Conflict Resolution Education - National Criminal Justice Reference ...

Appendix D: Conflict Resolution
Glossary
Active listening: A communication procedure
wherein the listener uses nonverbal behavior, such
as eye contact and gestures, as well as verbal behavior,
including tone of voice, open-ended questions,
restatements, and summaries, to demonstrate to the
speaker that he or she is being heard.
Agenda: A list of items for discussion; issues or
problem statements assembled in a sequence that
facilitates efficient discussion and problem solving.
Aggression: Forceful action or attack.
Arbitration: Intervention into a dispute by an independent
third party who is given authority to
collect information, listen to both sides, and make
a decision as to how the conflict should be settled.
Avoidance: The practice of nonengagement.
Basic needs: Needs that underlie all human behavior,
such as survival, self-esteem, belonging,
self-actualization, power, freedom, and fun. Like
individuals, groups have basic needs, including the
need for identity, security, vitality, and community.
BATNA: An acronym for Best Alternative To Negotiated
Agreement, the standard against which any
proposed agreement is measured.
Bias: A preconceived opinion or attitude about
something or someone. A bias may be favorable
or unfavorable.
Brainstorming: A storm of ideas. A group thinking
technique for helping disputants create multiple
options for consideration in solving a problem.
Brainstorming separates the creative act from the
critical one—all criticism and evaluation of ideas
are postponed until later.
D–1
Caucus: A private meeting held with mediator(s)
and disputant(s) to discuss needs and interests, the
negotiating plan, and ways to make the procedure
more productive.
Clarify: To make clearer or to enhance understanding.
During a conflict resolution procedure, openended
questions are often used for clarification.
Collaboration: Working with the other to seek solutions
that completely satisfy both parties. This involves
accepting both parties’ concerns as valid and
digging into an issue in an attempt to find innovative
possibilities. It also means being open and exploratory.
Common interests/common ground: Needs and/or
interests that are held jointly by the parties in a
negotiation.
Community: A social group having common interests,
identity, and customs.
Competition: A strategy in which one pursues the
satisfaction of his/her own interests at the expense
of others—a win-lose approach.
Compromise: Seeking an expedient settlement that
only partially satisfies both people. Compromising
does not dig into the underlying problem, but rather
seeks a more superficial arrangement, e.g., “splitting
the difference.” It is based on partial concessions—
giving up something to get something—and may
have an underlying competitive attitude.
Conflict: An expressed struggle between at least
two interdependent parties who perceive themselves
as having incompatible goals, view resources as being
scarce, and regard each other as interfering with
the achievement of their own goals; a controversy or
disagreement; coming into opposition with another
individual or group.