Dear Lecturers, Researchers and Students,

The College of Economics, Law, and Government (CELG) would like to respectfully invite lecturers/researchers/students to come and share your experiences at the workshop series. These workshops aim to explore the principles of collaborative governance and conflict resolution, game theory, and their applications in public policy decision-making. Professor Greenwood's extensive practical experience of over 20 years with the National Policy Consensus Center at Portland State University makes him a valuable resource for insights into these topics.

Presenter: Prof. Stephen Greenwood, National Policy Consensus Center (NPCC), Portland State University

Venue: Room B1-1001, 279 Nguyen Tri Phuong, Ward 5, Dist. 10, Ho Chi Minh City

Register to attend the workshops here

Workshop 1: Collaborative Principles for Resolving Issues

Time: 10:30 AM, March 11, 2024

Professor Stephen Greenwood will present a seminar on how collaborative principles can be used to help resolve public policy disagreements, and to help groups with very different interests and perspectives reach an agreement. 

He will utilize game theory and negotiation theory, as well as more than 20 years of practical experience with the National Policy Consensus Center at Portland State University to explain how collaborative principles can be used to obtain an optimal result for all participants.  (And he will use Vietnamese traffic circles as a real-world example.) 

Among the topics to be covered will be:

• The difference between collaborative conflict resolution, and other approaches
• Interest-based negotiation techniques
• The difference between two-party and multi-party negotiations
• The role of trust in policy negotiations, and how to build (or re-build) trust
• The importance of reciprocity

There will also be several case studies provided that illustrate the principles of collaborative conflict resolution. 

Workshop 2: What Public Officials and Administrators Can Learn from Game Theory

Time: 10:30 AM, March 13, 2024

Public Administration and Public Policy research often tells us how we can optimize outcomes through our decisions or actions.  But what if our outcomes depend upon the actions of others?  This is what Game Theory teaches us.  It is a branch of economics often called Behavioral Economics. 

Professor Greenwood has found that Game Theory is the foundational basis for Collaborative Governance.  He will explain the basics of Game theory and what it says about how we should interact with others to get the best result.  The answer is sometimes surprising, and it makes the case for why cooperation with others not only can produce the best collective result, but also the best individual result for each party in a relationship. 

This discussion is intended to be highly interactive and will focus on some of the most famous “serious games” in game theory:  The Prisoners’ Dilemma, the Common Pot game, the Ultimatum Game, and the Trust game. We hope this will be a fun and lively session. 

Workshop 3: How Collaborative Governance Can Make Programs and Projects More Successful

Time: 10:30 AM, March 14, 2024

Professor Stephen Greenwood will present a seminar on how the practice of collaborative government can make government more effective. The focus of this workshop will be how collective action can help develop projects and programs that are bigger, better, faster, or cheaper.   

With more than 20 years of practical experience with the National Policy Consensus Center at Portland State University, Professor Greenwood will help explain the theory of collaborative governance and illustrate the theory with real-world examples from his experience

Among the topics to be covered will be:

• How collective action differs from conflict resolution and public engagement
• The steps in the collaborative governance process
• The important role of convening
• Determining who needs to be at the table

There will also be several case studies provided that illustrate the principles and benefits of collaborative governance.