Business English - Conflict Resolution - from Parshat Mattot

By Rachael Alice Orbach

Conflicts come in all shapes and sizes in our lives, from small disputes involving children and parents to large one concerning nations.  In this last Weekly Parsha, Mattot, we have a situation regarding a big conflict between Moshe and the two and half tribes or Reuven, Gad and the half tribe of Manashe.

Read this article written by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

http://www.ou.org/torah/parsha/rabbi-sacks-on-parsha/conflict-resolution/

Key Terms: 

conflict resolution	vital	leadership
long-term	cohesiveness	divisiveness
rancor	back-biting	resentment
internal politics	a lack of trust	the common good
situated	destination	permission
possession	putting their own interests	abandoning
to inherit	discourage	potentially disastrous
demoralized	impregnable	condemn
confrontational	negotiation	compromise
provisions	alongside	invoke
recognizes	justified	secession
intention	delegation	objectively
mutual gain	impartial criteria	focused
striking	deserted	principled

Questions: 

How does Moshe view the conflict between the two Tribes of Reuven, Gad and the Half tribe of Manashe? 

What could have been the result, before the negotiation? 

What was the danger that Moshe was trying to avert? 

How did Moshe run the negotiations?  What was his final objective?  

Case Study 

Think of a time that you had to do Conflict Resolution in your life.  What was the conflict about? What was difficult about it?  Did it end in a satisfactorily for everyone? 

Have you ever employed Moshes' conflict resolution strategy?