Mediation Community Marked by Rich Diversity of Background and Perspective

The Winter 2012 quarter of ACResolution Magazine has a very nice series of articles addressing how mediators' various professional backgrounds affect their conflict resolution work.

The issue offers a refreshingly pragmatic view point, in my opinion.  In the past few years, LinkedIn and other professional discussion groups have reflected some serious "crisis of faith" amongst alternative dispute resolution (ADR) practitioners, as we weigh the relative merits of competing mediator styles, and struggle to define ourselves within this very broad and indefinite system of processes and techniques called ADR.  

To me, much of this chatter calls to mind the admonition that we mind our own row, not that of our neighbors.  Not only do we not need to comment on and critique the different ways our neighbors have of doing things, we also do not need to judge ourselves against our neighbors.  What I appreciated about this ACResolution issue is that it neatly eschews the whole discourse of whose way is better, by simply recognizing that we ADR professionals are all uniquely shaped by our backgrounds and experiences. 

Do We Care More about the Niceties than Conflicts of Interest and Incompetency?

As a neutral Administrative Law Judge and arbitrator, I have had some hot-headed uncivil litigants appear before me over the years.  Sometimes I have threatened them with sanctions: mild, administrative stuff, such as excluding argument or evidence which the incivility concerns; halting the hearing; or--in extreme cases reflecting a pattern of disrespect--excluding counsel or their client from the hearing.  Generally, though, I chalk it up to that just being what advocates do.

Recently though, I have had cause to wonder if  society and/or the bench is going through a bit of a metamorphosis on this issue.  The April 2012 ABA Journal notes

Cultural Issues in Conflict Resolution

In Have Gavel, Will Travel, Honeyman and Cheldelin (2008) note the increasingly global and cross-cultural aspect of conflict resolution. Indeed, society itself is increasingly global and cross-cultural, so it should come as no surprise that conflict is increasingly cross-cultural.  This is all relevant for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) practitioners because we must always be aware of and sensitive to diversity and cultural competency issues.   We must provide ADR services, including conflict resolution education, that respect the

Mediating Workplace Bullying Claims*

As I have previously written, bullying is a hot topic today.   Cleaning House and Cleaning Up Our Acts - Anti-Bullying Legislation, and Bullying Legislation, Revisited.  As such, it is natural for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) practitioners to move into this field.  However, caution should be used in doing so, and practitioners should consider in each case whether mediation is appropriate and, if so, what it should look like.

In the Fall 2011 issue of the ACR Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Vol. 29 No. 1, Moira Jenkins asks Is Mediation Suitable for Complaints of Workplace Bullying? Although she herself does not appear to come to any firm conclusions, the article raises a number of helpful points to be considered by managers and individual ADR practitioners consider the issue.  First, as Ms. Jenkins observes, bullying is often not well defined, and in the workplace bullying may be confused with a number of other activities that are similar but nonetheless distinct. 

Independent Decision Makers--What to Make of It?

As an Administrative Law Judge and arbitrator, I have felt pressures to conform to the needs or desires of the executive or other party employing me.  I have written about this before, in the context of reminding folks that the judiciary is not so special in this regard.  See A Pressured Judiciary--Fact of Life and Cause for Alarm?  Indeed, it is likely that the tendency to exert pressure--even if inadvertently and/or subtly--is far greater in the administrative or arbitration contexts, where the adjudicatory decision maker is more likely to work closely and regularly with party representatives.  

That is not to say there is something nefarious is going on.  It could be as simple as having a casual conversation about procedure that gently blends into due process questions,

"Insight Mediation"--Just a New Handle for Old School Skills?

The 2011 Winter issue of the ACR Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 2, includes an article by Cheryl Picard and Marnie Jull describing "insight mediation" as a new and emergent method or style of mediation.  Learning Through Deepening Conversations:  A Key Strategy of Insight Mediation.  The authors attempt to distinguish it from other styles or theories of mediation, and includes some new terms and language, but

Revisiting Mediation Styles and Their Correlation to Results

Over a year ago, I reviewed an article in the ACR Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Fall- Vol 28, No. 1, by James A. Wall, Jr. and Suzanne Chan-Serafin, asking “Do Mediators Walk Their Talk in Civil Cases?”  Wall and Chan-Serafin, along with Timothy Dunne have now revisited the issue of mediator strategies (what I call "styles") to analyze the relative consistency and success rates of different mediation styles, as well as the settlement rates in particular types of cases.  Again, their data reveals some surprising and not so surprising trends.