The Handbook of Dispute Resolution

This volume is an essential, cutting-edge reference for all practitioners, students, and teachers in the field of dispute resolution. Each chapter was written specifically for this collection and has never before been published. The contributors–drawn from a wide range of academic disciplines–are among the most prominent in dispute resolution today, including Frank E. A. Sander, Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Bruce Patton, Lawrence Susskind, Ethan Katsh, Deborah Kolb, and Max Bazerman.

The Handbook of Dispute Resolution contains the most current thinking about dispute resolution. It synthesizes more than thirty years of research into cogent, practitioner-focused chapters that assume no previous background in the field. At the same time, the book offers path-breaking research and theory that will interest those who have been immersed in the study or practice of dispute resolution for years.

The Handbook is organized into four cogent sections: Understanding Disputants, Understanding Disputes and Dispute Contexts, Understanding Dispute Resolution Processes, and Emerging Issues in Dispute Resolution. Section One (Understanding Disputants) explores how personality factors, emotions, concerns about identity, relationship dynamics, gender and cultural differences, and perceptions contribute to the escalation of disputes. Section Two (Understanding Disputes and Dispute Contexts) focuses on various aspects of disputes, including value creation opportunities, agency issues, organizational influences, ethical considerations, the role of law, and decision tools. Section Three provides a comprehensive summary of the primary dispute resolution processes: negotiation, mediation, arbitration, litigation, consensus building, and integrated conflict management systems, along with a discussion of how to select the appropriate procedure. The final section explores emerging issues in dispute resolution, including dispute resolution strategies for organizational leadership, online and international dispute resolution, victim-offender mediation, youth dispute resolution education, institutionalization and professionalization of dispute resolution, and new directions and challenges.

Michael L. Moffitt is an assistant professor and the associate director of the Appropriate Dispute Resolution Program at the University of Oregon School of Law. Robert C. Bordone is the Thaddeus R. Beal Lecturer on Law and the deputy director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project at Harvard Law School.

The Handbook of Dispute Resolution be ordered online at the Program on Negotiation Clearinghouse.