Fisher-Yoshida receives IACM Award
Dr. Beth Fisher-Yoshida received the award for Best Applied Conference Paper at the 2010 International Association for Conflict Management (IACM) Conference in Boston.
Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) as Reflective Practice for Conflict Resolution Practitioners
Abstract:
People in conflict need to trust the person who acts in the role of third-party intervener so they can be open to more fully address their conflict. This places an enormous amount of responsibility on the practitioner or mediator. Done well this can support the parties’ transformational shift to be able to take up alternative perspectives and move closer to resolving the presenting and underlying issues. Not done well more damage may be caused and can be considered unethical. This means practitioners need to establish a solid foundation of praxis, action and reflection on action, from which to build on, while embracing a mindset, attitude and practice of lifelong development. In this paper two mediators are interviewed using Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM), a communication theory and practice, to explore mediations they worked on several years ago. Using CMM as a reflective tool helps mediators consider their roles, the decisions they made, the parties involved and the outcomes, to reveal aspects of the mediations they may not have previously considered in order to foster learning to impact subsequent mediations they conduct. The researcher and mediators used CMM Hierarchy, LUUUUTT and Serpentine Models to co-create the mediations being studied. They identified that using CMM tools allowed them to see a broader array of alternative perspectives, be more attentive to dominant and sub-dominant discourses, see the path of escalation more clearly and develop more empathy for the disputing parties.
You can access the paper here.
Published Friday, Sep. 10, 2010