The U.S. is in need of trained people who can make a difference, who can help make a social change. It is common knowledge that every year in the U.S. the number of civil lawsuits being filed in the courts is increasing to the point that our courts are overflowing. Since it is adults who are filing the lawsuits, it seems to makes sense that if there were more conflict management and mediation training classes in communities, educating adults on the benefits of conflict management through mediation. The method of conflict management through mediation is a worthwhile alternative to trying to remedy the conflict through the court system, because it makes sense in multiple ways. It is more cost effective than going to court, it requires much less time to go to mediation, and there is much less stress in a mediation setting. Also, there is a fail-safe for the parties after mediation. If the parties are not able to meet and reach an amicable solution to the conflict through mediation, they have not lost their ability to still resort to taking the matter to the court to settle the matter. Nothing is lost by the parties through mediation, although much can be gained. Communities could have much less strife and discontent if the alternative of conflict management and mediation were at their disposal. Adults can learn these methods and use them, and teach them to the next generation.
Conflict Management and Mediation work well within Public Administration, because in many ways, an Administrator is placed in the situation of being a conflict manager. Also, if the public administrator position is very community-oriented, it can also help with making
policy for reasons as Gazley, et al, in Collaboration and Citizen Participation in Community Mediation Centers state “they empower the individual exercise of voice by citizens and stakeholders.” (2006, p. 847). Ann Abraham is a proponent of Good Administration, stating that “good administration – far from being a rather tame and unexciting aspiration…is actually a critical component of much that we continue to value most in public life and in public service delivery” (Abraham, Good Administration: Why We Need It More Than Ever, 2009, p. 25). Abraham concludes that as our modern world is a world of globalization, “the challenge of respecting humane values is ever more acute” (p. 32). She goes on to say that that is where good administration comes in, as a civilizing agent, helping ordinary citizens for the better and helping them get through the politics of society. The good administrator must stay in tune with the individual need and social difference, and keep up with technological advance in “respecting the human factor” (p. 32).
Angela M. Eikenberry, in Nonprofit Organizations, Philanthropy, and Democracy in the United States, she talks about the hollow state and how public administrators deal with the difficulties of contract failure and inadequate resources for oversight. These things have led to social and economic challenges, “alienation and anxiety, deterioration of the public sphere, and economic inequality” (p. 175). Conflict management and mediation can help public administrators help their communities return to their roots of people taking care of people, by providing alternative forms of governance, so people help one another.
Julie Nebeker - working with others to make life better 