In Dispute

Conflict.  For school leaders, it appears to be everywhere, every day, and seems to be an inevitable part of the human experience, particularly in the life of schools. After all, no two people are alike, and we all have varying interests, likes, perceptions and perspectives on experience. The law and legal processes, collective bargaining agreements, cultural mores and customs, policies and procedures; all exist to help manage this conflict, whether it is between individuals, business entities, public organizations or the government.

My professional work in public and higher education, including 15 years as a public high school principal and superintendent, led me to pursue the study of law in an effort to better understand both the nature of conflict and, more importantly, how conflict can be managed and the “rules” governing how conflict is managed in our society via the legal system. Much of what I have learned has proven to be extremely useful to me. However, what I have also discovered is that outside the formal realm of law and the courts, other processes and approaches to conflict management exist. These are closely connected to the law and derive their processes, theories and language directly from law and precedent. In many cases, these processes and procedures may be more fitting for, or at least should be precursors of, participation in the formal legal process when conflict arises in the arena in which school leaders work.  This book will focus on these issues, specifically looking at the field of mediation as it relates to the legal process and how it might be utilized as an alternative in dispute resolution situations.  It will delve deeper, however, looking in addition at how we think; how individuals as collectives and as particular human beings process their experiences and thus how we might learn how to better manage conflict in our daily work lives.  Drawing specifically upon the literature on conflict resolution, negotiation and emotional intelligence as well as recently popular business literature, this work will attempt to take a comprehensive look at conflict as a part of the lifeworld and systemsworlds of schools and school leadership in order to provide a set of lenses through which one can begin to make sense of these experiences and to better deal with the conflict that inevitably arises in the daily business of running schools.

This study shall begin with a brief consideration of the nature of conflict and will then look at mediation as a dispute resolution mechanism, defining relevant terms and articulating the general outline of the discipline.  We’ll then look at recent advances in cognitive theory, particularly as it is drawn from the literature on general business, to gain perspective on one’s own individual, unique decision-making processes and how they can be improved to better handle conflict situations that school leaders encounter on a daily basis.  This is not intended to be a “cook book” on how to make perfect decisions, as I don’t believe such a process exists, but will instead offer guideposts and opportunities for reflection about how to improve decision making processes in situations that involve conflict, whether they be difficulties between parents and teachers, teachers and administrators, superintendents and school boards, or in general any of the myriad situations that school leaders face in the daily discharge of their duties.  This book will not attempt to solve all the problems that our schools face, but will hopefully serve as a problem-solving manual for those who would use it.

We’ll conclude with thoughts on how conflict resolution processes may lead to better and more positive outcomes when conflict does arise, and how self-awareness of our own thought processes in situations of conflict might steer us toward better solutions and hence, greater effectiveness as school leaders.