Conflict Unraveled: Fixing problems at work and in families (Paperback)

by Andra Medea (Author), Robert Logan (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...I've already learned some things that have far outweighed the $19.95 price of the book a hundred times over." -- Bob Burg, Winning Without Intimidation, Vol. 5/ Issue 2

"...You could read ten best-sellers by overpaid CEOs and not get half as much wisdom on HR management..." -- Fearless Books

"...a clearheaded guide to finding logical ways to handle illogical people, particularly bullies who don't fight fair." -- Chicago Reader

"...good tactical advice...pithy and often funny examples...this book is thorough and has a lot of heart...." -- Library Journal

"...vivid, sometimes breathtaking...a rare example of charismatic sanity." -- Foreword Magazine

....good tactical advice ... is provided in pithy and often funny examples of overload situations. Medea's friendly, almost conspiratorial tone dovetails nicely with her direct writing... this book is thorough and has a lot of heart... (Short-listed as a core book for mid- to large libraries) --Library Journal

...Medea offers vivid, sometimes breathtaking, examples that make her thinking crystal clear. A fluent writer who cares about her audience... Medea unravels conflict the way most people want to: pitting wits and enlightened self-interest against dumb reflex and blind prejudice. Even tyranny and terrorism- methods based in madness- come unraveled at the touch of this book, a rare example of charismatic sanity. - Dr. E. James Lieberman, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, George Washington University --Foreword Magazine

Andra Medea is an instructor in conflict management at the University of Chicago and a nationally recognized expert on the subject. What is less well known is that Andra has a superb sense of humor. This is a distinctive asset in Conflict Unraveled: Fixing Problems At Work And In Families in which she distills her many years of experience and expertise in a volume specifically written and presented so as to be fully accessible to the non-specialist general reader. This wonderful compendium of observations, advice, strategies, tactics, insights, and illustrations is something of a complete and very highly recommended course on conflict resolution whether in the home or in the workplace. --Midwest Book Review

Product Description
Silver Award winner for Book of the Year from ForeWord Magazine.
Perceptive, original and often very funny, Conflict Unraveled offers expert insights into solving problems and being more effective at work and at home.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: PivotPoint Press; 1 edition (June 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974580805
• ISBN-13: 978-0974580807
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #381,263 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant *and* practical, May 6, 2004

By	T. Jonas - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a human resources professional and president of my local SHRM affiliate chapter, I've lately been very interested in learning about conflict management. As with any job dealing with people, conflict management can be a huge part of my position.

I was delighted and surprised by Andra Medea's book, Conflict Unraveled. Although I am a fairly fast reader, I was forced to slow down while reading this book because it constantly identified conflicts and problems I see daily at work in my co-workers, supervisors, and even at home with my own family---and happily, the solutions.

Though the book is solidly grounded on theory and successful tactics used by such luminaries as Bevel, Nash, and other civil rights activists, for me the best thing about the book is all the practical advice it offers. Several real-life examples offered in the book have really stuck with me---for instance, I can still vividly imagine, as described in one chapter, the author successfully facing down an angry, blustering man who had hit her car. If I don't remember anything else from the book, I will remember the tactic she used!

The book is also wonderfully full of common sense. You will be on both sides of the table, so to speak (the confronting one and/or the one being confronted) many times in your life, and Medea recognizes this. She offers tools to keep you from embarrassing yourself when you get angry (and not wanting to go back into the office the next day because of it), and techniques to help you deal with a person on the other side of your desk who is in a rage. Anger and conflict is natural, she reminds us; furthermore, it's chemical. Hard to deal with hormones or adrenaline, yes---but Medea offers practical tips which can really work if you have the discipline to use them---or at least have the tenacity to keep trying to use them!

Some gems:

1. "Flooding [adrenaline] shorts out most of the higher parts of the brain... the first step in managing conflict is to be braced for this chemical onslaught, because it will undermine every other useful skill you own."

2. "You may have found yourself in the surreal position of agreeing with someone who's yelling at you, saying everything she could want to hear, and still have her keep shouting as if you disagreed." (I have, many times.)

3. "Consider these skills when compared to negotiation. Accusation, manipulation and whining are all ways to score points or get things without offering anything worthwhile in return."

4. "The solution for the good guys at level three [blind behavior/anger] is exactly the same as for bad guys: you must become aware of your own behavior. ...Your own behavior can get you out of this. No one can do it for you."

5. "Some people will never give up the fight. Isolate them."

6. "Baron von Clausewitz, the military theorist, realized that it wasn't enough to focus on an opponent's weakness. The opponent could always improve a weakness, protect it or turn it into a strength. Instead, von Clausewitz suggested to focus on their strengths, because an opponent could never abandon a strength. The strength was an essential part of who they were."

Medea also breaks conflict down into different categories, in which some tactics work, and some do not. Primate signals (an interesting chapter!), for instance, work well in all types of conflict, from problem-solving to the most severe (tyranny/predation).

She also makes some interesting distinctions in types of workplaces and their leaders, and there's a long discussion on direct communication versus indirect communication that very much held my interest. I'm a direct communicator, as are most of my co-workers, but we have one superior who is indirect. That alone has led to a great deal of conflict. Thanks to the book, I'm ready to try out some new communication techniques that may work more successfully than what I have been trying.

It is very rare that I rate any book five stars. (At this point, I have only given one other book five stars.) This one deserves all five of those stars. Definitely worth the money.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The five star rating is well deserved, with a caveat or two, November 14, 2004

By	econdude "econdude" (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

Finally - a book that not only identifies urgent issues, but also outlines how to deal with them. The book is not a magical prescription to cure all of your ills. You will have to supply your own medicine (hard, diligent, consistent work), but it will increase your personal power and probably make your life happier.

We all have people problems, but no handbook regarding how to deal with them. Medea comes as close as anyone ever has to writing a handbook on the art of dealing with the unhappier moments in life involving interaction with other people (conflict). The book is always going back to how you (emphasize YOU) have to change your behavior in order to deal with people more effectively. The reader should be able to instantly recognize that he or she has had many of the experiences and feelings Medea describes in the book - within the past week!

Early in the book Andra lays groudwork describing "stages" of conflict. She lists four stages and only stage one is healthy (luckily we are not often at three or four!). Then, the reader is gently prompted to recognize that due to exogenous or endogenous factors (usually a combination of both), we react to people in a way that creates different stages of conflict. The book covers just enough to prevent boredom or overtechnical analysis, but also gives an ample background for the reader to not only understand interpersonal dynamics, but actually use the information to help resolve conflict and increase productivity in the work place, harmony at home, et cetera.

However, Andra unwittingly creates a conflict of her own with the reader by approaching the topic with a decidedly and undisguised feminist viewpoint. It detracts from the otherwise excellent social science she has done. Conflict is not a men versus women issue; differences between the sexes exist but neither is immune to any type of conflict expressed in any kind of way. It would have been easily possible and preferable not to give one-sided examples that paint women as victims of an oppressive male society. It may have been more constructive to give some opposite examples (a dominant woman screaming at her passive husband...) to grab the reader's attention and make the topic more poignant.

Altogether the book was well written, easy to understand, and uncovered a range of human behaviors that we all practice and probably do not recognize until a book such as 'Conflict Unraveled' comes along. From beginning to end Medea uncovers a range of human behaviors that include adrenaline levels, group dynamics (ladder/cluster type organizations), body language, and verbal communication (direct and indirect misunderstandings). I recommend finding space on your bookshelf for the book. econ

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Understand, Manage and Succeed in Contentious Situations, May 5, 2004

By	Marion Gropen "publishing consultant" (Gropen Associates, NY, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book describes and diagnoses the components of conflict so that you can clearly understand it. Then the author gives clear, sound, and comprehensive advice for dealing with the situation, your own emotional and physical responses, and your opponent, in order to achieve the best possible resolution.

I strongly recommend this book to everyone who has any interest in dealing with and resolving conflicts. It will be exceptionally useful for managers, attorneys, police officers, and members of dysfunctional families.

I have been a manager for years. Dealing with conflict productively has been the single greatest challenge facing me, or the managers I have coached. I wish this book had been written at the very beginning of my career. I can think of so many situations I would have handled better. Get it. You'll agree.