Handbook of Solution-Focused Conflict Management
Book Review
Sep 28, 2024
Abstract
Fredrike Bannink sums up what her book is all about in the first chapter when she says “Solution-focused (SF) conflict management no longer focuses on the conflict itself but on what clients want to change in their lives and how to make that happen. It is about their “best case scenario”, or even their “good enough case scenario”, instead of their “worst case scenario”. SF conflict management – focusing on hope, optimism, self-efficacy, resilience, competencies and possibilities – offers new ways to form or strengthen relationships, encouraging trust and respect or alternatively to end relationships in as pleasant a manner as possible. SF conflict management, sometimes called SF mediation, is applicable in all settings where there is a conflict and people decide to do something about it, from divorce conflicts, family and neighbour conflicts, team and labour conflicts, personal injury conflicts to international conflicts.