Describe the theories of liberal universalism and communitarianism, as
well as human needs theory, and comment on their value as intellectual
foundations for conflict resolution. 500 words would be fine. Source
of references and quotations are required.

"Liberal universalism is the idea that liberal democratic systems of
government, free market capitalism, and the respect for universal
human rights are global forces that are shaping the world."

"Spring 2005 MLA Courses" http://www.unca.edu/mla/s05sched.html

"...[C]ommunitarians [argue] that the standards of justice must be
found in forms of life and traditions of particular societies and
hence can vary from context to context."

"Communitarianism" Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (December 28,
2004) http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/communitarianism/

Human needs theory posits that everyone has a set of needs they are
seeking to meet.  Generally, these needs are arranged in a hierarchy
with individuals needing to satisfy a particular level of need before
moving on to the next level.

"Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" Educational Psychology Interactive by
William G. Huitt, Valdosta State University (February 2004)
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html

These philosophies can be used to provide an intellectual foundation
for conflict resolution, but they inherently are in conflict with one
another when they are applied in their broadest sense.  Both liberal
universalism and human needs theory are based on the idea that all
individuals are fundamentally interested in achieving the same goals
and share a common view of justice.  If one holds to these points of
view, then the same approach for conflict resolution can be used
anywhere, regardless of the business environment or the prevailing
local culture.  Furthermore, in the case of liberal universalism, the
approach to conflict resolution can be exclusively derived from
Western culture-based methods.

Communitarianism maintains that standards of justice are context
dependent and can differ from culture to culture.  If one believes in
this point of view, then procedures for conflict resolution must
consider the individuals involved, their backgrounds, and the business
environment.  There are no universal standard methodologies that can
be used.  Each situation must have a conflict resolution approach that
is uniquely tailored to it.

An important part of conflict resolution is understanding what
individuals' objectives are and what their standard of justice is.  By
addressing these issues, these philosophies seek to provide a valuable
framework for approaching conflict resolution.  However, they cannot
be all correct when applied in their broadest sense.  To resolve the
conflict between them, my personal view is that they must be
recognized as having limited realms of applicability.

In my view, human needs theory is broadly applicable in general but
does not determine specifics.  For example, all human beings seek to
satisfy their thirst and hunger, but individual preferences determine
which of the available options will be used.  Both the notion of
individual having preferences and available options being at least
associated with particular societies is consistent with
communitarianism.  The notion that Western ideas are affecting both
individual preferences and the available options, which is certainly
being caused by the spread of Western culture such as music, film, and
fast food, is consistent with liberal universalism.

I translate this to the resolution of business conflict by noting that
although Western standards of justice and business practices are
increasingly being adopted globally, one applies Western-centric
approaches exclusively to business conflict resolution in global
cultures with great caution.  Particularly in the presence of strong
local or ethnic-based business cultures, ignoring how an individual
views conflict resolution and simply imposing a solution derived from
Western business practices is unlikely to succeed.  Identifying and
understanding the context of conflict negotiation is critical to
successful resolution.  However, there are basic methodologies that
are broadly applicable across cultures and situations.  An approach
relying upon only one of the intellectual theories is overly
simplistic and will rarely resolve conflict satisfactorily.

Sincerely,

Wonko

Fantastic, spot on reply to my question.