The Conflict Management Program, an arm of the Mediation Center of the Pacific, has been providing Hawaii’s companies, non-profit organizations and government agencies with training in dispute resolution and direct mediation and facilitation services, for over twenty years. Many organizations are repeat customers.
THE HISTORY
The Conflict Management Program (CMP) was created in 1983 to make the Center’s services more widely available by providing trained mediators and facilitators for public disputes and by teaching conflict resolution skills to businesses, individuals, government and public entities. The program has successfully assisted in resolving many public controversies including geothermal development on the Island of Hawaii, citing the Ronald McDonald House, Kauai helicopter noise problems, the Hanalei Bridge preservation dispute, and thousands of dollars in Heptachlor contamination claims. The program’s work in the siting of a half-way house for the mentally ill received national attention in the Conservation Foundation’s newsletter ‘Resolve.”
CMP trainers have worked with numerous federal agencies (e.g., U.S. Navy and Federal Executive Board), corporations (including Fortune 500 companies) and various non-profits to train managers and employees in conflict management skills and set up internal dispute resolution programs. The trainings are designed with each organization to specifically meet the needs of the trainees and company.
TRAINING OPTIONS
The Mediation Center of the Pacific conducts at least two regularly scheduled basic mediation trainings throughout the year that are opened to everyone. In addition, Center trainers will customize a training or workshop at the request of a group, agency or business. CMP employs a wide variety of training materials developed at the Center and by other dispute resolution centers and professionals. The training is highly interactive and uses demonstrations, simulated situations, role-plays, and large and small group exercises and activities.
Workshops cover a variety of dispute resolution topics including conflict resolution, mediation and facilitation. These courses focus on developing an individual understanding of conflict and approaches to disputes, basic inter-personal communication and conflict skills, anger management, group dynamics, power imbalances, and maintaining neutrality (objectivity). Longer trainings are available to offer more complete coverage and additional opportunities for participants to role-play and incorporate actual work and personal situations into the training. In addition, companies may wish to train employees to assist others in dispute resolution.
