Conflict Resolution

IN The Keys to Conflict Resolution, the role of a mediator is described as being a catalyst on a hot tin roof. Ted Kheel is known as the “master locksmith of deadlock bargaining” and has six decades of experience and wisdom in resolving conflict. He enjoys a repeated track record of persuading opponents to reach agreement at the bargaining table.

This is an easy-to-read book packed with personal anecdotes (worth reading for these alone) and clear guidelines on how to resolve disputes voluntarily through arbitration, mediation and ADR.

Best known for his work in the US - from government to labour and racial disputes - Kheel is the founding president of the non-profit-making Foundation on Prevention & Early Resolution of Conflict (PERC). He was a partner of Battle Fowler from 1949 to 1981 and has remained a counsel to the firm ever since.

Out of the plethora of books available on the subject, this one stands out as the authentic read. Not afraid to start with the obvious, on the basis that it is so rarely followed, Kheel says, “If there is one major lesson I have learned about the resolution of conflict, it is the importance of defining the issues in dispute at the earliest possible date.”

Conflict is a normal part of everyday life, as the front page of any newspaper will testify. It usually means that there is a difference of opinion between two or more people growing out of some matter that one person (or group) wants from another. Resolution simply means bringing the conflict to an end.

And in between lies what can easily become the murky waters of negotiation and the boggy territory into which many of us fear to tread. But Kheel argues that a key issue for a skilful negotiator is the ability to reflect on the other side’s perspective and to take counsel from the Scottish poet Robert Burns, who wrote: “Oh wad some power the giftie give us/To see ourselves as ithers see us!”

Kheel dedicates whole chapters to the structure and dynamics of negotiation as well as to the structure of voluntary arbitration, but some of the best jewels of this book are to be discovered in his chapter entitled ‘Five Principal Roles of a Mediator’ - the different ways in which a mediator can help parties reach agreement. These include the indispensable skills of a mediator described by Kheel as housekeeper, ringmaster, educator, communicator and knowing the importance of timing and patience.

Kheel stresses how important it is for the mediator to facilitate thinking on the part of each party so as to encourage both sides to see how to achieve their objectives while accommodating those of their opponents. It is not the role of the mediator to explain how he believes the dispute should be resolved. The role of the mediator is to help both sides understand one another’s concerns as they form their own conclusions on how the dispute should be settled.

Each section of the book is summarised with a helpful list of Kheel’s own ‘ten commandments’ on how to be an effective negotiator, mediator and arbitrator. The Keys to Conflict Resolution comes highly recommended to lawyers wishing to hone their skills in these areas - and to the rest of us who are interested in resolving conflict in our day-to-day lives.

The Keys to Conflict Resolution is published by Four Walls Eight Windows, price $22.00/£15.95. www.fourwallseightwindows.com

A good mixer

The World’s Best Bartenders Guide, written by Donald Bain, who is the brother-in-law of well-known New York maritime lawyer Michael Marks Cohen, and Joseph Scott, is a little gem of a book.

If you want professional bartenders from the world’s greatest bars to teach you how to mix the perfect drink, this is the book for you. The emphasis of the book is on cocktails rather than mixed drinks. And there is a difference. A mixed drink merely denotes the combining of alcohol with a mixer, while a cocktail is a more elaborate and subtle creation, involving perhaps a blend of light and dark, and a variety of other ingredients.

Picking a favourite cocktail is a thankless task. We were tempted by the Tom and Jerry - based on a separated egg, rum, brandy, hot milk and grated nutmeg - but were put off finally by the idea of the egg. The barman at Jardine’s in Kansas City, by the way, once had a customer ask for a Scotch, milk and whole egg. The customer claimed that he hadn’t had breakfast, and the Scotch killed the taste of the egg.

Forgoing the attractions of the Royal Flush (vodka and prune juice) we opted finally for the brutal simplicity of Tony’s Screaming Weenie. This is made from currant vodka, peach schnapps, Malibu rum, southern comfort, amaretto and cranberry juice. “Mix all ingredients with ice in a mixing glass. Strain into a large shot glass. Shoot it.” How scientific. . How subtle.

Even though The World’s Best Bartenders’ Guide is rather an ambiguous title for a book that covers bars in only ten countries, and seventy per cent of those in the US, it is a fun book, and arguably the most fun a shipping person could have without resorting to a yokahama fender, which isn’t the name of a cocktail but should be.