Articles
Max H. Bazerman and Deepak Malhotra
Working Knowledge for Business Leaders, Harvard Business School, July 31, 2006
This article deals with building awareness of when instinct can undermine effectiveness.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5465.html
Tamara Traubman
Haaretz Daily Newspaper – Israel – April 2006
This article covers the introduction of new methodologies by Israeli Universities for selecting medical students. The selection criteria place more emphasis on intangible strengths such as empathy and compassion than ever before.
Indigenous Facilitation and Mediation Project Native Title Research Unit
Australian Institute Of Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Studies
Building Indigenous Capacity in Consultation, Negotiation and Agreement-Brokering: The Need for Procedural Expertise
Excerpt:
Focussing prematurely on what needs to be done to resolve matters without building [Indigenous] capacity to negotiate or to become genuinely informed about issues may mean that vital elements are missing from any agreement or solution. When agreements break down, those involved invariably blame each other. This may further undermine [Indigenous] capacity, and relationships within and between [Indigenous] communities and with those with whom they are negotiating. Procedural assistance provided by skilled, responsive and local practitioners, enables both government and Indigenous communities to slow down processes to ensure that what is required to get them to the necessary position to being able to negotiate effectively takes place.
And
The procedural expert frees those who need to negotiate to focus solely upon their substantive issues and needs. It is often more productive if there is one person whose sole responsibility is to manage the negotiation process and who remains alert to miscommunications, monitors how to manage them and acts as a ‘circuit-breaker’ without being seen as a stakeholder in particular solutions or outcomes.
http://ntru.aiatsis.gov.au
Traditional Ways of Resolving Conflict among Indigenous People
A Lesson on Clan Conflict Resolution in the Philippines (2005)
Dr. Ofelia Durante
Director of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University Research Center
Excerpt:
Ways of settling clan conflict among Islamized Filipinos (Moro):
Clan conflicts are resolved using the traditional method of mediation, not through the modern Western-generated judicial system. The strategy of getting common senior relatives to serve as mediators capitalizes on the value of inter-relatedness which is anchored on the ideological concept of pehak (literally, the eggs or gonads of a fish). The involved family heads (kamattoahan) and these relatives, particularly those who command respect and are known for their high sense of fairness are tapped as ‘go-between’ and ‘feelers’.
The community’s council of elders may also be engaged as mediators. The council which is either formally organized or identified as the need arises is composed of traditional & religious leaders, imams, barangay officials, elderly and other respected and prominent persons from the government and the private sector.
Books
Many sites provide good if basic reading lists. I do not seek to replicate rather offer some lesser known materials or indeed very new books which I feel add to the understanding of mediation and potential avenues to practicing mediators to extend their skills and approaches beyond 'competent'.
Managing Conflict through Communication
Dudley D. Cahn and Ruth Anna Abigail
Third Edition
Publisher: Pearson Education Inc 2007
ISBN 9780205458806 (from 2007)
ISBN 0-205-45880-7
This is an expensive book (but worth the investment I think). You can find previous editions under the title of Conflict: From Theory to Action by Roxanne S Lulofs and Dudley D Cahn.
The book deals with interpersonal conflict, the inevitability of conflict and usefully describes the differences between styles, strategies and tactics for dealing with conflict. One of the most interesting parts for me was the section on the type of metaphors used by people to describe conflict: either their own or others and how that gives you clues to their psychological approach to conflict. This perspective happily supports the results and insights of my own research over the past 10 years which finds wider expression in the work I do in Italy around the role of Storygardens and storytelling in conflict resolution. www.carmenvia.com/storygarden1.html.
The book also gives abundant references to other papers and articles which provide further substance on certain points.
Improvisational Negotiation
Jeffrey Krivis
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
ISBN 9780787980382 (from 2007)
ISBN 0-7879-8038-2
For those who enjoy ‘war stories’ this book is about mediations and the strategies that helped to reach agreement. I found it very enjoyable and he provides an excellent blueprint that many might find useful for reviewing mediations and getting the best out of understanding them.
The Therapeutic Corporation
James Tucker
Publisher: Oxford University Press. New York. 1999.
This is a very interesting if rather scholarly work which explores the way in which conflict management is changing within organisations. Particularly relevant is the observation on the role of mediation in the postbureaucratic organisation.
Excerpt: Also significant are the presence and location of higher-ranking third parties who may intervene as settlement agents ( Black and Baumgartner, 1983:113; Black, 1984:24, 1990:56-58, 1995:836). If third parties are present and are elevated above and socially distant from equal adversaries, conflict may ultimately be handled through nonpartisan settlement ( Black, 1990:56-58). As noted earlier, Blackian theory predicts that settlement becomes more authoritative as vertical, cultural, and relational distance between third parties and adversaries increase ( Black and Baumgartner, 1983:113; Black, 1984:24, 1990:56-58, 1995: 836).
Recall, too, that the authoritativeness of settlement also varies directly with the social distance between the adversaries themselves ( Black, 1995:835). Thus, when equals are homogenous and intimate, and the distance between them and their superiors is small, both vengeance and settlement should be uncommon. According to Blackian theory, lateral conflict is, instead, handled by the adversaries themselves in a peaceful manner with an emphasis on informality, compromise, voluntariness, and helpfulness ( Black, 1995:836). Superiors may become involved, but their participation is generally limited to a mediator role. Rather than impose an outcome or even evaluate the merits of cases, mediators simply help parties resolve their own differences (Black and Baumgartner, 1983:100-102).
This book can be viewed on www.questia.com. This is a subscription service for books, articles and magazines. There is a free introductory time period.
Recommended Book:
Butterworths Mediators on Mediation: leading mediator perspectives on the practice of commercial mediation
A collection of personal accounts from 20 UK and international commercial mediators. This book provides a fascinating insight into this powerful process and will enlighten and inspire mediators, legal practitioners, and all other professionals involved in the mediation process.
Amanda Bucklow is a contributor to this book.
Click here to read a Review by Robin Bramley LL.B. Dip. Arb. MCIArb. F.R.I.C.S.
Non-violence – The History of a Dangerous Idea
Mark Kurlansky
Publisher Jonathan Cape 2006
ISBN 9780224077910 (from 2007)
ISBN 0-224-07791-0
This is a thought-provoking study on the history of non-violence. Amongst other things, Kurlansky proposes that non-violence is a persistent value for human beings and which was originally the essence of most, if not all, religions (belief systems). Once the faith became a powerful influence for the community it was adopted by state/subjected to political interference thereby fundamentally changing its nature including eradication of the non-violent element.
I am sure that many will disagree with Kurlansky on some of his points by challenging the detail of history. However, his points are well made and bring together a huge portfolio of historical and cultural understanding which by definition sits uncomfortably with the concept of absolute truth.
On Dialogue
David Bohm
Edited by Lee Nichol
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN 9780415149129 (from 2007)
ISBN 0-415-14912-6
This is one of my favourite books. Partly because it says so much that is useful in such a small space and partly because it is written by a scientist which makes an interesting perspective.
The two most thought provoking chapters for me are:
The Problem and the Paradox: In essence, therefore, what is needed is to go on with life in its wholeness and entirety, but with sustained, serious, careful attention to the fact that the mind, through centuries of conditioning, tends, for the most part, to be caught in paradoxes, and to mistake the resulting difficulties for problems. Pg 68
And
Participatory Thought and the Unlimited: Participatory thought is a different way of perceiving and thinking, and that is the way we were for more or less a million years. In the last five thousand years we have turned it around, and our present language says. “That is all nonsense. We won’t pay attention to that at all.” This kind of thought, which we largely favour nowadays, has been called “literal thought.” Pg 85
The Art of War
Sun Tzu
The Denma Translation
Publisher: Shambhala Library
ISBN: 9781570629785 (from 2007)
ISBN: 1-57062-978-1
Although the book is very well known this is a brand new translation which took ten years to complete. There are some extremely interesting essays and commentaries on the text which help the reader to see the content within a contemporary context. Highly recommended.
