Dealing with an Angry Public: The Mutual Gains Approach To Resolving Disputes [Hardcover]

Lawrence Susskind (Author), Patrick Field (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0684823020 | ISBN-13: 978-0684823027 | Publication Date: April 17, 1996 | Edition: 1

Dealing With an Angry Public: The Mutual Gains Approach to Resolving Disputes

Some portion of the American public will react negatively to almost any new corporate initiative, as Disney discovered when it announced its plans to build an historical theme park in Virginia. Similarly, government efforts to change policy or shift budget priorities are invariably met with stiff resistance. In this enormously practical book, Lawrence Susskind and Patrick Field analyze scores of both private and public-sector cases, as well as crisis scenarios such as the Alaskan oil spill, the silicone breat implant controversy, and nuclear plant malfunction at Three Mile Island. They show how resistance to both public and private initiatives can be overcome by a mutual gains approach involving face-to-face negotiation, a strategy applied successfully by over fifteen hundred executives and officials who have attended Professor Susskind's MIT-Harvard "Angry Public" seminars. Susskind and Field outline the six key elements of this approach in order to help business and government leaders negotiate, rather than fight, with their critics. In the process, they show how to identify who the public is, whose concerns to address first, which people and organizations must be convinced of the legitimacy of action taken, and how to assess and respond to different types of anger effectively. Acknowledging the crucial role played by the media in shaping public perception and understanding, Susskind and Field suggest a way to develop media interaction which is consistent with the six mutual gains principles, and also discuss the type of leadership that corporate and government managers must provide in order to combine these ideas into a useful whole. We all need to be concerned about a society in which the public's concerns, fears and anger are not adequately addressed. When corporate and government agencies must spend crucial time and resources on rehashing and defending each decision they make, a frustrated and angry public contributes to the erosion of confidence in our basic institutions and undermines our competitiveness in the international marketplace. In this valuable book, Susskind and Field have produced a strong, clear framework which will help reduce these hidden costs for hundreds of executives, managers, elected and appointed officials, entrepreneurs, and the public relations, legal and other professionals who advise them.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Max H. Bazerman J. Jay Gerber Distinguished Professor of Dispute Resolution and Organizations, J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University Executives, governmental leaders, public relations professionals, attorneys, and others need to read this book before they are in the midst of their next crisis. It will provide the basis for seeking reason in the sea of emotion that accompanies most conflicts. -- Review

About the Author

Lawrence E. Susskind is Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning at MIT, President of the Consensus Building Institute, and one of America's most experienced public dispute mediators.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1 edition (April 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684823020
• ISBN-13: 978-0684823027
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #834,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Larry Susskind (born in New York City in 1947) heads the Environmental Policy and Planning Program (web.mit.edu/dusp/epp) and the MIT-USGS Science Impact Collaborative (scienceimpact.mit.edu) at MIT where he has been teaching since 1970. His work as an environmental planner focuses on the mediation of environmental disputes and strategies for involving large numbers of groups with very different ideas and interests in managing natural resources together. Negotiating Environmental Agreements, Environmental Diplomacy, Better Environmental Policy Studies, and Transboundary Environmental Agreements explain how this is possible. Through his writing and practice as a mediator with the Cambridge-based not-for-profit Consensus Building Institute (www.cbuilding.org), he has helped to establish the field of public dispute resolution. Breaking Robert's Rules, Breaking the Impasse, Dealing with An Angry Public, Negotiating on Behalf of Others, Built to Win and the Consensus Building Handbook offer insights into the techniques and strategies that have made Professor Susskind a much sought-after trainer and teacher. He has supervised more than 60 doctoral students at MIT and Harvard, many of whom now teach in universities around the world. In 1983, with Roger Fisher, Howard Raiffa and Frank Sander, he founded the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School (www.pon.harvard.edu) which continues to play an important part in shaping negotiation and dispute resolution theory.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real, practical, and well written, October 24, 2001

By 

Daniel Knight (Waterford, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dealing with an Angry Public: The Mutual Gains Approach To Resolving Disputes (Hardcover)

This book is an outstanding read for anyone needing PR advice. Whether you are only interested in the subject, a professor teaching it, or a professional employing it, this is an invaluable resource.
Full of real world examples and fascinating insight its written so that a novice and and expert can make sense of it, and yet it is never condescending.
More than a teaching tool, it is a set of values that every PR professional should adhere to. Teaching success and how to avoid the traps, it stays interesting and flows well all the way through.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Required text book, September 21, 2010

By 

D. Russell - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dealing with an Angry Public: The Mutual Gains Approach To Resolving Disputes (Hardcover)

I have to read this book for a class. It has interesting real life case studies. If you need mediation pointers it would be good to have the case studies to refer to.