The Conflict Paradox

The Conflict Paradox

by Bernard S. Mayer
Released January 2015
Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9781118852910

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Book description

Find the roadmap to the heart of the conflict

The Conflict Paradox is a guide to taking conflict to a more productive place. Written by one of the founders of the professional conflict management field and co-published with the American Bar Association, this book outlines seven major dilemmas that conflict practitioners face every day. Readers will find expert guidance toward getting to the heart of the conflict and will be  challenged to adopt a new way to think about the choices disputants face,.  They will also be offered practical tools and techniques for more successful intervention. Using stories, experiences, and reflective exercises to bring these concepts to life, the author provides actionable advice for overcoming roadblocks to effective conflict work.

Disputants and interveners alike are often stymied by what appear to be unacceptable alternatives,. The Conflict Paradox offers a new way of understanding and working with these so that they become not obstacles but opportunities for helping people move through conflict successfully..

  • Examine the contradictions at the center of almost all conflicts
  • Learn how to bring competition and cooperation, avoidance and engagement,  optimism and realism together to make for more power conflict intervention
  • Deal effectively with the tensions between emotions, and logic, principles and compromise, neutrality and advocacy, community and autonomy   
  • Discover the tools and techniques that make conflicts less of a hurdle to overcome and more of an opportunity to pursue

Conflict is everywhere, and conflict intervention skills are valuable far beyond the professional and legal realms. With insight and creativity, solutions are almost always possible. For conflict interveners and disputants looking for an effective and creative approach to understanding and working with conflict , The Conflict Paradox  provides a powerful and important roadmap for conflict intervention.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright
  3. Dedication
  4. Preface
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Chapter One: The Art of Conflict
    1. What We Bring to the Table and What the Table Brings to Us
    2. How Contradictions Make Us Who We Are
    3. A Developmental Perspective
    4. How Conflict Promotes Less Complex Thinking—and Simpler Thinking Promotes Conflict
    5. How We Promote More Complex Thinking
    6. Reflections from Practice
  7. Chapter Two: Competition and Cooperation
    1. Influential Approaches to Cooperation and Competition
    2. The Evolution of Cooperation
    3. Evolutionary Lessons from the Prisoner's Dilemma
    4. Limits of the Prisoner's Dilemma
    5. A New Approach to Cooperation and Competition
    6. Reflections for Practice
  8. Chapter Three: Optimism and Realism
    1. The Faces of Optimism and Realism
    2. Optimism and Realism: The Emotional Dimension
    3. Embracing Uncertainty: Realistic Thoughts, Optimistic Attitudes
    4. The Ethics of Optimism and Realism
    5. Integrating Optimism and Realism, Clarity and Doubt
    6. Further Reflections from Practice
  9. Chapter Four: Avoidance and Engagement
    1. The Dimensions of Avoidance and Engagement
    2. Behavioral Elements of Avoidance and Engagement
    3. Emotional Elements of Avoidance and Engagement
    4. Attitudinal Aspects of Avoidance and Engagement
    5. Avoiding and Preventing, Engaging and Escalating
    6. The Ethical Challenge
    7. The Conflict Specialist's Challenge
    8. Reflections from Practice
  10. Chapter Five: Principle and Compromise
    1. Principle Without Compromise Is Seldom Principled
    2. Principles Are Pragmatic
    3. The Power of Principle and Compromise
    4. Values, Interests, and Resources
    5. Compromising with Evil
    6. Reflections from Practice
  11. Chapter Six: Emotions and Logic
    1. The Response of Conflict Specialists to the Emotion–Logic Paradox
    2. Emotions, Logic, and Decision Making
    3. Emotions and Logic in Conflict Work
    4. What We Feel, How We Think
    5. Gender and Culture, Emotions and Logic
    6. Reflections from Practice
  12. Chapter Seven: Neutrality and Advocacy
    1. What We Mean by Neutrality
    2. The Dimensions of Advocacy
    3. The Advocate's Skills
    4. Susskind and Stulberg: A Classic Debate on Neutrality and Advocacy
    5. The Advocate Neutral
    6. (Further) Reflections from Practice and Life
  13. Chapter Eight: Community and Autonomy
    1. Identity, Community, Autonomy
    2. Integrating Community and Autonomy: The Challenge for Conflict Interveners
    3. Reflections from Practice (and Life)
  14. Chapter Nine: The Conflict Dialectic: Better Paradoxes, Better Conflict
    1. Paradox as a Method
    2. Other Paradoxes
    3. Overlaps and Synergies
    4. Society's Essential Paradoxes
    5. Final Reflections (and a Final Paradox)
  15. References
  16. Index
  17. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: The Conflict Paradox
  • Author(s): Bernard S. Mayer
  • Release date: January 2015
  • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
  • ISBN: 9781118852910