When two people are aware there is a dispute between them and
they are both willing to resolve things together with the assistance of
a third party, mediation is a useful technique that is offered in many
workplaces and other contexts. However, coaching may be preferred
in the following circumstances:
• One or more of the disputants wants to gain the knowledge,
skills and ability to manage situations by him- or herself.
• One or both of the disputants does not want to have a third
party involved.
• Animosity between the parties is high and there is limited, if
any, willingness to work together.
• The parties have disparate objectives regarding the outcome
of mediation, which may frustrate or even exacerbate matters.
• One of the disputants is embarrassed or ashamed about the
conflict and does not want to engage in a process that may
make others in the organization aware of the discord-for
instance, the manager, the person or department that coordinates
the mediation, and so on.
• Although mediation is meant to be informal, it is not always
experienced as such. In a workplace dispute, some clients may
consider mediation a more formal process than is necessary
for what they want to achieve. Others do not want minutes
of settlement or a filing of any sort in their personnel records
(if it is the organization’s practice to keep related records in
employees’ files) .
• Mediation is premised on the parties’ voluntary participation,
but some people may perceive that their attendance is mandatory.
Any related resistance adds another layer to the conflict
dynamic.
• One party is concerned that raising and resolving issues in
mediation will create retaliatory and other negative outcomes.
• One disputant resists facing a manager or another staff
member in a higher position where a power imbalance exists
between the parties. Similarly, an employee may consider that
initiating mediation with a manager or other authority figure
would be inappropriate, for cultural or other reasons.
Experienced mediators work through many of the above circumstances
on a regular basis. However, when given the choice, some people
consider conflict management coaching to be a more appropriate process
for what they wish to achieve. Readers wanting more information
about the differences and similarities between mediation and conflict
management coaching may refer to Appendix II. Chapter 6 will discuss
how these two processes may work together.
Different Types of Mediation
There are many different forms of mediation. Principles from five of
them, described below, are relevant to the CINERGY™ model.
Interest-Based Mediation
The approach of interest-based negotiation and mediation is primarily
problem-solving. The mediator’s role is to foster a cooperative forum
and help the disputants achieve resolution of their issues. The practitioner
engages the parties to identify and explore what it is they want,
to generate options and, generally, to discuss settlement terms that
meer mutually acceprable objective criteria. Though the CINERGY™
model is least connected to the principles of this approach, several
concepts from this type of mediation have some relevance and are
briefly summarized here. They are based on Roger Fisher’s and William
Ury’s book Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving ln 7:
• In the course of mediation, the facilitator asks the parties to
identify what they want as a resolution. This outcome represents
their positions. The facilitator then takes the disputants’
stated positions further by having them focus on why they are
important for them. This approach helps the parties identify
