Significance Of The Mediator Find Consensus In Conflict Law Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1649 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Law Essay Did you like this example? This article examines the significance of the mediator in conflict. Mediation is a process of conflict analysis or conflict management which involves a specially-trained third party the mediator helping people in a dispute to attempt to discuss their situation and resolve it together (Capelos and Smilovitz, 2008). Mediation can happen at many levels, it is based on a third party to try to be an important ingredient of social change aimed at achieving greater harmony and equity between individuals and groups, both within and between societies (Ronald, 2001). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Significance Of The Mediator Find Consensus In Conflict Law Essay" essay for you Create order In this article, the first aim is to represent the role of the mediator and the importance of the mediator. Then the second part is related to the parties in conflict and the behaviors of them. The third part is talked about the consensus in conflict. The fourth part show how the mediation works in conflict and the process, problems, techniques and benefits of the mediation. The last part is the conclusion of this paper. The mediators help the parties in their negotiations by facilitating a fair process which results in the disputing parties voluntarily reaching a mutually agreeable settlement. The mediator is not a judge and they do not have the right to make decisions or impose solutions on the dispute. The role of the mediator is completely different from that of a judge or an arbitrator. (James G. Zack Jr, 2000). The mediators do not simply listen to the negotiations and write down the words of solutions. In nature, a mediator can be called as a negotiation facilitator. As a neutral negotiation facilitator, the responsibility of a mediator is to offer a comfort environment for the parties to express their points of view, make clear misunderstandings, explore possible solutions and assist the parties to reach an acceptable settlement. The mediator must collect any information regarded as necessary to assist the negotiation process and must drive a solution which satisfies each agent (Benisch and Sadeh, 2005). The mediator is the core part in the mediation process. Without the mediator it is like that the opponent parties are still in dispute with disorder or at a loss what to do. The mediator can give the parties the possible to reach satisfied resolution they want. With the help of the mediator, people can keep control over the resolution of their dispute. An effective mediator has strong inter-personal skills and are adept .in forming quick relationship of trust and understanding with all the parties involved in dispute (Richbell, 2002). In com mon, parties are unfamiiliar with the mediator they chosen. As a mediator, it is necessary to establish trust from their agents quickly then they can build good relationship. In order to build a good relationship with the agents, a mediator should demonstrate that he has empathy with them (Richbell, 2002). The Parties The parties can help the mediator understand the interests of them. The motivation of the parties to seek help from a mediator is rooted in self-interest (Giessmann and Wils, 2009). The mediator needs to know these internets and understand the internets are different between the parties. The parties can not control the mediator, so they often expect the mediator can be fair and responsive during the mediation process. The reactions of the parties to conflict are often different. During the process of mediation the mediator should need to underscores the need of both sides of the parties and put equal effort into understanding their interests. The attitude of one party may be suspicious and unreliable to the other. Goal of one party is to win and for the other to lose. If the power is balanced in conflict, one party may hope to get the run upon; if the power is unequal, the stronger party will hope to dominate the weaker one. Parties are also inclined to assume that any misjudgments on their parties are set up and emphasize the difference between each other verbally or mentally. It is hard to deal with a problem when people are misunderstanding each other, being angry and thinking respectively (Doye et al, 2010). For example, in the conflict from a community organization and a church is related to a dispute about whether leasing buildings to mental health organization in community, people from different parties hold different opinions to each other. The community organization thinks people with mental problems will bring security leaks to the nearby residents. This opinion comes from that people often have a bad impression of mental patients. The church argues that the residents opposite to the church are selfish and their faith is different. Both sides think on their own side. The relationship of them is entangled in discussion of the problem. So, they need a mediator to help them reach a satisfied solution. The Consensus A successful conclusion of a mediation process should be ended in a satisfied agreement through the mediator. The purpose of mediation is to locate issues, clear misunderstandings, find solutions, and negotiate settlement. The mediator should assist the process of negotiation conducted in a collaborative way not a competitive one. Competitive negotiation is a process of win-lose dispute with deadlock as the outcome of negotiation. Collaborative negotiation is a process of win-win dispute with the consensus as the outcome of negotiation. The purpose of people finding help from a mediator should be to settle problems constructively and satisfy the needs of both sides. Decisions of parties may be changed at the end of the mediation because all potential settlements can turn out after mediation. In order to reach an agreement during negotiation, parties may need to make concessions so long as their interests are ensured. For reaching the consensus, mediators should assist the parties t o reconcile their interests or their positions. In the example of community organization and church, the outcome of their dispute may guarantee their interests finally, but both sides of them must have made an acceptable concession to the other. Effect of the mediator Mediation is an effective way for people to save money and time during dispute. Mediation is fair to the parties because the mediators are neutral third parties who do not get interest from the outcome. It is also a confidential process due to the information are not tape-recorded or transcribed. Most important, mediation can avoid lengthy and unnecessary litigation. Mediation offers a setting different from litigation and creates a chance for the parties to participate in the solution of their dispute (Margulies, 2002). The key feature of mediation is that it is private. This enables the parties to talk honestly and about their opinions and opinions on the other parties. The mediator is neutral so that the interest of mediation focuses on helping the parties to reach the settlement of their dispute, by creating a right atmosphere, asking the right questions and building the relationship with trust. During the process of mediation, mediators try to make people trust them and the opponent parties. Building trust is a complex process. People are often unfamiliar with their allocated mediator so different people vary in their willingness to trust their mediator. The mediators often have some personal qualities to promote trust between them and the parties effectively. Besides, mediators also ensure that the parties also have strong faith on the mediation process. Finally, the mediators also try to make the parties trust each other. The more the parties trust each other the more they will devote themselves to promote dispute settlement (George, 2005). An effective mediator of dispute dose not need to be a professional lawyer, but it is necessary for him to have strong inter-personal skills and the ability to form quick relationships of trust with clients. Building a good relationship with parties makes mediators must have some key skills and techniques to be effective. In mediation, mediators often use many methods and techniques to facilitate communication and reconciliation. First, a mediator should be ready to listen to what the parties want to say without interrupting or judgments. During listening, a mediator needs to collect information and encourage people to state all their opinions (Richbell, 2002). The mediator should listen quietly without response until the speakers have had nothing to say. Emotion may be more important than words sometime, especially in a bitter dispute. So, listening can also make mediators understand their perception and feel the emotions of people. The mediators should also avoid reacting to emotional outburst, as it may lead to arguments during the negotiation (Doye et al, 2010). Second, the mediator should keep harmony with the parties. An effective mediator often creates an atmosphere which is comfortable and stress-free to the parties, shows interest and respects to the individuals of the parties by ensuring his or her behaviours are in harmony. Then the mediators also should have the ability to as k effective questions. Best questions are simple and short and useful in gathering information. Next, summarizing is also a valuable method for mediators. Through summarizing, mediators can check their understanding of the parties, find the key issues, change the direction of conversation, and save time. After summarizing, mediators often reframe the statements of parties for reducing unnecessary misunderstanding of the parties. All these skills are committed to avoiding blockages during the course of the mediation. Conclusion Mediation is an effective process for people to save money and time in conflict. Mediation is an essential way for assisting negotiation. When the direct negotiation between the parties breaks down, the best opinion is to find a neutral third party the mediator. Mediation is effective because the mediator is a assistant who is appointed to help the parties solve their dispute, but who dose not get interests from the outcome. Mediation is also called Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) because it is a cost-efficient and faithful tool to the traditional methods like litigation and arbitration. Even not every case of mediation work, it remains an effective method for parties to take for avoiding a long and expensive process of settling dispute.