Abstractions and Generalizations — What Every Mediator Should Know
Introduction People use abstraction and generalization to order the world around them. They develop and rank categories, and use those categories—good person/bad person—to evaluate and interact with others. I think of these personalized categories as “hierarchies of abstraction” and have learned from experience that the better I understand them, the more effective I become as […]
The Cybernetics of Dispute
The Cybernetics of Dispute Imagine a hypothetical social system in equilibrium. We already know that there will be no conflicts being perceived by any member of this system, because the whole social system is in equilibrium, (refer to The State of No Conflict); however, members of this system are human individuals, and they are indeed […]
Transformational Process Design for Dispute Resolution
Introduction Before any dispute resolution process is designed or implemented, there should be a planning process to avoid surprises and pitfalls and minimize the risk of failure. Without advanced planning, there is no direction to go towards, no priorities to focus limited resources on, and no sense of progress and achievement. On the other hand, […]