Beyond Machiavelli: Tools For Coping with Conflict - Softcover

Fisher, Roger; Kopelman, Elizabeth; Schneider, Andrea Kupfer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140245227 ISBN 13: 9780140245226

Publisher: Penguin, 1996

Synopsis

Conflict is a growth industry, as a glance at the daily paper or the nightly news tells us. Trade wars, global warming, ethnic strife, refugee crises - as the world draws closer together on a thousand fronts, trouble erupts, clashes occur, and new problems arise. What's wrong, and what can be done about it? This cogent book offers a clear approach for dealing with conflicting interests of any kind. Roger Fisher, the world-renowned master of negotiation, with two of his leading colleagues - Elizabeth Kopelman and Andrea Kupfer Schneider - provides a step-by-step process for dealing with the persistent and complex disputes that mark our changing, often dangerous world. Instead of simply asking why things work - or don't - the authors ask: how can we affect the way things work? They break conflicts into manageable components and advance a process for problem-solving. Arguing that we need to move beyond one-shot "solutions" toward a constructive way of dealing with differences, they lay out tools for conflict analysis and practical applications for those tools in the international arena. The authors also show that tactics which successfully influence an adversary are equally applicable to the task of persuading an employer, a community official, or a business associate. Originally drafted as a handbook for the diplomats and senior officials advised by Fisher and his colleagues, this succinct, lucid, and effective book is the primer about the new paradigm in conflict management.

About this title

Review:

A wise little book with much to say about constructively shaping the future. Offers a clear approach for dealing with conflicts of interest of any kind, particularly focusing on how to help with the persistent and complex political and economic conflicts that, unfortunately, appear to plague the world today. Probably the first primer about conflict management on a global scale. Urgently needs to be widely read. The book continues in the tradition of Fisher and William Ury's "Getting to Yes," but the focus is less on teaching people to negotiate in their own disputes than on how to help resolve other parties' conflicts...It offers a great deal of advice on getting conflicting parties to the table, viewing disputes from a variety of perspectives, generating creative solutions to disputes, and moving conflicting parties toward peaceful settlements...A lot of ground is covered in a relatively short book. Readers intent on resolving actual conflicts can derive a checklist of steps and considerations from the book. Experienced negotiators will find much of their intuition codified and may glean some new ideas. Anybody who reads the newspaper headlines and understands that conflicts--whether in the Middle East, the former Yugoslavia or right in his or her neighborhood--cause tremendous human suffering can appreciate this book. The authors, who belong to the Harvard Negotiation Project, present their case in the most readable fashion. Although they cite mostly international conflicts as examples, their insights and suggestions are applicable to domestic situations...The book goes on to present a blueprint for improving the process of coping with conflict--that is by breaking a conflict down and dealing with it piece by piece. A reader can look at the various chapters of the book as a step-by-step approach to handling conflict...This book is an important tool for civic and government leaders, students, academics and researchers, dispute resolution practitioners, journalists, diplomats, and anybody who cares to give conflict resolution a serious thought. -- Cindy Fazzi "Dispute Resolution Journal" Originally a handbook for diplomats, this book contains tools and practical advice for anyone dealing with conflict...By following [the authors'] guidelines, a negotiator can create a checklist of steps, a set of tools, and an action plan. The charts, or tools, throughout the book provide quick, clear ways to clarify thinking about conflicts.

About the Author:

Roger Fisher is the Samuel Williston Professor of Law Emeritus, Director of the Harvard Negotiation Project, and the founder of two consulting organizations devoted to strategic advice and negotiation training.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0140245227
• ISBN 13: 9780140245226
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160