The Past as Prologue: How the Early Years of the US Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution Helped Shape the Program at Age Fifteen

Abstract

AbstractThis article reflects empirically on the early history and evolution of the US Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (USIECR) to analyze how and why this public entity not only has survived in an ever‐changing political environment but also has succeeded in shaping a robust environmental conflict resolution field. The authors use Quinn and Rohrbaugh's (1981) competing values framework, as well as theories about organizational birth and early evolution, as lenses through which to view this organizational birth and evolution. Project data derive from sixty interviews carried out in the early years of USIECR, as well as archival materials, government documents, and participant observation. The authors conclude that a balanced approach to strategic leadership from early planning phases to adolescent reauthorization resulted in success and set the stage for the accomplishments that USIECR celebrates on its fifteenth birthday, an occasion for all government‐based environmental conflict resolution programs to reflect on their own strategic approaches for achieving success.