Alma Jadallah, ICAR Ph.D. Alumna and Adjunct Professor
Threaded through her work and scholarship is a commitment to reflective practice and a keen sensitivity to the dynamics of conflict within complex systems. She is well attuned to how culture influences the expression and transformation of conflict and in her consultations and teaching helps others navigate the challenging interfaces between diverse cultures, from worldview to organizational roles, from gender to geography. Her service to the larger field of conflict resolution is broad and deep, and her practice reaches communities both here and abroad.
Dr Alma Abdul-Hadi Jadallah is the President and Managing Director of Kommon Denominator, Inc., providing consultations and technical expertise for organizational development, conflict resolution, and training. Her clients include academic institutions, Fortune 500 companies, government, and NGOs. She has led civil society initiatives related to the Arab world and Islamic communities in the U.S. and abroad, working in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. She is the recipient of the 2009 Regional Star Business Award and the D.C. Region Top Women Business Enterprise for 2008. Within the ICAR community Dr. Jadallah wears many hats: adjunct faculty, Advisory Board member, student mentor, and alumna.
She encourages those building a conflict resolution practice to reflect on what they bring to the situation, of how they are impacting the conversation. She notes “It is important to know that people are not operating in a vacuum. Even if they want to change, influence change or protest for change, what they want to do has implications for themselves and those around them. To be effective, you must really understand the positioning of the person and the unstated rules, how are they situated with others within different complex systems.” For Dr. Jadallah, a key ethical question is “if you encourage change, will you stand by them?” Yet she has learned that even within such constraints, change happens and one of the greatest satisfactions is to see when people feel more able to act and can see new possibilities.