Reference no: EM133345830

Assignment:

Finally you've found a place to live! You and three of your friends are college students about to enter your sophomore year. You lived in the dormitory last year and are looking forward to more freedom this year in renting the downstairs of a duplex. The duplex is walking distance to campus and is on a beautiful, tree-lined street. The only problem is lack of parking, which you all hope to compromise on as the semester continues. As the semester progresses, you begin to feel some friction with your upstairs neighbors. They are graduate students in biology specializing in bats and have lived in the duplex for two years.

They often travel to bat habitat sites for research and host meetings at their apartment for those with similar interests. Your conflict is over parking. The grad students are older, have lived in the duplex already for two years, and say the ability to come and go on an as-needed basis for their field work and to host research meetings is absolutely crucial to their studies. They increasingly resent you as newcomers to the duplex and say their academic demands are far greater than yours. Refer to specific terms and concepts from Chapter as you answer the questions below.

Is the conflict really a problem? Why or why not?

How does this situation fit the definition that "conflict is the state of being challenged by human differences"?

1. Describe the spheres of harm, challenge, and value in this conflict.
2. What type of conflict is this? Describe why.
3. What would be an appropriate method for alternative dispute resolution? Describe why.