Getting to Know the Dimensions of Performance for Resolve Conflict and Negotiate

Take a minute now to look over the performance continuum for Resolve Conflict and Negotiate. Each of the three levels is on a separate page.

Section 1 — The Components of Performance

The continuum begins with the definition of the standard, one that remains the same for each level of performance. Including the definition as the starting point for each performance level description reminds us that the definition of the standard as an integrated skill process is consistent across the continuum.

Section 2 — Knowledge, Skills and Strategies

The second section is a list of the key knowledge, skills, and cognitive and metacognitive strategies to be mastered for proficient performance at each level. These are the primary behavioral indicators (or benchmarks) of proficient performance at each level.

Bullet 1 focuses on the defining and recalling, restating, or summarizing of a conflict in a way that is fair to the conflicted parties. As students move up the levels, they are expected to be able to talk with greater detail about increasingly complex conflicts with more than one area of disagreement. As student move up the levels, they are also expected to identify increasingly more areas of agreement.

Bullet 2 deals with gathering and analyzing the information needed to demonstrate an understanding of differing positions and suggesting options for resolving the conflict that have win/win potential. As students move up levels, they should be able to demonstrate deeper levels of understanding of differing positions and be able to suggest more options for resolution.

Bullet 3 includes the use of strategies - such as application of prior knowledge, questioning, listening to verbal communications, and interpretation of verbal and-non verbal cues - to facilitate negotiation between parties toward a course of action that can satisfy their needs and interests. Use of strategies and the complexity of strategies should increase as students move up levels.

Bullet 4 addresses monitoring the negotiation process and its results for effectiveness and fairness, as well as adjusting strategies as necessary to reach consensus resolution, if possible. This bullet is the same across all levels, but students are expected to monitor and adjust in increasingly advanced ways as they move up the levels.

Section 3 — Fluency, Independence and Range

This section is a description of the fluency, independence, and ability to perform in a range of settings expected for proficient performance on the standard at each level.

• Fluency of performance refers to the level of effort or ease required for an adult to retrieve and apply what he or she knows in order to resolve conflict and negotiate.
• Independence of performance reflects the extent to which the person needs direction or guidance in organizing, solving, and communicating the resolution to a conflict.
• Range of performance refers both to how well a person can use conflict resolution and negotiation skills and whether the person can transfer learning from one context to another. This includes both a range of kinds and complexity of conflict resolution and negotiation tasks, and a range of contexts and audiences for tasks.

Section 4 — Examples of Proficient Performance

This section includes examples of the kinds of purposeful applications of the standard that can be accomplished by an adult who is proficient at each level. These examples represent only a few of many conflict resolution and negotiation activities that could be developed in adult education settings.

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