Many educational decisions are made on issues over which conflict occurs because of value differences among the groups involved. The decision-making model proposed here is a political or conflict model. It defines an organization as stable patterns of interactions between coalitions of groups having a collective identity and pursuing interests and…

This paper examines the Ardrey Concept of territoriality -- that in his dealing with others, man is driven by a "territorial imperative" -- for its possible relevance to the design of more powerful conflict theories of organization. The importance of territoriality is explored as a conceivable precondition necessary to eventual understanding. An…

Full study of small group communication must include consideration of task and socio-emotional dimensions, especially in relation to group problem solving. Thirty small groups were tested for their reactions in various "ad hoc" conflict resolution situations. Instructions to the groups were (1) no problem-solving instructions (control),…

In this report, the author discusses public employee negotiation legislation, issues and the basic law in negotiations, approaches and alternatives to bargaining, the negotiation process, and areas of special concern in negotiation. He concludes that one of the most important skills an administrator of the future might possess is a skill in…

This document reports on a study conducted in six European countries -- Denmark, England, France, Norway, Scotland, and Sweden -- and suggests ways to implement Statewide negotiations in the United States. The author first provides an overview of negotiations in the United States and then gives a country-by-country analysis of salary negotiations.…

This book is divided into three parts. Part I discusses the art of Group Conversation per se. It is the art of face-to-face sharing of meaningful experiences--such as memories of Christmas as a child--in a spontaneous atmosphere that quickly breaks down hostilities and produces rapport. Part II discusses the techniques of this art. Basically,…

This paper describes the Parent Effectiveness Training (PET) Program and points out its specific implications for foster parents. The role of a foster parent is extremely difficult, and there is a need for training foster parents to become more effective which, in turn, will have positive effects upon foster children. The PET program, developed in…

Assuming that pacifist and ROTC allegiances are associated with differing basic orientations toward mankind and differing preferences for resolution of international conflict, the Worldmindedness Scale and the peace proposal preference procedures (developed by cooperating participants in the international survey "Images of the Year 2000") were…

The purposes of this paper are at least threefold: (1) to identify and explain mediation as a process constituting a deliberate set of sequential acts and nonacts as an appropriate means for peaceful, impartial crisis resoluation of inter racial violence between/among students in secondary public schools; (2) to present mediation as a viable…

Enduring resolution of conflict is not so much the result of clever tricks as of the state of mind of superintendents, school boards, teachers, students, and citizens and of the organizational climate of the schools and the community. It is important to view conflict in neutral terms, realizing that conflict may be good or bad. Effective…

The procedural details of three measures of family problem-solving behavior are presented. These measures are used to code videotapes that are recorded when family members discuss and try to solve a family problem that they consider important. The measures were developed to accompany methods for training parents and their preadolescent and…

This paper summarizes the proceedings of a seminar concerning the mediation of environmental disputes, conducted by the Center for Research in Scientific Communication at the University of Minnesota, Saint Paul. Keynote speaker Gerald Cormick, Director of the Office of Environmental Mediation in Seattle, addressed the problems of the mediator's…

The "Advocacy" planning game is intended to include the public in decision-making in the schools, as well as to educate the participants about pertinent solutions to students' needs. This planning game is predicated on the assumption that resources for education are limited and that, therefore, there must be a mechanism for determining school…

Presents background information on creative and destructive conflict between and among nations, treaty negotiations, political decision making, environmental conflicts, and research and training in conflict resolution. Suggestions for individual and group involvement are presented. (DB)

The author describes a meeting at which he and his students jointly set classroom roles agreeable to everyone. He used the no-lose method of problem solving, posited by Dr. Thomas Gordon, author of Parent Effectiveness Training. The six steps of the method are elucidated. (SJL)