Conflict Resolution Communication: Patterns Promoting Peaceful Schools (review)

Melinda Lincoln is an expert in the fields of communication and mediation; she has combined theories from both fields in an intelligent, clear and concise manner. Lincoln states, "Conflict Resolution Communication: Patterns Promoting Peaceful Schools offers an efficient and proven strategy for solving problems peacefully and provides an array of lifetime coping skills as a much needed solution to school violence everywhere" (p. xviii). In Chapters One through Four, Lincoln gives stakeholders a theoretical grounding in communication that is unintimidating and straightforward. She connects conflict resolution education to changing attitudes, beliefs, and patterns of behavior. Lincoln suggests that any approach to creating conflict resolution education needs to be holistic and involve all stakeholders. She identifies a broad range of possible stakeholders, but at the most basic level this includes school boards, teachers, counselors, parents, and especially students. Peer mediation training is given great importance, and Lincoln claims "Trained mediators can affect the level of violence and promote a sense of safety in schools by facilitating conflict resolution processes, communication techniques, and problem-solving skills" (p. 37).

In Chapter Five, Lincoln talks about communication and how nonverbal cues can belie the verbal statements of parties in a dispute. A negotiator need not only be aware of mediation techniques but must also recognize how the unspoken messages between parties can affect understanding. Chapter Six focuses on bullying and addresses the changes that need to be made before bullying is made unacceptable within a school: "For consistent progress to be made in obliterating the effects of bullying, the internal causes or reasons for the inappropriate actions of the bully must be revealed, understood and removed" (p. 56). Chapters Seven through Nine focus on giving specific conflict resolution communication techniques to teachers, administrators, parents, and students. Lincoln identifies the unique roles that each group plays in modeling effective conflict resolution. The abbreviated guidelines that Lincoln has presented for creating a conflict resolution communication program would need to supplemented by further reading. The reference section does provide some resources, but considering the complexity of the subject, a more extensive bibliography would have been appreciated. This book would be useful for individuals who are thinking about implementing a peer mediation program or who are considering alternate methods of conflict resolution.