Course Description
Conflict can often be an opportunity for progress and positive change in policies and programs. This course provides managers with concepts and tools for resolving disputes that arise among staff, between jurisdictions, between branches or levels of government, and between organizations, businesses, and citizen groups. Participants develop strategies for building consensus, helping parties move beyond stated positions, and crafting innovative solutions to common problems.

 

The course will address one-time negotiations as well as negotiations where the establishment or maintenance of relationships is important. The practical application of mediation and negotiation techniques will help managers build skills and confidence for successfully approaching seemingly irreconcilable differences in both the workplace and the political arena.

 

Learning Objectives
Negotiations compose a major part of a public manager’s job. Middle and upper-level managers estimate that as much as 80 percent of their time is spent in negotiations of one form or another. It is easy to recognize some types of negotiations, such as those that occur in service contracts, labor relations, and the settlement of legal disputes. Other negotiations, such as dealings with superiors, subordinates, and other departments within the organization, are less easily recognized but often more frequent.

 

Since negotiations are an integral part of the manager’s job, it follows that most managers have already developed some negotiating skills and have had some success in negotiating. The purpose of this course is to recognize with greater clarity the negotiating opportunities and the skills and strategies that lead to successful agreements. Our focus is on identifying and understanding those factors that are common to a wide range of negotiating situations. We will then consider and practice how they can be applied and adapted to each specific situation.

 

This course is designed to develop a variety of important insights and skills. First, we will develop some concepts by which to analyze situations and determine whether or not negotiations are appropriate. Not all conflicts should be negotiated. Some should be avoided; in others there may be a reason to take a stand on principle. Next, we will learn how to develop a strategy for the situation to ensure that one’s own constituents or principals are appropriately involved. Finally, we will give special attention to the most important but too often neglected part of negotiations: implementation of the agreement.

 

The course will engage a number of faculty who will use a variety of teaching methods, including: case studies, panel discussions, readings, guest speakers, and exercises.

 

NOTE: Some of the cases and exercises used during the week involve ongoing situations. In recognition of the need to preserve confidentiality, no recording will be permitted during the course.

 

Who Should Attend

The higher one rises in an organization, the greater percent of one's time is spent negotiating, whether informally or formally. In addition, many managers find themselves mediating disputes, particularly internal ones. This course is designed for managers who need to employ a variety of negotiation and mediation practices, tools and techniques to advance their organization’s policy goals, build stronger teams, change agency culture, and produce consensus among stakeholders that improves both the quality of decisions and their implementation. This course will explore the theory and principles of dispute resolution while highlighting practical tools and skills for successfully negotiating and mediating conflict.

 

Lead Instructors
Jerry Cormick is a senior lecturer at the Evans School of Public Affairs and also teaches in the Graduate School of Business Administration. He founded the CSE Group, which successfully pioneered the use of negotiation and mediation techniques in the environmental, public policy, and regulatory arenas. In recent years, Jerry has mediated intergovernmental disputes over issues such as water quality, annexation, flood control, highway construction, and airport noise. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

 

Jim Reid is the founder and principal of The Falconer Group, a Seattle-based mediation and strategic-planning consulting firm. In addition to helping resolve workplace disputes, he has mediated disputes that addressed issues such as natural resources, transportation, housing, energy, telecommunications, parks and recreation, health care, elections reform, and arts and culture. He is a lecturer at the Evans School of Public Affairs and previously directed King County’s Planning and Community Development Division. Jim holds an MPA from the University of Washington

 

Course Location, Dates, and Tuition

Date		Monday-Friday, May 19-23, 2008	Monday-Friday, May 11-15, 2009
Course Times		8:00a.m. to 4:30p.m daily	8:00a.m. to 4:30p.m daily
Course Code		08ResCon	09ResCon
Tuition	Early / Evans	$1,650	$1,800
	Regular	$1,720	$1,900
Early Registration Deadline		March 20, 2008	March 12, 2009
Cancellation Deadline		April 28, 2008	April 20, 2009
Location		TBD	Talaris Conference Center, Seattle, Washington

 

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