2) Team organization

In a second possible use of ECM, the main purpose is to gain a common visualization of the conflict situation and possible orientation for the conflict work. This is mainly about gaining as much of a possibly complete and common visualization of the objectives, requirements, tasks, themes, risks and aspects. The map here serves as a means of communication that allows members of the team to converse with others about their thought structures and facilitates subsequent changes in the cognitive and discussion processes in an easy and democratic manner. The method is open, for example, single maps can first be created individually or in small groups and then put together, or all team members can work together on the same map, pending on size and task. 

Here it is essential that the maps are read and understood by all persons involved, which might appear obvious but is a real challenge in praxis. Mapping as group process involves both a Dionysian and an Apollonian action, for which leadership that pays attention to structure, comprehensibility and clarity is necessary.

Let us illustrate this art of conflict mapping with an example:

Download the mind map “Civilian Organizational Scheme”

In the map “Civilian Organizational Scheme” we merely illustrate the starting topics for coordination of a team in preparation for fieldwork. In this map, we still do not show concrete themes, which need to be agreed by the team based on their analysis of the conflict. This means that the mapping of a concrete intervention will be constructed and identified using this basis, yet aspects that merit a more concrete weighing and debate need to be incorporated. However, this basic map can be used during the intervention as reminder to help us bring back to memory the complete picture of the different components that need to be taken into account. As the saying goes “proper preparation prevents piss poor performance” and as such this map might allow us to work practically in an elicitive fashion with all necessary elements in mind.