Master of Arts in Conflict Analysis and Management Royal Roads University

The Royal Roads approach to conflict analysis and management is unique in that it reflects the full spectrum from interpersonal to international conflict. We view conflict as neither good nor bad, but as a necessary element of all relationships. Conflict exists everywhere and opportunities exist to work with it, change it, and utilize it.

Our program focuses on both the theory and understanding of the effects of conflict. We provide you with the skills to work with conflict, and we help you create self-awareness of what your role is within that system of conflict and how you can have an impact to make a difference. You will be introduced to a wide range of skills – facilitation, negotiation, mediation, and others – and learn to appreciate the strengths and limitations.

Program Description

The MA in Conflict Analysis and Management is a two-year, interdisciplinary graduate program that provides students with foundations to identify, analyze, and manage intra-group and multi-party conflict in a variety of organizational contexts, including domestic, intercultural, and international environments. To accomplish this, the program stresses a holistic, systemic, cross-cultural approach to conflict analysis and management. Students are exposed to a diverse range of relevant practical skills as well as contemporary and innovative, applied research, empowering them to become critical, reflective practitioners that contribute to the expanding field and profession of conflict management.

A one-year Graduate Diploma in Conflict and Analysis Management is also offered.

Delivery Model

Online learning

The majority of this program is experienced through online learning. Online courses enable you to meet the demands of work and family while studying. Using our web-based learning platform, you will access your reading materials, complete individual and group assignments, and engage with the rest of your classmates and instructors; online from anywhere. Each online course will be nine weeks in length, with a two-week break between courses.

Residency

During the course of your two-year program, you will attend two, two-week on-campus residencies. Here you’ll interact face-to-face with your instructors, cohort and team. You’ll have set class hours as well as homework and meetings outside of class hours, making this an intensive and rewarding time.

Completion Options

During the first year of study, all students will take the same set of courses. During the second year, students can select from the following options:

Thesis track

Students taking the thesis track will be required to take a second research course during their second residency.

Course-based track

Students taking the course-based track will be able to continue their studies online during the second year, choosing from a suite of electives designed to appeal to students in all three Humanitarian Studies graduate programs.

Course-based track with internship

Within the course-based track, students may choose to take a 6-credit internship. Students who choose an internship will gain field experience. This experiential learning will help students apply their theoretical knowledge by demonstrating their ability in a real-world setting and documenting their experiences.

Learning Outcomes

Royal Roads University works with an outcomes-based learning model. Learning outcomes are clear, plain language descriptors of knowledge and performance tasks that students demonstrate in order to successfully complete a program.

Within the MA in Conflict Analysis and Management, there are five key learning outcome domains:

1. Critical Thinking
2. Communication
3. Research
4. Knowledge
5. Professional Skills & Practice

Using learning outcomes helps to clarify a program’s focus, helps students connect their program to their workplace, provides a focus for assessment/evaluation, and helps employers understand the benefits of the program. Read more about the learning outcomes.

Who it’s for

Students in this program come from across Canada and around the globe. Many are or aspire to be, managers, negotiators, facilitators, or consultants in environments where group conflicts frequently occur. As conflict can occur in many areas – within the community, government, corporations, civil society, and international settings – our graduates are prepared to lead change within the fields of labor relations, community development, environmental management, international NGOs, and many other settings.

Applicants who do not have the formal academic education to qualify for admission may be assessed on the basis of both their formal education and their informal learning, in accordance with the Flexible Admission Process. Applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis. For more information, please visit our Admission Requirements page.

Courses

• HUMSIP: Internship Preparation and Career Management Skills
• ITAI: Introduction to Academic Integrity
• CAMN502: Foundation: Understanding Conflict, Change and Systems in Organizational Contexts
• CAMN503: Professional Skills: Dealing with Conflict
• CAMN504: Reflective Practice: Leading Change in Organizational Settings
• CAMN552: Structures: Legal Frameworks and Conflict Engagement
• CAMN553: Processes: Designing Conflict Management Practice
• CPWB500: Foundations: Reframing Child Wellbeing in Complex Global Realities
• HUMS551: Foundations of Research
• PJMN501: Managing Complex Projects
• CAMN601: Solutions: Capacity Building and Overcoming Conflict in Organizational Settings
• CAMN602: Advanced Skills: Problem-solving and Conflict Transformation
• HUMS611: Intercultural Competence
• HUMS630: Advanced Research Methods
• HUMS641: Foundations of Policy and Practice in Humanitarian Action
• HUMS642: Psychosocial Interventions: Managing Stress, Trauma, and Loss
• HUMS643: Ethnopolitical Conflicts in the Canadian Context
• HUMS644: Internship
• HUMS651: Case Studies in Humanitarian Action: Advanced Policy and Practice
• HUMS652: Adaptive Management for Complex Humanitarian Problems in the 21st Century
• HUMS653: Environmental and Resource-Based Conflict Management
• HUMS661: Risk and Crisis Communication
• HUMS662: Professional Practice in Conflict and Change Management
• HUMS671: Transdisciplinarity in Practice
• HUMS672: Public Images of Justice and Fairness
• HUMS673: Indigenous Perspectives on Humanitarianism
• HUMS674: Glade Report Writing
• HUMS691: Short Paper
• HUMS695: Thesis

Conflict Analysis and Management Program Learning Outcomes

Critical thinking

• Apply a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to the CAM field of study and practice.
• Examine and situate one’s own personal beliefs.
• Demonstrate openness to ideas and actions.
• Evaluate evidence, its sources, meanings and intentions.
• Identify, select, and sort relevant information in order to be able to describe, draw inferences, synthesize and validate that information.
• Identify and explain the ethical dimensions of professional conduct and practice.
• Critically reflect on the impacts and consequences of decisions and resulting actions.

Communication

• Articulate ideas and arguments effectively in oral and written formats.
• Demonstrate competence in interpersonal and intercultural communication skills.
• Critically analyze the influence of new, emergent and collaborative technologies on the CAM field of practice.
• Select and employ different communication mediums based on an assessment of the situation and context.

Research

• Illustrate the use and limitations of knowledge and theory in the field to professional CAM practice.
• Identify and explain the core concepts and constructs of research.
• Contribute to knowledge in the field of study or practice using systematic and recognized research design and methods.
• Critically evaluate the rigour and validity of information and academic materials.
• Recognize gaps in professional knowledge and seek out information to address deficiencies.

Knowledge

• Examine historic and contemporary understanding of the construct of conflict within and across cultures and societies.
• Situate, evaluate and apply evolving theories of conflict, conflict management practice, and alternative dispute resolution.
• Differentiate between the characteristics of inter-personal, intra-group and inter-group conflicts.
• Analyze and evaluate the origins, dynamics, and consequences of conflict within and between groups in diverse types of organizational settings.
• Apply a systemic approach to analyzing factors that prevent, mitigate, escalate, transform and resolve inter-group, multi-party and multi-stakeholder conflicts in organizational settings.
• Compare and critique tools, methods and strategies for conflict management practice and alternative dispute resolution practice in organizational settings.
• Analyze and evaluate the legal contexts, norms and values relevant to different fields of conflict management practice.
• Situate self in the context of systems and appraise the impact of assistance or intervention on the conflict system.
• Appraise the suitability of proposed or actual third-party conflict interventions.
• Identify and explain the implications and impact of engaging in conflict management for self, individuals, professionals and other stakeholders.

Professional skills & practices

• Apply systems thinking to the design of holistic conflict management and alternative dispute resolution processes for application in diverse organizational contexts.
• Compare, select, and utilize stakeholder mapping tools to support the design of conflict management processes.
• Select third-party intervention mechanisms demonstrating sensitivity to culture and context.
• Demonstrate advanced problem solving, facilitation and communication skills relevant to conflict management practice with a focus on their application in third-party intervention processes.
• Demonstrate basic competencies in a range of negotiation and mediation processes with individuals and groups, and the ability to adapt approaches to circumstances.
• Build conflict-sensitive capacity to enable others to promote conflict management practices.
• Formulate strategies for monitoring and evaluating third-party intervention processes.
• Appraise and demonstrate the characteristics of a reflective conflict management practitioner.
• Analyze and integrate ethical implications into third-party conflict intervention design and practice.