A note on conflict resolution and truthtelling

Many recent contributions in the Operational Research OR literature have been concerned with the resolution of multiple person conflicts. It is often suggested, that in a first phase the disputants should clarify and signal their individual desires and in a second phase these desires should be used in a mediation process in which individual desires are compromised. The aim of this note is to argue that the second phase must be designed in such a way that the parties have proper incentives to reveal their true preferences in the first phase. To illustrate this perspective, the paper investigates under which circumstances a recent conflict resolution methodology presented by F.A. Lootsma in 1989 may induce truthful revelation of preferences.