Back again after too long a gap . . . This blog is the first in what I hope will be a series of short observations on aspects of culture and dispute resolution. I’m calling it ‘rules of engagement’ as it seems to me that, at the risk of some oversimplification, the plethora of information [...]
Archive for the ‘Daily negotiations’ Category
Rules of engagement # 1
Posted in Asia, Culture, Daily negotiations on January 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Local views
Posted in Culture, Daily negotiations, Mediation, Negotiation, Singapore on September 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The bookshops here in Singapore are full of well-priced and familiar titles on negotiation (less so on mediation); and they are typically found in the “business communications” sections of the larger bookshops. Not far from these books, you’ll also find titles such as Sun Tsu’s The Art of War – and we sit (mostly comfortably) [...]
Geography matters
Posted in Culture, Daily negotiations on August 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“Our lives are rooted in story. Our stories are our lives. We find out who we are by the stories we tell and are told. The lives we live and the conflicts we embrace are held together by motif and myth. If we are to gain a sense of who we are, where we stand [...]
Opportunity costs
Posted in Culture, Daily negotiations, Resources on June 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
There’s a nice comment in Peter Adler’s Eye of the Storm Leadership, on the nature of conflicts, how they arise, escalate, and how we have or lose the windows of opportunity to deal with them. They begin with some actual or impending sense of injury: a grievance, a complaint, a sense –- rightfully or wrongfully — of [...]
Breakthrough mediator strategy
Posted in Culture, Daily negotiations, Singapore on June 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A couple of senior and experienced mediators here in Singapore have told me of a breakthrough strategy that has worked well for them in cracking an impasse. One of the mediators – also a senior lawyer and arbitrator – has used this on a number of occasions though both he and my other colleague confess [...]
A negotiation puzzle – please explain
Posted in Culture, Daily negotiations, Singapore, Uncategorized on June 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I know that my colleagues Joel and Hwee Hwee have just edited a new book on An Asian Perspective on Mediation (and, for goodness’ sake, I have a couple of chapters in that book), but there’s something that still puzzles us. Here’s the scenario: it’s a fruit market here in Singapore, with mountains of fresh [...]
Politics, governance and dispute resolution
Posted in Daily negotiations, Singapore on June 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
At the Asian Mediation Association conference, President Martti Ahtisaari drew attention to the links between governance and conflict resolution, and the need – at least in settings of intense conflict – to develop these strands together. It’s interesting to note this discussion closer to home, in the context of the stable political environment of Singapore, [...]
