Pacific leader recognised,
Conflict is natural in all walks of life, but it doesn’t necessitate the need for antagonism, says a Massey academic whose negotiation skills have been recognised in the New Year Honours.
Virginia Goldblatt says it’s ‘‘extremely nice’’ to receive the accolade, but more importantly her membership to the New Zealand Order of Merit shows people value what she and others are doing in the area of arbitration and mediation.
Goldblatt, who is the director of Massey University’s mediation service, said mediators like her would like to save the world. It’s all too clear every day how badly their skills are needed.
But in the meantime they’re working, bit by small bit, to make a difference in this country.
Working with law societies in New Zealand and the Cook Islands is part of it. Working with families, where so much damage and division is to be seen when relationships break down, is another part, and lately the education sector has been rife with disputes.
Hardly a week goes by when some row at a school doesn’t erupt into the public domain, whether it be the length of a pupil’s hair, sporting beards, the length of girls’ skirts, smoking dope, loss of entitlement, sexual harassment or a staff sacking.
Goldblatt said the people who work in such organisations need to make good decisions about processes and identify their best sources of professional advice to help them do this.
They need to get away from the traditional adversarial mode of attempting to resolve conflict. It causes more problems, even if it is well embedded in our social structures and ways of thinking.
Goldblatt said outcomes reached by agreement through negotiation have a better chance of enduring success and a lower risk of escalating conflict and causing collateral damage.
In the case of schools, members of boards of trustees have, since the Tomorrow’s Schools model took off in the late 1980s, been at the centre of the disputes storm, with a widespread lack of skills and experience exposed for the outside world to see.
But things need to change, she said, because there is no doubt the education sector is a ‘‘rich site’’ for conflict, with its multiple stakeholders and competing interests. We’re seeing this being played out at present in our universities, as one after another they announce intentions to cut staff, often coupled with offers of voluntary redundancies and early retirements - but the spectre of compulsory redundancy lurks if budget targets aren’t met.
Goldblatt said she finds it ‘‘a great privilege’’ to be involved in helping find ways of sorting disputes where they occur and aiding people in times of difficulty.
Sharing core values, which tell us what kind of community we want to live in, and practising goodwill, are also part of the mediation toolbox.