Home / Skills For Resolving Conflict – 2nd Edition

  • Skills For Resolving Conflict – 2nd Edition

    Eleanor Wertheim, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., is a Professor in the School of Psychological Science at La Trobe University, Bundoora where she co-ordinates the Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology, and teaches therapy skills to professional psychology students. She teaches negotiation in the La Trobe School of Law and Legal Studies and in numerous workshops and programs for helping professionals, the community, UN staff and international diplomats. Dr. Wertheim has been national convenor of Psychologists for the Promotion of World Peace. In 2004 she received an Australian Award for University Teaching (Category 1) and the Australian Psychological Society Excellence in Teaching Award. Her current research includes forgiveness processes and evaluating conflict resolution programs.

     

    Tony Love, B.A. (Hons.), M.A., Dip.Ed., Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor in the School of Psychological Science at La Trobe University, Bendigo, where he is Director of Regional Programs. In addition to co-ordinating and teaching in undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology at La Trobe, he has taught a variety of workshops on conflict resolution and parent-adolescent conflict. Dr. Love has been part of a multi-disciplinary research team examining mediation and Family Conferencing in the field of family law. He has also conducted research into parent-adolescent conflict, negotiation, alcohol dependence and parent-offender reconciliation.

     


    Connie Peck, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., A.O., is currently the Principal Coordinator of the Programme in Peacemaking and Preventive Diplomacy at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research in Geneva where she provides training to UN staff and diplomats in conflict prevention and resolution. Previously, Dr. Peck served as a Special Consultant to the Australian Foreign Minister and as a Reader in the School of Behavioural Science at La Trobe University. She was the founding Chairperson of the La Trobe University Institute for Peace Research and founded Psychologists for the Prevention of War. She is the author of numerous books and articles on conflict resolution.

     


    Lyn Littlefield, B.Sc., B.B.Sc. (Hons), Dip.Ed., M.Psych., Ph.D., O.A.M., is the Executive Director of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and an adjunct Professor at La Trobe University . A major component of her role at the APS involves negotiation with Government and other entities. She also has extensive experience serving on boards of organisations and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Institute of Management. Previously Professor Littlefield was the inaugural Director of the Victorian Parenting Centre, and an academic the School of Psychological Science at La Trobe University. Her teaching and research areas included conflict resolution in families, organisations and the community.

    Add this to your Shopping Cart




    Skills for Resolving Conflict, 2E
    2nd Edition, Eruditions Publishing, Melbourne, 2006.
    Papercover, 334 pages, 180 mm x 250 mm.
    ISBN 978-186491013-1 RRP AU$ 59.95
    [Postage/Handling: Within Australia AU$15; International, AU$25 Air Mail]





  • Description

    Skills for Resolving Conflict, Second Edition is a practical textbook for any tertiary course or workshop on negotiation skills, conflict management and conflict resolution. It is also ideal for individuals wishing to improve their own skills, and for businesses aiming to enhance team building or negotiation approaches. The book provides a detailed description of how to resolve conflict using a co-operative problem-solving approach in both interpersonal and workplace settings. It guides readers through a step-by-step process, starting with basic concepts and skills and moving on to more advanced ones. Exercises are included to encourage the application of concepts to real life situations.

    The Second Edition has been carefully up-dated and revised, and includes valuable new material on forgiveness and reconciliation. Numerous new business and workplace applications throughout the book are designed to illustrate the value of co-operative problem solving for business negotiation students. The new edition also includes fully up-dated references, important websites, and lists of related resources and conflict resolution programs.

    Skills for Resolving Conflict, Second Edition is a fully up-dated, improved edition of a unique and very successful contribution to the field of conflict resolution by four highly qualified and experienced authors.


    Add this to your Shopping Cart



    Skills for Resolving Conflict, 2E
    2nd Edition, Eruditions Publishing, Melbourne, 2006.
    Papercover, 334 pages, 180 mm x 250 mm.
    ISBN 978-186491013-1 RRP AU$ 59.95
    [Postage/Handling: Within Australia AU$15; International, AU$25 Air Mail]


  • Contents

    Preface Section A Approaches to Conflict

    • Chapter 1 Recognising Conflict and Conflict Management Styles
    • Chapter 2 How Conflict Escalates
    Section B The Co-operative Problem Solving Model and Basic Skills
    • Introduction
    • Chapter 3 Analysing the Conflict: Exploring Interests
    • Chapter 4 Delving Deeper into Interests
    • Chapter 5 Skills for Communicating
    • Chapter 6 Expanding the Options
    • Chapter 7 Reaching a Win-Win Solution
    • Chapter 8 Considering Alternatives to a Negotiated Agreement
    Section C Advanced Skills for Resolving Conflicts
    • Introduction
    • Chapter 9 Handling Emotions During Conflict
    • Chapter 10 Building Relationships
    • Chapter 11 Removing Blocks to Co-operative Negotiating
    • Chapter 12 Negotiating on the Basis of Guidelines
    • Chapter 13 Involving a Third Party
    • Chapter 14 Working with Organisational and Multi-party Disputes
    • Chapter 15 Training in the Conflict Resolution Model: Research Findings
    • Chapter 16 Conclusion: The Broader Social Context
    • Appendix A Exercise Answers
    • Appendix B Organisations Websites Contacts
    • References Index

    Add this to your Shopping Cart


    Skills for Resolving Conflict, 2E
    2nd Edition, Eruditions Publishing, Melbourne, 2006.
    Papercover, 334 pages, 180 mm x 250 mm.
    ISBN 978-186491013-1 RRP AU$ 59.95
    [Postage/Handling: Within Australia AU$15; International, AU$25 Air Mail]


  • Key Features

    • Fully up-dated and expanded
    • Uses a step by step process
    • Takes a co-operative problem solving approach
    • Builds from basic skills and concepts to more advanced
    • Practical, award winning, class-tested material
    • Includes real life situation exercises throughout
    • Examples and exercises from both workplace and interpersonal settings
    • Includes diagramatic models of co-operative conflict resolution
    • Fully referenced to academic literature
    • Includes research supporting the effectiveness of the approach
    • Covers topics such as conflict management styles, conflict escalation, finding win-win solutions, creatively expanding options, handling emotions during conflict, creating workable agreements, using third parties, multi-party and organisational conflict, and much more.

    • Includes new material on forgiveness and relationship building, research and evaluation of the model and expanded references and lists of contacts, websites and courses.

    • Additional business-related examples throughout for students of business negotiation.
    • All authors are well qualified practitioners of counselling and conflict resolution, teaching and working variously with families, business and the workplace, and in international relations.
    • The book is currently used in negotiation skills and conflict resolution courses across numerous disciplines.
    • Easy to read with humorous and personally relevant examples
    • A valuable win-win skills book, not a superficial cartoon hotch potch, or an  out-dated fixed-pie recipe book.

    Add this to your Shopping Cart



    Skills for Resolving Conflict, 2E
    2nd Edition, Eruditions Publishing, Melbourne, 2006.
    Papercover, 334 pages, 180 mm x 250 mm.
    ISBN 978-186491013-1 RRP AU$ 59.95
    [Postage/Handling: Within Australia AU$15; International, AU$25 Air Mail]


  • Preface

    Welcome to the Second Edition of Skills for Resolving Conflict. This book is designed to provide a detailed description of how to resolve conflict using a co-operative problem-solving approach. The method is designed to maximize the likelihood of arriving at a solution that meets the most important needs and concerns of all parties in a conflict. Since the first edition of the book was published, even more research has emerged confirming that people who have been trained using the ideas in this book are, indeed, able to negotiate conflicts more successfully, and find ways to resolve conflict that meet the needs of all the parties.

    Skills for Resolving Conflict, Second Edition, is specifically designed for use in contexts such as university courses and conflict resolution workshops. It includes an elaborated version of a conflict resolution model first described in the earlier book, I Win, You Win: How to Have Fewer Conflicts, Better Solutions and More Satisfying Relationships, by the same authors. Skills for Resolving Conflict covers additional topics, such as factors leading to escalation of disputes, perceptual processes linked to conflict, entrapment, issues of compliance with agreements, relationship building, repairing damaged relationships through restorative justice, and de-escalating conflict.

    This revised, second edition has a new chapter which describes recent research evaluating the effectiveness of the methods offered in this book (Chapter 15). The section on rebuilding relationships after conflict (Chapter 10) has been expanded, with recent research in the newly emerging field of ‘forgiveness’ and ‘reconciliation’ added. There are new business-related examples added throughout the book to make the book more relevant to students in business negotiation courses. In addition, the list of references and resources (in the Appendices) has been updated and expanded to include lists of conflict resolution organisations that might be useful contact points, related web sites, peace education courses and sources of educational materials that promote the ideas included in this book. Each chapter has been carefully revised, with new material added and more examples given to illustrate the ideas being outlined.

    Since Skills for Resolving Conflict, Second Edition, is designed to provide very practical conflict resolution skills in the most accessible manner, case examples are used throughout the text. These case examples are generally composite cases in which we have combined examples taken from our own experience or the experiences of people who have completed workshops and courses with us. Throughout, people’s names have been changed to preserve anonymity.

    In the basic skills chapters, these examples are generally simpler, two-party disputes. As the book progresses, the examples become more complex, ending with disputes where multiple parties are involved. Furthermore, many of the chapters end with exercises designed to help readers integrate skills into their own repertoire. The aim has been to produce a practical, evidence-based skills manual for improving conflict resolution through co-operative problem solving.

    Skills for Resolving Conflict, Second Edition is divided into three sections. In the first section (A), conflict is defined and common strategies for resolving conflict are discussed. The co-operative problem solving approach advocated in this book is placed in the context of other approaches to resolving conflicts. In addition, a model of escalation is presented. Escalation processes are described in an effort to increase the reader’s awareness of them and therefore avoid inadvertently escalating disputes.

      In the second section of the book (B) the basic skills for resolving conflicts using a co-operative problem solving approach are described. An overview model (presented at the beginning of the section) describes the ‘steps’ of the problem solving process and can be referred to throughout the section. Conflict resolution skills described include: analysing the conflict, defining the issues, identifying the parties, distinguishing positions and interests, examining deeper interests and needs, expanding the options, building options into win-win solutions, planning final agreements to maximise compliance, and considering alternatives to negotiated agreements.

    The third section of the book (C) describes more advanced skills and issues that arise during conflict. The section starts with a chapter on the importance of relationships during conflict. Ideas and skills are presented for building relationships, promoting positive feelings between parties, encouraging co-operation, and rebuilding damaged relationships. In the next chapter the role of more negative emotions is discussed including ideas on how to handle anger, fear and anxiety on the part of all parties. Problems that emerge when applying a co-operative problem solving approach are addressed, such as when others continue to negotiate in a unco-operative manner or use win-lose competitive tactics. The use of guidelines, based on distributive and procedural justice research, is discussed as an alternative form of conflict resolution, particularly important in the prevention of conflict. In addition, approaching conflict resolution by using a third party (e.g., mediation) is described. A final advanced skills chapter deals with multi-party disputes and focuses on organisational conflicts as the major examples. A more complex co-operative problem solving model for organisations is presented at that point. A new Chapter 15 describes recent research evaluating the effectiveness of the methods offered in this book. A concluding chapter deals with the broader social context for co-operative problem solving. Issues are addressed such as ways to integrate co-operative problem solving into societal approaches to conflicts, preventing disputes, and teaching people the skills from a young age.

    At the end of the book are references from the text, as well as a list of other books and articles that would be of use to any person interested in reading further in the conflict resolution field. Finally, an appendix includes a range of resources that can be used to find out about conflict resolution activities throughout Australia and internationally. Organisations, interesting websites and resource materials (such as conflict resolution posters and training materials) are listed and described.

    When this text is used as part of a course or workshop, the exercises can be used in several ways. One way is for students or workshop participants to form small groups to work on each of the exercises, first doing the exercise as a group, then debriefing in small groups and finally describing small group learnings in the larger group forum. In cases where ongoing sessions or classes are held, a powerful technique involves journal assignments. Students complete a series of journal assignments based on the same conflict over a period of weeks or months. The early journal assignments can focus on analysing the conflict and predicting problems in carrying through negotiations. Journals are handed in to the lecturer and individual feedback about the journals is given to prepare students for the next phase. The next journal assignment can deal with ways of overcoming blocks to negotiating. The final journal assignments can include descriptions of what occurred when actual negotiations were carried out and what was learned from those negotiations. Of course, in order for participants and students to make best use of these assignments and small group discussions, confidentiality needs to be discussed and guaranteed at an early stage so that information will not be disclosed to others.

    It is our experience that people learn most efficiently when they apply the ideas they read to situations in their own lives. Therefore, one of the best ways for students to read this book, is to choose a current conflict situation in their own lives and apply the ideas to that conflict as they read. Chapter 1 will provide ways to recognise situations in which co-operative problem solving could be useful. The ideas and exercises at the end of chapters can then be applied to that specific conflict or negotiation. It is hoped that Skills for Resolving Conflict, Second Edition will provide all readers with many useful ideas and skills to include in their future interactions and relationships.

    E.Wertheim, A.Love, C.Peck, L.Littlefield. February, 2006

  • Order Form

    HOW TO ORDER:
     

    Add this to your Shopping Cart



    All books will be despatched as soon as practical after your order is received.


    Trade enquiries welcome. Contact us by email.


    Eruditions Publishing
    PO Box 133 KALLISTA, Victoria, Australia 3791

    email: publisher@eruditions.com


  • Teaching a Course?

    Teaching a relevant course? Could this be your new textbook? Need a closer look?

    Contact us - Making sure you include the following details:


    1. Your name + department + institution
    2. Your address + email + phone number
    3. Your course name + enrolment + current text

    Contact Eruditions Here

     

    Email or Post your request to:


    Eruditions Publishing: PO Box 133, KALLISTA, Victoria, Australia 3791
     
    Email: publisher@eruditions.com