The Practice of Public Dispute Resolution: Measuring the Dollar Value of the Field

Abstract

Public dispute resolution occupies an important space within the broader practice of conflict management. Professional public dispute mediators have helped to resolve disagreements over the allocation of scarce resources, the setting of standards, and the making of choices over policy priorities at the local, state, and national levels for almost thirty years. In a public dispute, at least one of the parties, often the convening party, is a public agency or governmental body, and public dispute resolution typically involves a substantial number of stakeholder representatives (gathered on an ad hoc basis after a careful conflict assessment) and a “professional neutral” who is adept at facilitating complex and heated deliberations over technically complex issues. Because public agencies are involved, the results of such deliberations must still be acted upon by elected or appointed officials. When public dispute resolution works well, informed consensus is reached in writing, litigation is avoided, and elected officials implement the proposals or agreements put before them. With great relief, we announce that the field of public dispute resolution has moved out of its adolescence and is now a full-fledged, mature professional service area. Gone are the days when playing the neutral role in a public dispute required three parts boldness and one part ingenuity. Hundreds of practitioners now claim public dispute resolution as their primary occupation, and both private and public institutions exist solely to