ORG Blog

A few years ago we began to incorporate into our practice an increasingly researched concept commonly referred to as “Intractable Conflict.” In the simplest terms , an Intractable Conflict is one in which the parties have become so incensed with one another that they choose to get even rather than to seek resolution to their disagreement, even though it will very likely result in their own demise.

Let's Limit the Competition to the Playing Field

The following originally appeared in the Boston Globe on August 20, 2012

As the Con Edison lockout enters its 20^th day, stories are emerging of workers who are struggling without healthcare coverage and supervisors who are exhausted from suddenly being thrust into 12 hour days covering the very physical jobs they held years ago.  To make matters worse, temperatures are hitting record highs, and the utility is being forced to lower wattages being supplied to segments of their customer base.

As the political season heats up, so too does the rhetoric about who’s right and wrong in headline-making labor-management disputes. Recent among those was coverage of the Machinists strike at a Caterpillar hydraulic parts factory in Joliet, Illinois.

I had a little epiphany during my annual spring drive to improve my golf game.  Understand that improving my current handicap should not be a great challenge, but I like to think that starting early will result in some seriously lower scores for those two or three rounds of golf I will actually get around to playing each year.  In any case I decided I should focus on putting – after all it’s the club I use most often in the course of a round, so…