Director's Update

Harry C. Katz is the Director of the Scheinman Institute and the Jack Sheinkman Professor of Collective Bargaining.

We, at the Scheinman Institute, pride ourselves in the development and application of conflict resolution techniques that can help parties identify and take advantage of problem solving i.e. integrative solutions.

We see this as a mean to both avoid costly conflicts and expand the pie. One would hope that conflict resolution skills could be promoted by us and others in our field to assist forthcoming initiatives developed by the new Biden administration to address pressing problems concerning racial justice, climate change, workplace due process, and education and infrastructure needs.

At the same time, our experience teaches that not all disputes are subject to compromise when disputes concern core values. The constitutional and electoral challenges that have recently violently surfaced wrestle with core democratic values and principles. For these challenges, there are not compromise solutions.