Does it take Three to Make Two Happy? An Experimental Study on Bargaining with Mediation

Mediation is a conflict resolution method in which a third neutral party provides assistance to the conflict parties.The process of mediation as well as any solution to the conflict arising from it is implemented only by the consent of all conflict parties.It is the role of a mediator to stimulate communication that leads to mutual understanding of the feasible conflict outcomes, i.e. to complete information on solution consequences among the parties of the conflict. This information is used by the parties of the conflict to evaluate their own as well as the others consequences of a proposed solution to the conflict.However, it is not clear whether the information itself, or the way it was obtained (by voluntary participation in a process in which it was collected) leads to a con ict resolution.This paper concentrates on the bargaining behavior in a conflict, abstracting from the mediators methods and techniques.We design an experiment where two-person conflicts are resolved in an unstructured bargaining and study whether the way of obtaining information on the relative payoffs influences the conflict resolution process.We also study the demand for such information by individuals with various types of social preferences.This allows us to address the role of self-selection in the mediation process.information in unstructured bargaining;conflict resolution;mediation;experiment

Transforming New Zealand Employment Relations: At the Intersection of Institutional Dispute Resolution and Workplace Conflict Management

In New Zealand, the contemporary shift from highly regulated, collectivist employment rights to individual employment relationships included statutory direction to mediation. Good faith negotiation in the workplace and state provision of mediation were to be the primary mechanisms for resolution of ‘employment relationship problems’ (ERP). This paper investigates the intersection between workplace conflict management and institutional provision of mediation. We investigated ERP resolution by drawing on empirical evidence from 38 narrative interviews where participants recounted experiences of employment relationship problem (ERP) resolution. We analysed 243 ERP by comparing settlements to end employment relationships with resolution of ERP where relationships endured. We sought to understand why some ERP remained unresolved and/or escalated. We found that collaborative reflective sense-making had a positive impact on early workplace problem resolution while investigation and confidential settlement negotiations risked injustice. We present, therefore, some suggestions for embedding collaborative conflict management in the workplace

Mediation and peace

This paper applies mechanism design to conflict resolution. We determine when and how unmediated communication and mediation reduce the ex ante probability of conflict in a game with asymmetric information. Mediation improves upon unmediated communication when the intensity of conflict is high, or when asymmetric information is significant. The mediator improves upon unmediated communication by not precisely reporting information to conflicting parties, and precisely, by not revealing to a player with probability one that the opponent is weak. Arbitrators who can enforce settlements are no more effective than mediators who only make non-binding recommendations

Adaptive Mediation and Conflict Resolution

This open access book introduces adaptive mediation as an alternative approach that enables mediators to go beyond liberal peace mediation, or other determined-design models of mediation, in the context of contemporary conflict resolution and peace-making initiatives. Adaptive mediation is grounded in complexity theory, and is specifically designed to cope with highly dynamic conflict situations characterized by uncertainty and a lack of predictability. It is also a facilitated mediation process whereby the content of agreements emerges from the parties to the conflict themselves, informed by the context within which the conflict is situated. This book presents the core principles and practices of adaptive mediation in conjunction with empirical evidence from four diverse case studies – Colombia, Mozambique, The Philippines, and Syria – with a view to generate recommendations for how mediators can apply adaptive mediation approaches to resolve and transform contemporary and future armed conflicts

DIPL 6117 AA International Mediation

This course will focus on the analytical, methodological and practical tools of conflict mediation and resolution with an emphasis on conflict prevention, management and resolution. We will examine: the causes and sources of international conflict; the dynamics of third party intervention; and mediation skills. The course will include a blend of lectures, class discussions, individual and group exercises, and mediation role plays in class

School Violence: Evaluation of an Elementary School Peer Mediation Program

Studies and statistical reports have revealed school violence as an issue of ongoing concern. Research has identified the media, early parent child interactions, and peer interactions as primary socializing agents in the development of aggression. Middle childhood, the elementary school years, has been identified as a key period of concern for the development of aggression and engaging in acts of violence. Studies have identified school-based peer mediation and conflict resolution programs, particularly those that incorporate cognitive behavioral approaches grounded in social learning theory, as tools for combating school violence. Peer mediation programs teach positive peer interactions and social skills to students who, in turn, model those behaviors which are internalized by other students who begin to accept the standards and values of the program within the school community (i.e., social learning). Educators, specifically school counselors, are being called upon to create, implement, and conduct internal evaluations of school-based mediation and conflict resolution programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Peace Pal peer mediation program implemented in September 2000 at an elementary school in Tidewater, Virginia. This outcome-oriented objectives-based internal program evaluation utilizes a quantitative and qualitative mixed-method quasi-experimental approach to assess program effectiveness in five domains: (a) frequency of out of school suspensions, (b) knowledge pertaining to conflict, conflict resolution, and mediation, (c) success of conflict resolution in peer mediation sessions, (d) participant perceptions of mediation session value, and (e) mediator perceptions of program value. Results of the study indicate the Peace Pal program is effective in reducing school-wide violence, increases Peace Pal knowledge pertaining to mediation and conflict resolution, experiences successful conflict resolve during mediation sessions, and participants and Peace Pals perceive peer mediation sessions and the Peace Pal program as valuable, respectively

Mapping Perspectives on the EU as Mediator

Research on the European Union’s role as a meditator is nascent. It predominantly focuses on case studies or is cursorily embedded within wider research on the European Union (EU) as a crisis manager. Moreover, there is a significant disconnect between the established studies on mediation based in Conflict Analysis Studies and the EU’s foreign and security policy situated in Security Studies. Thus, there is a dearth of systematic engagement on the issue of EU mediation, although the EU often uses the language of mediation as a key component of its external commitments to conflict prevention, transformation and resolution. While advancements in mediation research suggest that there are certain determinants of mediation, and highlight key features that support and impede actors during conflict, this has not been systematically applied to the EU. Consequently, a key task of this workshop was to establish conceptual clarity and practical information about on the EU’s mediation roles. As a starting point, this workshop took stock of EU mediation knowledge from the perspective of different actors including academics, civil society and policy practitioners. In particular, it explored the limited academic engagement with this particular aspect of EU foreign and security policy. Additionally, the workshop critically interrogated how the EU understood its role in international mediation practice by exploring its capabilities and infrastructure and thereby locating opportunities and constraints to it performance. By bringing together various perspectives these discussions generated critical insights into where the remaining gaps in knowledge lay and the possibilities of academic partnerships with practitioners and policymakers to create new knowledge for Security and Conflict Analysis Studies

Reframing workplace relations? Conflict resolution and mediation in a Primary Care Trust

In recent years, workplace conflict has become increasingly manifest in individual employment disputes as collective labour regulation has been eroded. Accordingly attention has been focused on finding ways to facilitate the early resolution of such disputes. Policy-makers have placed a particular emphasis on workplace mediation. However, the broader impact of mediation on conventional grievance and disciplinary processes and on the workplace relations that underpin them has been largely ignored. This paper reports on research into the introduction of an in-house mediation scheme within a primary care trust (PCT). It explores the implications of the scheme for: workplace relations within the organisation; the dynamics of conflict management; and trade union influence. It argues that the introduction of mediation provided a conduit through which positive workplace relations were rebuilt which in turn facilitated informal processes of dispute resolution. Furthermore, it allowed trade unions within the organisation to extend their influence into areas traditionally dominated by managerial prerogative

Adaptive Mediation and Conflict Resolution

This open access book introduces adaptive mediation as an alternative approach that enables mediators to go beyond liberal peace mediation, or other determined-design models of mediation, in the context of contemporary conflict resolution and peace-making initiatives. Adaptive mediation is grounded in complexity theory, and is specifically designed to cope with highly dynamic conflict situations characterized by uncertainty and a lack of predictability. It is also a facilitated mediation process whereby the content of agreements emerges from the parties to the conflict themselves, informed by the context within which the conflict is situated. This book presents the core principles and practices of adaptive mediation in conjunction with empirical evidence from four diverse case studies – Colombia, Mozambique, The Philippines, and Syria – with a view to generate recommendations for how mediators can apply adaptive mediation approaches to resolve and transform contemporary and future armed conflicts

Locating the mediator within workplace discourse: supporter of the status quo or humble "midwife" of dialogue? Developing an alternative workplace mediation practice.

It appears to be commonly claimed by workplace mediators that they are 'neutral', that is, they do not influence parties' decisions but merely help them to find their own solutions to a conflict. This is problematic if, beneath a cloak of an illusory neutrality, mediators unwittingly contain and manage conflicts to meet overarching needs for organizational efficiency. A closer scrutiny of workplace mediation, both theoretical and practical, reveals mediators to be very influential in ways that are often obscure, being hidden within naturalised and dominant discursive patterns of contemporary organizational life. Issues of confidentiality and political sensitivity precluded access to actual mediation sessions. Therefore, a video recording of three experienced workplace mediators conducting role-play mediations was used. By studying mediators' spoken interventions it was possible to assess the 'subject positions' they maintained and enacted. Whilst the mediators facilitated reflection by the parties upon their conflict, strong tendencies to manage resolution or reconciliation were observed. Follow up discussions with the participating mediators revealed a reluctance to acknowledge this finding. For them, workplace mediation was best conceptualised as a path to more efficient working behaviours via the mediated resolution of conflict. In sum, founding values of mediation, concerned to support movement towards dialogue, had been supplanted by an instrumental application inside the workplace. Building on a critique that posits workplace mediators acting as proxy managers, an alternative, counterfactual, style of mediating is proposed that may help to partially free mediation practice from colonizing organizational pressures. Resting upon an understanding of the social construction of the 'self', this alternative style suggests that mediators bring a compassionate humility to their practice to support parties in an exploration of a conflict and an understanding of their part in it. As far as possible, goals of resolution or reconciliation are eschewed by such mediators, though probably and understandably not by the parties. In this way a conflict may be opened up to a sense of the radical contingency of social relations, in which both the politics and our fantasies of the social are sometimes revealed