Engaging Communication in Conflict: Systemic Practice

Written from the authors′ experience in conflict intervention in their private consulting practice, Engaging Communication in Conflict uses a communication perspective to address insights and methods in private mediation, small group facilitation, system design, large-scale interventions, and public-issue management. This book offers encouragement for a world sometimes overwhelmed by conflict and presents an expanded and pragmatic definition of peace.

Authors Stephen Littlejohn and Kathy Domenici discuss numerous methods and principles in conflict resolution. They explore transformative mediation, the team mediation system, assessment and evaluation, systemic design, gaming methodology, issue framing and public deliberation, study circles, dialogue groups, and many other interventions. These methods and principles are adapted from a spectrum of theory and practice and include fresh and innovative approaches designed by the authors and their colleagues.

The book is based on a coherent theoretical orientation, drawing heavily from the theories of the coordinated management of meaning, system theory, social constructionism, and transformative discourse. While these theories are detailed in the Appendix, the book is highly pragmatic in orientation, with numerous case examples and "how-to" information.

Stephen Littlejohn (Ph.D., University of Utah), is a conflict management consultant, mediator, facilitator, and trainer.  He is consultant for the Public Dialogue Consortium and a partner in Domenici Littlejohn, Inc.   Stephen is co-author of Moral Conflict:  When Social Worlds Collide (Sage, 1997) and has written numerous other books and articles on communication and conflict.  He was a professor of communication at Humboldt State University in California and is currently Adjunct Professor of Communication and Journalism at the University of New Mexico.  He has done research on mediation and conflict management for 19 years and has been an active mediator for eight.  Stephen has been a consultant for such clients as the Waco Youth Summit, the Alliance for Constructive Communication, the City of Cupertino, Columbia Basin College, and Washington State University.

Kathy Domenici (M.A., University of New Mexico) is a partner in Domenici Littlejohn, Inc. and a project consultant for the Public Dialogue Consortium.  A consultant since 1990, Kathy is a conflict-management specialist, mediator, facilitator, and trainer. She founded the Mediation Clinic at the University of New Mexico and now specializes in designing high-level strategy and leadership processes.  Kathy has worked on behalf of such clients as Eastman Kodak, The President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure, Sandia National Laboratories, Lockheed Martin, and the Kellogg Foundation.