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New Approach to Conflict Resolution

Traditional approaches to conflict resolution rely on negotiations and changes in training, policies, and procedures. Trying to fix problems after they have already occurred is akin to the desire to improve quality, productivity, and performance in manufacturing and service applications with monitoring alone. If the controller itself is not properly configured, monitoring can do little good. The control system must be redesigned/reconfigured. In conflict resolution, the controller is the human being and redesigning means changes must come about from within. Once this is accomplished, any leftover defects can be identified with monitoring (meaning formal conflict resolution programs), impact factors traced, and problems fixed. This strategy has far better prospects of success. The efficacy of the proposed approach can be audited with proper experimentation. A recent column in USA Today dealt with the topic in reference to the police and the African American community. The second author has trained all police officers in Louisville in compassionate conflict management as part of the 21 St Century Policing initiative. 

To deal with this and a myriad of other problems facing humanity, the first author has developed an auditable scientific framework for a better and more peaceful world. The framework consists of two components: (1) Excellence of the External and (2) Excellence of the Internal. Science of External Excellence seeks to achieve the best possible performance in all human endeavors and six sigma is the methodology for it. Science of Internal Excellence refers to the capacity to remain centered in the face of extenuating external conditions that are part of life. The First author’s work and the recent National Science Foundation-supported MIT research show that the level of internal excellence is scientifically measurable and meditation is the wherewithal for enhancing internal excellence. The first author has shown that in the absence of an adequate level of internal excellence, external excellence programs (quality initiatives) deliver sub-par performance and this explains why conflicts arise to begin with. A summary of the framework is posted in the interview on collective evolution here and it is detailed in the book, Pradeep B. Deshpande, PhD (Chemical Engineering) and James P. Kowall, MD (Neurology, Internal Medicine), PhD (Theoretical Physics), The Nature of Ultimate Reality and How It Can Transform Our World: Evidence from Modern Physics; Wisdom of YODA, SAC 2015 (available on amazon). 

University of California San Francisco professors Blackburn and Epel have made important suggestions about the link of meditation and the dwindling of telomeres. The first author has shown that the scientific framework for external and internal excellence, of which meditation is a key component, is the pathway to a better and more peaceful world. He has presented talks and workshops on the topic in several countries including the Congress of one and included it in the six sigma course of the MBA program of the University of Kentucky in Athens, Greece that he has been teaching for ten years. Several universities are likely to introduce the ideas in their classes in the coming year.

Further Reading

  1. Belak, T. and Deshpande, P. B., Meditation Enhances Mediation: A Six Sigma Perspective, http://mediate.com/articles/BelakT5.cfm, June 2014.
  2. Deshpande, P. B., Korotkov, K., and Kowall, J. P., Bioenergy Measurements for Predictive Medical Diagnosis, Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, 7, 2, February 2016.
  3. Deshpande, P. B., Letter in Connect with Cops as we would our peers, USA Today Column, http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/community-calls/2016/07/28/connect-police-black-lives-matter-column/87663800/, July 28, 2016.
  4. Deshpande, P. B., Madappa, K., Korotkov, K., Can Internal Excellence be Measured?, Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, 4, 9, November 2014.
  5. Hotz, Robert L., Wireless Signals can Detect Your Feelings with New Device, The Wall Street Journal, September 21, 2016.
                        author

Pradeep Deshpande

Pradeep Deshpande is an author for correspondence on meditation; Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisville, Visiting Professor of Management, University of Kentucky, and President and CEO, Six Sigma and Advanced Controls, Inc., Louisville, KY 40222. MORE >

                        author

Tony Belak

Tony Belak is the Ombuds at the University of Louisville, Associate Director of the Center for Conflict Resolution at La Sierra University, Riverside, California, associate director of the International Center for Compassionate Organizations www.compassionorg.net and the former Executive Director of the International Center for Collaborative Solutions at Sullivan University, Louisville,… MORE >

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