Seeking Sustainable Solutions: Using an Attractor Simulation Platform for Teaching Multistakeholder Negotiation in Complex Cases

Abstract

We live and work in an increasingly complex and dynamic world. The demands of working in such environments require that negotiators understand situations of conflict and work with these situations in correspondingly complex and dynamic ways. Dynamical systems theory offers important insights and tools to enhance the understanding of difficult social conflicts, including the conceptualization of ongoing destructive conflicts as strong attractors: a particular form of self‐organization of multiple elements comprising the mental and social systems associated with conflict. This article describes the pedagogical use of a computer simulation of conflict attractors (the attractor software) that allows participants to visualize and work interactively with the dynamics of conflict as they unfold over time. It further describes a negotiation workshop that employs the simulation to enhance participants' understanding of complex long‐term dynamics in conflict and presents the findings of two outcome studiescomparing the effectiveness of a workshop that employed the simulation with one that employed a traditional integrative problem‐solving method. While not definitive, these studies suggest that an understanding of the dynamical approach to conflict, supported by use of the attractor software, can promote the generation of more sustainable solutions for long‐term conflicts.

Public–Private Partnerships from a Systems Perspective: A Case in the English National Health Service

“…Different views are likely to be reframed and re‐interpreted until they fit the dominant view. A deep basin of attraction (B) corresponds to inability ‘to transform the malignant tendencies of an intractable conflict. When the attractor for destructive conflict is deep (as in attractor B), attempting to resolve the conflict is like trying to push a ball uphill from the valley floor’ (Nowak et al ., : p. 54). If the force used to push the ball is relaxed, the state of the system will roll back into that attractor.…”

“…According to Nowak et al . (), a conflict has a volatile and instable nature because it can endure over considerable periods of time without any diminution from each of the parties involved. Conflicts stem from interactions of interconnected parties that influence each other and are manifested in different ways, depending on the conflict in question.…”

“…General Systems Theory enables the conceptualization of PPP as Systems. In addition to this conceptualization, DST (Coleman et al ., , ; Coleman ; Hoffmann, ; Nowak et al ., ; ) assists in illustrating conflicts between PPP partners. According to Nowak et al .…”

“…The results (interviews and observation) suggest that there was no intention for collaboration between the PPP partners. These ‘malignant tendencies of the intractable conflict’ (Nowak et al ., : p. 53) were difficult to be transformed. Even if the system was able to reach (B), it would be difficult to remain at that state.…”

“…To address the aforementioned challenges, I firstly conceptualize PPP using General Systems Theory (GST) (Katz and Kahn, ; von Bertalanffy, ; Checkland, ; Weinberg, ) and then focus on conflicts in PPP. To illustrate these conflicts, I discuss Dynamical Systems Theory (DST) (Coleman ; Coleman et al ., ; ; Nowak et al ., ; ) by using a study of Lean Thinking (Lean) (e.g. Womack et al ., ; Womack and Jones, ) implementation in an English hospital.…”