Organizational Conflict and Mediation

Organizations have adopted formal approaches, such as establishing grievance committees and ombudsman's offices, to mediate conflicts in the workplace setting and, on occasion, hire outside, independent mediators to handle escalated conflicts and public-facing disputes. Attempts to mediate conflict, though, are much more widespread in organizations than these formal approaches would suggest and are often undertaken by professionals from a wide variety of disciplines who have no formal training in mediation. Increasingly, such professionals are tasked to manage conflicts — whether their field is finance, marketing, social media or human resources — and are evaluated in performance reviews on their ability to perform this task. Professionals today must be prepared to acquire the knowledge and skills of a mediator to meet the expectations of the organization. 

With that end in mind, this course is designed for professionals who find themselves frequently having to intervene in conflicts between or among others. Although these professionals may choose to become full-time mediators, they are more likely to use mediation principles and techniques as additional tools to help them within their chosen fields of work, be it in public policy, social media, human resources, international development, peace-building or law. This course will aid professionals who wish to become skilled conflict practitioners, constructively managing conflict between or among people or groups with whom they engage.

This course is an elective in the NECR Program. It is open, space permitting, to cross-registrants from other fields and Columbia University schools and programs. There is no prerequisite knowledge or coursework to register for the course; however, if you have not taken a course in negotiation or studied that field, please contact the instructor. The course is delivered in-person on campus; participation by Zoom is not permitted. The course is semi-intensive and delivered over a partial semester.