This research study addresses the problem of determining the strategies that can be used to manage conflict effectively. To achieve this objective a comprehensive literature study was performed to determine the views on conflict and various models of conflict. The study also included the reasons for and sources of conflict and the effects of conflict on an organisation. The next step was to identify the conflict management strategies that were revealed by the literature study. The appropriate conflict handling styles, how to improve organisational practices and special rules and structures were discussed as well as various suggestions from different authors on how to resolve a conflict situation. Based on the information obtained from the literature study a model was developed to serve as a guide to organisations to manage conflict effectively. Managers from a specific organisation were requested to complete questionnaires in order to determine the strategies used by their organisation to manage conflict. The questionnaire was developed in accordance with the findings from the research. The answers of the respondents were analysed and compared to the findings of the literature study. The information obtained from the literature study and from the respondents resulted in various recommendations and conclusions. The previously mentioned model that was developed was applied to the organisation, specifically addressing the pertinent issues as indicated by the respondents.

D.Cur. (Nursing) / The phenomenal political changes that have taken place in South Africa during the past three years have had a ripple effect on the health services of the country. Trade unionism, although they had been active in many spheres, entered the hospitals with great vengeance leaving many services crippled. Problems could not be solved according to the old, now obsolete rules of the game as these were no longer acceptable to the health care workers. New and different approaches had to be found to deal with this upheaval that was affecting patient care. The researcher realised that the nursing service manager, especially in the public sector, was in no way equipped to handle the crisis. Legal limitations aggravated the situation as there was no third party intervention that could try and find a solution to the dissatisfaction of the staff. The result was that the nursing service manager had to cope with the situation as best as she was able to, while still trying to manage the nursing care of the patients and the upheaval in the personnel corps. In addition to this, the nursing service manager, by enlarge, still had the viewpoint that conflict was a disturbing element that had to be removed. Limited studies have been done in the field and there were no guidelines to enlighten the nursing service manager. It became evident to the researcher that research into conflict management of a nursing service was necessary. Existing models and theories on conflict were reviewed to glean knowledge for the proposed study.

The management of conflict has long been of concern to social scientists, urban planners and community-minded citizens. While differing mechanisms of managing ethno-national or ethno-linguistic tensions exist, few studies advance our understanding of how conflicts are actually managed – in other words, the study of ethnic peace. In this study I draw on the experiences of two differing examples of ethnic peace: Belfast and Brussels in the expectation that other contested cities such as Kirkuk, Jerusalem, Nicosia or Mostar, who may one day consider power-sharing as a form of governance, may learn from what have been categorised as sites of successful power-sharing. While there are few studies of ethnic peace, fewer studies again seek to understand the role of the elite level bureaucrat in sustaining this peace. This dissertation fills this gap in the literature, investigating the politician-bureaucrat relationship within the contested urban environment of two differing mechanisms of consociationalism. The dissertation ascertains the extent of discretion available to the bureaucratic elite and further, through determining core beliefs of interviewees, establishes how this discretion is employed. Methodologically, the dissertation draws on a multi-method approach, consisting of semi-structured interviews and a method well established in Psychology but relative new to Political Science: Q Methodology. The empirical findings show that the bureaucratic elite influence the conflict management process. While bureaucrats are found to share a number of core governance beliefs, a number of categories of association can also be identified. These categories are not based on a primary identity, but a secondary learned identity. The findings therefore also propose that a professional or societal attachment can supersede a primary attachment within the public administration of a contested society. In a number of instances, bureaucrats are found to actively represent these secondary learned attachments over their primary identities. The findings define bureaucratic activity in two instances of ethnic peace, as well as contributing to the literature on active representation. Moreover, it is suggested that the role of the bureaucrat in the conflict management process requires much more scholarly attention if political level power-sharing agreements are to be sustainable.

The thesis covers aspects of the law relating to letters of credit. It deals with the operation of letters of credit with particular reference to the doctrine of strict compliance, the principle of independence, the fraud exception and conflict of laws. According to the principle of independence, banks must make payment in terms of the letter of credit irrespective of any dispute that may exist between the buyer and the seller in an underlying contract or other contracts. Although the principle of independence is clearly established, it is not absolute. An exception occurs in the case of fraud. Thus, if the seller has committed fraud, such as tendering forged documents, the buyer can instruct the bank not to make payment in terms of the credit. If the bank refuses to dishonour the letter of credit, the buyer can apply to a court to interdict the bank from making payment. In South African law the buyer must establish that the seller was party to fraud in relation to the documents presented to the bank for payment before the court can grant an interdict. This thesis also examines the standard of proof of fraud required in letters of credit transactions and proposes a standard of proof which will not unduly favour the seller whose good faith is in dispute. The fast growing technology of computers and telecommunications is rapidly changing the methods of transacting business by paper documentation and letter of credit transactions are no exception. At present the buyer can apply to the bank to issue a letter of credit through the computer and banks also communicate letter of credit transactions through computer networks. However, the beneficiary still has to present documents to the bank for payment in paper form. It is proposed that the Uniform Custom and Practice For Documentary Credits (UCP) be amended to provide for fully computerised letters of credit transactions. Another objective of the thesis is to examine the doctrine of strict compliance. In terms of the doctrine of strict compliance documents presented under the credit must comply strictly with the requirements set out in the credit. If banks are satisfied that the documents presented by the seller strictly conform with the requirements of the credit they are obliged to make payment as required by the credit. It is proposed that the doctrine of strict compliance should not be applied strictly. In other words, the banks should make payment in terms of the credit if the discrepancy in the documents is trivial. The thesis also covers conflict of laws issues. As the UCP does not have rules dealing with conflict of laws, most jurisdictions have developed their own rules to be applied by the courts in cases of conflict of laws. The thesis examines the different rules of conflict of laws as developed and practiced by different jurisdictions.

In African countries emerging from periods of violent crisis a layer of civil society practitioners and peacebuilders appear to play a critical role in mediating the inevitable disputes and tensions that arise. This treatise focuses on a sample of these mediating practitioners who perceive themselves in a variety of different ways, as peacebuilders, as conflict managers, as conflict resolution practitioners and as conflict transformation practitioners. The practitioners who participated in this study work at multiple levels to support the mediative processes that are needed in contexts of crisis and transition. They form part of a wider group of practitioners who have taken the initiative to organise insider mediators into a learning community of practitioners, under the auspices of the African Insider Mediators Platform (AIMP). This platform provides scholars with a useful research opportunity. The overall aim of this study is to explore the relationship between conflict transformation theory and the establishment of the AIMP as perceived by AIMP practitioners. It captures the perceptions that mediators have of the nature of the conflicts in which they are engaged and the influence of theoretical approaches on their practice. The treatise focuses on the perceptions of selected mediation practitioners associated with the AIMP. It draws out the conceptual lenses that are used to inform perceptions of effective mediation practice and that connect the perceptions of practitioners with the concepts contained within the conflict transformation theory. In so doing it describes the perceptions of practitioners and discusses the extent to which these perceptions resonate or deviate from theoretical conceptualisations of conflict in Africa and the theoretical frameworks that outline what constitutes an effective mediative response to this conflict. The insights into effectiveness that emerge from this approach are outlined in the treatise, drawing from background research that has informed the formation of the AIMP as well as from interviews carried out with selected mediation practitioners. The research findings suggest that there are several perceived connections between the theoretical underpinnings of conflict transformation approaches and the practice of the insider mediators involved in this study. The discussion of the data puts forward the proposition that the conceptual perceptions of the insider mediators involved in the study, in their description of elements of mediation practice and the nature of conflict, resonate strongly with the theories associated with conflict transformation thinking. In addition several additional theoretical influences appear to have been incorporated into an overall approach to discrete and collaborative mediation efforts that reinforce a strong connection between conflict transformation thinking and the practice of insider mediators. These relational connections between theory and practice are outlined in some detail in the description of the study that follows.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of culture conflict in second-generation Indo-Canadian women. An existential-phenomenological approach was used to gain an understanding of culture conflict from the perspective of those who have experienced it. Five second-generation Indo-Canadian women participated in this study. The participants took part in an in depth, unstructured interview in which they were asked to describe their experience of culture conflict. The interview was taped and transcribed. The transcripts were then analyzed and common themes were explicated. The 29 themes that emerged from the data were written into an exhaustive description of the experience of culture conflict. The themes and exhaustive description were then presented to each of the participants for validation. From the exhaustive description, the essential structure of the experience of culture conflict was also formulated. The findings of this study are discussed in terms of implications for further research as well as implications for counselling individuals who are experiencing culture conflict. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

During the course of this PhD thesis, it will be argued that it is misconceived to think of jurisdiction and choice of law agreements as unilaterally enforced domestic private law obligations within an English 'dispute resolution' paradigm because multilateral private international law rules are essentially secondary rules for the allocation of regulatory authority which may not permit a separation of functions or the relative effect of such agreements. In other words, a multilateral system for the public ordering of private law will assume priority over or trump the existence of the private law rights and obligations of the parties to the jurisdiction and choice of law agreement and the unilateral enforcement of such rights via anti-suit injunctions and the damages remedy. Otherwise, the private law enforcement of the mutual contractual obligation not to sue in a noncontractual forum attributed to an exclusive jurisdiction agreement may operate as a 'unilateral private international law rule' with a controversial and confrontational allocative function of its own. It may lead to the 'privatization of court access' by dubiously perpetuating and prioritizing the unilateral private ordering of private law over the multilateral public ordering of private law. Moreover, the enforcement of jurisdiction and choice of law agreements by private law remedies within a multilateral system will necessarily distort the allocative or distributive function of private international law rules by giving precedence to the redistributive will of the parties premised on principles of corrective justice inter partes of questionable applicability. International structural order is compromised in the unilateral private law enforcement of jurisdiction and choice of law agreements as such enforcement gives rise to a clash of sovereign legal orders and also the possibility of 'regime collision' by interfering with the jurisdiction, judgments and choice of law apparatus of foreign courts which a multilateral conception of private international law is supposed to prevent in the first place. However, this PhD thesis will argue that outside the confines of the EU private international law regime, the variable geometry that is characteristic of the international commercial litigation sphere may not impede the separation of functions within such agreements. Whether an English court ought to grant a pragmatic private law remedy enforcing such agreements is of course another matter. Ultimately, a more comprehensive concept of transnational justice in private international law disputes informed by methodological pluralism needs to be developed. A notion of transnational justice which seeks to simultaneously balance the competing demands of the notion of 'conflicts justice' which prioritizes ex ante multilateral allocative imperatives and the idea of an ex post material justice between the litigating parties in the individual instance.

A total of 136 children from 5 to 8 years of age were presented with standard conservation of length and liquid tasks as well as story versions of those tasks. Half of the children were read stories in which the views of two non-conservers came into conflict, and the other half were read "conflict free" stories. Although the length conflict story was found to be significantly easier than the lenght task, the nonconflict story was not. In addition, the length conflict story was significantly easier than the length nonconflict story for the younger children (5-6 year-olds). However no significant differences were found among the liquid conditions. The results suggest that, for length, children's conservation performance was benefitted by cognitive conflict rather than merely the narrative format of the story problem and that children's reasoning can be affected by mere exposure to "socio-cognitive conflict". These results lend support to the controversial claim that symmetrical incorrect conflict is sufficient for stimulating cognitive development. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The present study was designed to explore 1) the personality and attitude structures of adolescents belonging to the hip or underground subculture; 2) the family constellations within which these structures evolve; and 3) the evidence for and against the existence of the “generation gap." Several correlated indices of “hipness" were utilized to select 49 hip and 44 nonhip male, adolescent subjects. More than 80 percent of the subjects' parents also participated in the study. An extensive battery of personality, attitude and demographic questionnaires was administered to all subjects. The data revealed large, significant differences between hip and nonhip adolescent subjects on 14 of the 18 major variables measured in the study. Relative to their nonhip counterparts, the hip subjects scored significantly higher on the following variables: Thinking Introversion; Theoretical Orientation; Estheticism; Cognitive Complexity; Autonomy; Liberal Religious Orientation; Impulse Expression; Altruism; Liberal Attitudes Toward Children's Freedom; Women's Freedom; and Sexual Freedom. The hip subjects scored significantly lower on: Personal Integration; Practical Outlook; and Masculinity. The hip personality profile revealed in the findings was compared and contrasted with the profiles of other alienated groups, namely, radical activists and the Beats of the late Fifties. Particular attention was paid to the historical changes which have transpired in the Bohemian personality during the past decade. While hip and nonhip sons differed significantly on 14 of the 18 major variables, their parent's personality profiles appeared remarkably similar. Hip and nonhip fathers differed significantly on only two of the 18 variables (hip fathers were more permissive in their attitudes towards children's freedom and toward sexual freedom). Hip and nonhip mothers differed significantly on just one variable (hip mothers held more permissive sexual views). Irrespective of significance levels, however, the group means indicated a strong trend for the small differences between hip and nonhip parents to mirror in direction the large differences between their respective sons. On 16 of the 18 variables, both hip parents scored in the same direction relative to their nonhip counterparts as did their sons relative to the nonhip sons. The hypothesis was discussed that both the smallness and consistency of these parental differences are instrumental in the development of hip or nonhip values among adolescents. While the differences between hip adolescents and their parents was found to be considerably greater than the differences between nonhip adolescents and their parents, the data indicated strong support for a generation gap hypothesis. On 9 of the 18 variables, nonhip sons differed significantly from both parents in the same direction that hip sons differed significantly from theirs. Relative to their fathers and mothers, both son groups displayed: more complex cognitive orientations; greater impulse expression; lower personal integration; higher anxiety; lower altruism: lower response bias; a more cynical attitude toward people in general; and more liberal views regarding children's freedom and sexual freedom. The generation gap, as characterized by the foregoing cluster of traits, was discussed from a psycho-historical perspective, and predictions were entertained regarding the probable future of generational relations. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This thesis attempts to look at the experiences of Japanese housewives who have spent a period of time in a foreign Western country before returning to Japan. It is an ethnography presented in the context of what it is like to become a stranger. In it I try to examine not only the initial impact of the cultural encounter, but also the day-to-day sense making as it occurs in the lives of the women, and the change in perspective which becomes apparent upon return home. The data were collected in the form of approximately 50 tape recorded, in-depth interviews conducted in English. Because the relevant experiences of the women varied so greatly, an unstructured open-ended interview format was employed. The informants were wives of scholars, government representatives, or businessmen. All were residing or had resided in a foreign Western country solely because their husbands were studying or working abroad. About one-third of the interviews were conducted in Vancouver, and the remainder in Japan. Most interviews took place in the informant's home. Many of the women bring with them expectations based on past experiences, handed-down information, and taken-for-granted ideas which prove to be an inadequate basis for sensemaking in the new environment. Confronted with this anomaly, they often suffer disorientation and depression. It appears that time, familiarity, and exposure to the new socio-cultural environment ameliorate the sense of dislocation. But perhaps the most important factor is the individual ability to draw from varied sources of information and to integrate this information into the patterns of thinking and behavior. This can lead to cultural competence, which is more than just being able to perform in a socially acceptable manner. It involves both knowing the rules of society well enough to abide by them and understanding when one can successfully violate, bend or break the established tenets. Upon returning to Japan many women feel that their encounter with another culture has affected their perceptions of self and home. Following the initial impact of return, many began to question the differences and similarities of the socio-cultural environments they had encountered. They also began, again, to question themselves. Some women found this self-examination and reflection to be a long and difficult process, but others experienced immediate insights and changes in perspectives. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate