Negotiation and Dispute Resolution

The Required reading for the pre-module assignment is as indicated above – namely: Fisher et al, Beyond Machiavelli: Tools for Coping with Conflict; and prescribed extracts from Moore The Mediation Process: Practical Strategies for Resolving Conflict. The goal of this exercise is to introduce you to realities and perceptions about conflict – why conflicts arise in reality and what participants commonly perceive about them. Unravelling the confusion within conflict provides a key to resolving it. 1. For the pre-module assignment you are asked to imagine that you represent a client (i.e., a specific individual in a key stakeholder group) in a contentious issue that is being, or will soon be, negotiated. The issue is to be one of your own choosing, real or imaginary, and should be one which you can closely and personally relate to, ideally from your professional or career activity, though that is not essential – but a conflict that has in reality already been resolved is not acceptable for this exercise. Describe the background to the conflict in a brief note of one page or less – who are the parties; who else is involved; what is the issue; what is at stake? 2. Next, you are asked to analyse the conflict from two perspectives based on the prescribed reading. First, you are asked to analyse the conflict in terms of the Causes of Conflict that Moore describes at Figure 2.1 of The Mediation Process. Compile a table or a list of the possible causes, and note briefly your thoughts on which of them are most likely to be at play in this scenario. Then analyse your conflict in the light of Beyond Machiavelli, especially pages 22-31, and prepare a “Partisan Perceptions Chart” for your client and at least one other party in the conflict. 3. Finally, reflect on what you have done and in no more than a couple of sentences state whether the exercise has altered how you might approach negotiating the issue and explain why you think that is the case.