Engaging Communication in Conflict: Systemic Practice / Edition 1

by Stephen W. Littlejohn, Kathy L. Isaacson

Overview

Written from the authors' experience in conflict intervention in their private consulting practice, Engaging Communication in Conflict uses a communication perspective to address insights and methods in private mediation, small group facilitation, system design, large-scale interventions, and public-issue management. This book offers encouragement for a world sometimes overwhelmed by conflict and presents an expanded and pragmatic definition of peace.

Stephen Littlejohn and Kathy Domenici discuss numerous methods and principles in conflict resolution. They explore transformative mediation, the team mediation system, assessment and evaluation, systemic design, gaming methodology, issue framing and public deliberation, study circles, dialogue groups, and many other interventions. These methods and principles are adapted from a spectrum of theory and practice and include fresh and innovative approaches designed by the authors and their colleagues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761921868
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	08/30/2000
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Stephen Littlejohn (Ph.D., University of Utah), is a conflict management consultant, mediator, facilitator, and trainer. He is consultant for the Public Dialogue Consortium and a partner in Domenici Littlejohn, Inc. Stephen is co-author of Moral Conflict: When Social Worlds Collide (Sage, 1997) and has written numerous other books and articles on communication and conflict. He was a professor of communication at Humboldt State University in California and is currently Adjunct Professor of Communication and Journalism at the University of New Mexico. He has done research on mediation and conflict management for 19 years and has been an active mediator for eight. Stephen has been a consultant for such clients as the Waco Youth Summit, the Alliance for Constructive Communication, the City of Cupertino, Columbia Basin College, and Washington State University.

Kathy Domenici (M.A., University of New Mexico) is a partner in Domenici Littlejohn, Inc. and a project consultant for the Public Dialogue Consortium. A consultant since 1990, Kathy is a conflict-management specialist, mediator, facilitator, and trainer. She founded the Mediation Clinic at the University of New Mexico and now specializes in designing high-level strategy and leadership processes. Kathy has worked on behalf of such clients as Eastman Kodak, The President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure, Sandia National Laboratories, Lockheed Martin, and the Kellogg Foundation.

Table of Contents

PART ONE: BASIC COMMITMENTS
Constructing Conflict
Dialogue
PART TWO: CONFLICT IN SMALL SYSTEMS
Mediating Private Systems
Working with Groups and Teams
PART THREE: MOVING TO MORE COMPLEX SYSTEMS
Constructing Conflict Management Systems
Large Scale Interventions
Working with Public Issues
PART FOUR: TOWARDS BETTER SOCIAL WORLDS
A Conversation with Friends

Editorial Reviews

The two New Mexican mediators and conflict management consultants draw on their personal experience to examine methods of private mediation, small group facilitation, system design, large-scale interventions, and public issue management. They also discuss the underlying methods and principles in conflict resolution, such as transformative mediation, the team mediation system, assessment and evaluation, systemic design, gaming methodology, and study circles. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews