Conflict Resolution

The twelve essays collected here offer a wide-ranging look at the latest theory and research in conflict management. Organized around six broad topical areas, the volume explores organizational conflict, communication and conflict, negotiation and bargaining, mediation and arbitration, conflict in the public sector, and international conflict. Interdisciplinary in scope, the essays are designed to help human resource professionals, industrial psychologists and managers learn to manage conflict by identifying ways to maximize its positive effects while minimizing its negative and potentially disruptive influences.

Over the past 20 years, informal dispute resolution has played an increasingly important role in the way people handle their conflicts. Mediators are said to act as neutral third parties who "empower" disputants to negotiate their own mutually acceptable agreement. Shailor proposes a definition of empowerment in which communication is the primary social process, the ongoing symbolic interaction which not only reflects reality, but constitutes it. Using this definition, he analyzes the process of empowerment by examining the verbal and nonverbal interactions in three mediation cases, identifying the patterns of communication through which empowerment does or does not occur. Shailor concludes that mediators need to develop a more sophisticated understanding of their interactions with disputants, including an understanding of the ways that mediators can become enmeshed in the disputants' ongoing struggles.

This unique collection of comparable case studies addresses the need to assess modes of conflict resolution in a larger sociocultural context with attention to varying approaches and cultural perspectives. Editors Avruch, Black, and Scimecca, along with other anthropologists and sociologists, propose and test different propositions, while looking toward a general theory of conflict and conflict resolution. They offer a broad range of vantage points for considering conflict resolution in five different cultures. Conflict resolution is seen as an emerging discipline.

This volume represents an important new step forward in the fields of conflict resolution and peace studies. Its essays argue that, while conflict resolution is well equipped to bring about temporary settlements and brief periods of peace in volatile situations, conventional conflict resolution techniques are not capable of building long-term stability. Instead, the authors contend, practitioners of conflict resolution need to focus more on reconciliation (the restoration of confidence, friendship, and harmony between rivals) than on mere conflict resolution. Whereas traditional conflict resolution has focused primarily on halting quarrels with agreements between leaders on each side of a conflict, reconciliation techniques shift the focus in two ways. First, they take more of a grassroots approach, building agreement among the members of rival communities, not only between leaders. Second, reconciliation takes a long-term view of dispute resolution. While the authors acknowledge that the role of traditional conflict resolution is important in stopping violence and tension, they argue that, in order to achieve stable peace, negotiators and practitioners of conflict resolution must focus much more on what is to be done after an agreement among leaders is reached.

The burgeoning of court litigation and the resulting logjams in the judicial system have spawned new ways for attorneys and their clients to resolve disputes quickly and at a lower cost. Alternative dispute resolution is one important way of doing this. Editors Nagel and Mills, along with their contributors, explore the theory and practice of this technique. They demonstrate how to clarify, understand and develop the various options available under alternative dispute resolution, and how to evaluate the probable outcomes. Among the tools available to facilitate dispute resolution are microcomputer-based, rule-based expert systems and, for specific fields of dispute, decision-aiding software.

This book follows an approach that combines the viewpoints of both the realists and the idealists in dealing with the issues of conflict and peace. The ideas, models, and peace processes it proposes take into consideration the imperatives of real life without abandoning the dreams of a more peaceful and just world. The shared homeland model, as developed here, provides hope that ethnic conflict can be resolved in a manner that satisfies a group's need for recognition and cultural particularism, as well as its need for economic development, security, and regional activity. The book also defines and integrates steps of political conflict resolution into one theory that produces one of the first textbooks on the subject.

Rather than mark the end of conflict, the end of World War II began a half century of ideological, political, military and economic struggles, many with century-old antecedents. This work brings together in encyclopedic format most of the major events of the last half century that can be classified as conflict. While war is the ultimate conflict, the volume includes assassinations, coups, insurgency, terrorism, massacres, and genocide. It provides detailed information on the people, places and events that have produced conflict and its resolution since 1945.

"The breadth of this book is astounding-they have taken so much of what mediators do and put it all into just this one book." -Diane Neumann, diane neumann&associates, divorce mediation services What is mediation and why is it needed? Who can become a mediator? How can you incorporate mediation into your practice? Are there any pitfalls? The Practitioner's Guide to Mediation answers all of these critical questions and much more as it guides you through the process of breaking into this lucrative field. Written by the leading experts on the subject and founders of the Erickson Mediation Institute, this practical guidebook will provide you with all the information you'll need to incorporate mediation into your existing range of services and build a successful practice. Packed with helpful advice and tips, Erickson and McKnight clearly show you how to confidently mediate family, divorce, and workplace disputes. They also take you step-by-step through their client-centered approach so that you can develop new ways of thinking to resolve conflicts that will benefit everyone.

"Filippo Aureli and Frans De Waal have succeeded in cross-fertilizing fields as disparate as ethology and medieval law to create a rich new field of research -- natural conflict resolution. It makes one see conflict resolution among humans through a new and fascinating lens. This is a landmark contribution!"--William Ury, co-author "Getting to YES, author of "Getting Past No and "Getting to Peace

This volume represents an important new step forward in the fields of conflict resolution and peace studies. Its essays argue that, while conflict resolution is well equipped to bring about temporary settlements and brief periods of peace in volatile situations, conventional conflict resolution techniques are not capable of building long-term stability. Instead, the authors contend, practitioners of conflict resolution need to focus more on reconciliation (the restoration of confidence, friendship, and harmony between rivals) than on mere conflict resolution. Whereas traditional conflict resolution has focused primarily on halting quarrels with agreements between leaders on each side of a conflict, reconciliation techniques shift the focus in two ways. First, they take more of a grassroots approach, building agreement among the members of rival communities, not only between leaders. Second, reconciliation takes a long-term view of dispute resolution. While the authors acknowledge that the role of traditional conflict resolution is important in stopping violence and tension, they argue that, in order to achieve stable peace, negotiators and practitioners of conflict resolution must focus much more on what is to be done after an agreement among leaders is reached.

Offering a new perspective, the authors show how efforts to prevent violent civil wars could be much more effective if they incorporate the business sector.

Power struggles are a common occurrence in everyday life, affecting individuals in every stage of life. Those involved in conflicts often have no idea how to resolve them. This book discusses the "hows" and "whys" of conflict and provides easy-to-use solutions for most situations, and its focus is on the role of emotion. According to the authors, conflict results from the way in which one views one's personal power, views largely influenced by personal emotions. The authors, therefore, begin by a close consideration of personal emotions. They offer ways to pinpoint emotions and understand how they bring about the classic roles of the conflict scenario: Victim, Persecutor, Instigator, and Rescuer. The authors examine how emotions can serve productive purposes and how they can be used to minimize and eliminate serious conflict. The text includes vignettes, anecdotes, personal inventories, illustrations, and concrete exercises.