Meta-Culture: Working on Dialogue and Conflict Resolution in India

Over the past five years, the Public Conversations Project and India-based Meta-Culture have been partners in the field of Conflict Resolution, learning from each other’s experiences in bringing dialogue to new conflicts, cultures, and populations. PCP is therefore thrilled to congratulate Meta-Culture on their Outstanding Leadership Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution—a professional organization dedicated to enhancing the practice and public understanding of Conflict Resolution. Here, Meta-Culture shares with us the work that led to this award, as well as the organization’s vision for the future.

Meta-Culture’s Work in India Wins ACR Leadership Award

Comprised of a multi-national team of trained Conflict Resolution practitioners from India, the United States, Germany, and Italy, Meta-Culture helps corporations, communities, civic organizations, and government agencies leverage the opportunities inherent in conflict and resolve seemingly intractable disputes. The organization is establishing a new field, bringing the practice of dialogue to India.

Conflict, Dispute Resolution, Mediation and Dialogue are all terms that, while commonly bandied about in India, are often misused and misunderstood. Such misunderstanding is not surprising given that Conflict Resolution, as a field of academic inquiry and professional practice, is very new to India. Establishing a new vocabulary for addressing differences and resolving disputes, as well as addressing and managing the perceptions (and misperceptions!) of our work, are daily challenges. Carving out a distinct identity for our profession and garnering respect for our expertise is particularly challenging in light of more commonly accepted professions (e.g. organizational development, counseling, law, social advocacy) that also brand themselves as conflict resolvers.

For the team (including both past and present employees), being awarded the ACR’s Outstanding Leadership Award is a tremendous milestone. After five years of work to establish and promote Conflict Resolution in India, for us the award is an important acknowledgment of our commitment to a unique and ambitious vision: a world where individuals and societies seize upon instances of difference as opportunities for engagement with ‘the other’ through which personal and systemic transformation is always a possibility.

The award is also an acknowledgment of the unique organizational culture we are striving to create at Meta-Culture. In our everyday functioning and internal interactions, we are committed to the rigorous application of Conflict Resolution tools and principles. We are serious about being the change we want to see in the world. It is our hope that Meta-Culture might be a model that inspires other organizations to exist in a similar manner.

Above all, through the ACR’s generous recognition, we feel appreciated for our efforts to build a more peaceable society in this region of the world. Given the ups and downs we have faced in the last five years, we receive the award with no little emotion and tremendous gratitude.

July 12, 2010

Interested in working at this terrific organization? Learn about Meta-Culture's current search for a Trainer & Consultant and a Business Development and Client Manager for Corporate Education programs.

Also check out this follow-up post in which Meta-Culture details its unique organizational culture and explains why that culture is key to its work.