2019 Annual Conference

Adult Basic Education and Literacy Education

Concurrent Session (45 minutes)

Guiding adults through conflict promotes health in both the organization and its membership. Nonprofits are particularly unique because members often possess voting rights that cultivate a sense of ownership. Principles in andragogy are effective in promoting interdependence and equipping adults to learn their way through conflict rather than embracing avoidance.

Leaders of adult learners in environments in which decision-making is decentralized and each member possesses a sense of ownership for the organization and its success.

Adult learners receive three principles from Jean Lipman-Blumen's Connective Leadership Theory that are relevant for managing conflict. Learners will be divided into groups and presented with a real-life example in which there was conflict regarding how a non-profit should solve a problem facing an organization. Each group will endeavor to offer an approach to solving the organization's problem that synthesizes the varying perspectives each member of the group brings with them into the engagement.

Technology and globalization have changed how organizations and their membership generate and manage conflict. Many leaders have been compelled to deal with disputes that originated on social media platforms outside of regular work hours. Leaders must know how to handle disputes that arise from within their members whose opinions differ on how the organization should conduct itself in a given situation. Leaders who are unable or unwilling to build points of interconnectedness may find themselves continually putting out those proverbial fires instead of resolving conflicts and moving the organization forward. Connective Leadership Theory is a relatively new construct to the field of organizational leadership, but its emphasis on interdependence and diversity is compatible with a discussion on conflict management. All organizations, both non-profit or for-profit, must embrace the concept that every one them are global citizens who each possess a fundamentally unique perspective on how business should is to be conducted and how their members learn to engage the world around them. Effective conflict management is about cultivating an environment in which open and relevant dialogue can take place that enables everyone involved to move forward towards the best possible outcomes.

Part One: 15 minute powerpoint on Connective Leadership and Andragogy. Part 2: 10 minute group case study, Part 3: Discussion/Q&A