Today is July 4, Independence Day, and my thoughts turn to the relationship between mediation and independence. No, I don’t believe that mediation would have resolved the dispute between England and the Colonies. Nor does it seem likely that mediators could have prevented the Revolutionary War with a mediated resolution. Conflict resolution does have its […]
Read more...As I wrote about last time, last Wednesday’s New York Times Food section included an article titled “Ex-Partners Fight to Separate the Ingredients”. In it, Glenn Collins chronicled the business divorce ending the BLT restaurant empire partnership between Jimmy Haber and Laurent Tourondel. It’s hardly news that business partnerships can be tough and that the […]
Read more...Last Wednesday’s New York Times Food section included an article titled “Ex-Partners Fight to Separate the Ingredients”. In it, Glenn Collins chronicled the business divorce ending the BLT restaurant empire partnership between Jimmy Haber and Laurent Tourondel. It’s hardly news that business partnerships can be tough and that the restaurant business is nearly always tough. […]
Read more...At the conference presented last week by the New England Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution (NE-ACR), several speakers discussed theories about why we think and do the things that we think and do. Some ideas seemed almost obvious and others were counter-intuitive. Most, if not all, of these presentations were made in the […]
Read more...Tomorrow and Saturday, the New England Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution (NE-ACR) presents its 2011 regional conference: “Brainstorming: Conflict Resolution from the Inside Out.” Friday features a full day of workshops. A master class on “Understanding and Managing Conflict in Work Teams” will be presented by Eben Weitzman on Saturday. Events both days […]
Read more...Last time I wrote about the concept of the ombuds (or ombudsman or ombudsperson.) Traditionally, the ombuds serves as an all-around dispute resolution specialist in an organization: corporate (whether for-profit or not-for-profit), academic, or government agency. One of the great advantages of mediation and related approaches to voluntary conflict resolution is their flexibility. Because the […]
Read more...Last time I wrote about an online article from the UK describing a mediator making awards and compelling “settlements” — concepts foreign to mediation in the U.S. That same article referred to a financial “ombudsman”, and the term seemed to be used interchangeably with “mediator”. In this country, the concept of an ombuds (the term […]
Read more...Until they have a specific reason to find out exactly what mediation means, many people have only a vague idea about it. Sometimes, people think that a mediator can force the parties into a settlement, and that perception can be more than enough reason to steer clear of mediation. The headline of a recent article […]
Read more...Joe Brummer, the associate executive director of Community Mediation, Inc., a New Haven, CT non-profit, was featured in the New Haven Register last week. In “A little mediation goes a long way”, Jim Shelton aptly described Joe as a “master mediator” who says: “We can mediate anything.” Though Joe has been a mediator for years, […]
Read more...Earlier this month, at the NE-ACR (New England Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution) annual meeting in Wellesley, MA, I was elected Secretary. NE-ACR’s mission is to connect and support conflict resolution practitioners and scholars in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut and improve the practice and public understanding of their […]
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