U.S. Air Force - Multi-Party
Negotiation and Conflict
Management Training
April 2006
Location: Air War College,
Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama
Background
The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict
Resolution was tasked by the U.S. Air Force
General Counsel’s Office for Dispute
Resolution to lead the development of a
multi-party negotiation and conflict
management training framework.
The goal was to draw on the experience and
research in the field of environmental conflict
resolution (ECR) to create the basis for multiparty
negotiation and conflict management
training where interagency and
intergovernmental cooperation are essential.
Results and Accomplishments
In April 2006, the multi-party negotiation and
conflict management training was delivered at the
Air War College in the first of a series of
workshops. Participant feedback was exceedingly
positive:
Effective Workshop
"Most complete negotiations coursework I have
ever experienced; great balance between lecture
and exercises."
“Great practical applications through various
exercises and scenarios."
Workshop Impacts on Air Force Effectiveness
"This class will have a positive impact on my
leadership and interaction within my organization.
These are very powerful concepts."
"Negotiation skills and understanding that many
factors involved [in conflict management] will be
crucial in future duty."
"Great information for my toolkit - both personally
and professionally."
"Outstanding! My future position will put me in an
environment of negotiating inspection results and
post inspection reactions - influencing more senior
officers and improving the Air Force. First class!"
Highlights/Innovation
The U.S. Institute helped translate 30 years of
experience in the field of ECR to help the Air
Force meet its goals “to use alternative dispute
resolution in environmental and land-use
disputes more often and more systematically,”
and to "streamline dispute resolution processes,
reduce dispute resolution cycle times, and avoid
unnecessary dispute resolution costs."
In one year alone, the U.S. Air Force avoided
$19.6 million in liability in contract disputes and
resolved issues much more quickly using ADR
than would have been the case with litigation.
With this training effort, the U.S. Air Force is
continuing to build its ADR capacity and
potentially reap similar benefits in the
environmental aren