Beyond Intractability: A Free Knowledge Base on More Constructive Approaches to Destructive Conflict

Introduction: Roy Lewicki, an expert on framing, describes how reframing can transform the nature of a conflict and the relationships of the people in the conflict.

This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).

Transformative Mediation
Roy Lewicki
Professor of Management and Human Resources at Ohio State University

Interviewed by
Julian Portilla
2003

Once you define something, frames can be transformative. Once you change the definition of what it is we are doing, it begins to change the nature of the conversation as we have it. People have talked about mediation as being transformative. It may not solve the disagreement between the people, but it will fundamentally transform their relationship and their ability to problem-solve together in the future around this problem or similar problems. Those frames or those perspectives can therefore really be shifted over time.

We are going to have to find ways of organizing ourselves cooperatively, sanely, scientifically, harmonically and in regenerative spontaneity with the rest of humanity around the earth. -- Buckminster Fuller

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Beyond Intractability

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The Third Side concept was developed by William Ury. Third Siders are people who try to see both sides of a conflict and encourage cooperative solutions, fair fights, and decision making that advocates solutions which meet everyone's interests and needs as much as possible.

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Beyond Intractability Version IV
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Project Acknowledgements

The Beyond Intractability Knowledge Base Project
Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess, Co-Directors and Editors
c/o Conflict Information Consortium (Formerly Conflict Research Consortium), University of Colorado
Campus Box 580, Boulder, CO 80309
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