Tips and Resources
Available K-State Resources
- Employee Relations & Engagement conduct mediation and facilitative conversations with the goal of empowering supervisors and employees to resolve disputes/conflict.
- Ombudspersons are faculty members or unclassified professionals appointed by the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate to assist faculty members and unclassified professional with problems related to employment.
- Mediation Assistance is available to faculty and unclassified employees and is a process where two or more people who are involved in a dispute voluntarily sit down with a neutral third party to try to work out a mutually acceptable solution.
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) HealthQuest provides short-term counseling, advice, and referrals from licensed professionals who understand the typical stresses we all face day in and day out.
- Discrimination/Harassment. The Office of Institutional Equity responds to reports and complaints or concerns about discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, ancestry, disability, genetic information, military status, or veteran.
- Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. The Office of Diversity works with all sectors of the University to enhance racial and cultural diversity and create a campus environment that fosters both academic excellence and appreciation of diversity.
General External Mediation Resources
Websites
Books
- Bolton, Robert (1979). People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts. New York: Simon & Schuster. People Skills is a communication- skills handbook that can help you eliminate many common communication problems. Bolton describes the twelve most common communication barriers, showing how these "roadblocks" damage relationships by increasing defensiveness, aggressiveness, or dependency. He explains how to acquire the ability to listen, assert yourself, resolve conflicts, and work out problems with others.
- Cloke, Kenneth & Goldsmith, Joan (2000). Resolving Conflicts at Work. A Complete Guide for Everyone on the Job. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. This book was written for everyone who works, and its lessons apply in any workplace setting. Dr. Cloke specializes in solving complex multiparty conflicts, including workplace disputes, organizational conflicts, and public policy disputes. Dr. Goldsmith specializes in leadership, development, and organizational change (she coauthored Learning to Lead with Warren Bennis).
- Fisher, Robert & Ury, William, & Patton, Bruce (1991). Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (2nd Edition). New York: Penguin Books. This book offers a concise, step-by-step, proven strategy for coming to mutually acceptable agreements in every sort of conflict. This work evolved from the work of the Harvard Negotiation Project, which focused on dealing with all levels of negotiation and conflict resolution from domestic to business to international.
- Leviton, Sharon C. & Greenstone, James L. (1997). Elements of Mediation. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. This book is a basic guide to the practice of successful dispute resolution through mediation, a process that seeks to settle conflicts in a nonadversarial and nonjudicial way. It is designed to help novices and people with more experience resolve problems wherever they occur at work, at home among family members, etc.
- Weeks, Dudley (1992). The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution. New York: Tarcher/Putnam Books. This work presents a tested method for resolving stubborn differences of opinion that can be so damaging to professional and personal lives. The book is full of realistic examples that show how to recognize hidden perceptions of conflict, discover the shared needs of the conflict relationship, maintain focus on a plan for the future, and get commitments on actions that can be taken immediately and used as stepping-stones to agreements.
