanks for commenting!
Welcome to Searchwarp! Great Article! I have heard a similar story about dividing up an orange in negotiations, this is a great illustration. Thanks for your contribution.Thanks for the comment. My mother told me afterwards that she had gotten the same story for one of her classes too.
Hi Sarah.Welcome to SearchWarp.I enjoyed your article and the point it made so well. I'm looking forward to more from you.Dianne
Very good Sarah, very good! Welcome to SearchWarp and you are off to a magnificent start!
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