C ONFLICT AND CONFRONTATION IN forms and dimensions never experienced before seem to have become a normal element in the life of our public institutions. Organizations and agencies which have in the past been able to resolve differences-mostly of an internal character-through negotiation, accommodation, and compromise, have had to face militant and seemingly unreasonable demands often accompanied by violence and vandalism. The usual techniques of resolving differences of opinion in social institutions do not appear to be adequate to meet the current crises, and administrators are struggling to develop some consistent methods of carrying out their functions. Over the past decades confrontation in our social life has shifted from the field of labor management to public organizations. The days of bloody battles for union recognition and economic gains have been supplanted by student strikes, civil rights marches, and welfare protests. Of course, not all labor disputes are now settled by peaceful negotiations. There is still violence in some industries, especially where ethnic minorities make up a substantial part of the labor force or where mandatory legal processes are not applicable for settling labor disputes. But these are usually local in nature, rather infrequent, and have not merited the attention of the press and the public at large. The violence that marked labor-management disputes in the first half of this century has re-