8125

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8125
• Author: Moore, C. W.
• Title: Editor
• USFW Year: Series
• USFW - Doc Type: 1986
• Copyright Material: YES

4 The Mediation Process
Conflict Management and Resolution Approaches
People in conflict in this society have a variety of means
of resolving their disputes. Figure 1 illustrates some of these
choices. Each of these options varies concerning the formality
of the process, the privacy of the approach, the people in-
volved, the authority of the third party (if there is one), the
type of decision that will result, and the amount of coercion
that is exercised by or on the disputing parties.
On the left-hand side of the continuum are informal, pri-
vate procedures that involve only the disputants. On the other
end, one party relies on coercion and often on public action to
force the opposing party into submission. In between area vari-
ety of approaches that we will examine in more detail.
Disagreements and problems can arise in almost any rela-
tionship. The majority of disagreements are usually handled in-
formally. People often aaoid each other because the issue is not
that important, because they do not have the power to force a
change, or because they do not believe that a change for the
better is possible.
When avoidance is not possible or tensions become so
strong that the parties cannot just let the disagreement ride,
they usually resort to informal problem-solving discussions to
resolve their differences. This is probably where the majority of
disagreements end in daily life. Either they are resolved, more
or less to the satisfaction of the people involved, or the issues
are dropped for lack of interest or lack of ability to push the
resolution through to a conclusion.
In the Singson-Whittamore case, the Whittamores avoided
dealing with their potential conflict with the medical clinic until
it was clear that Andrew was going to leave. At this point Andrew
initiated informal discussions. Neither approach was either ap-
propriate or successful in resolving their disagreement. Clearly
their disagreement had escalated into a dispute. Gulliver (1979,
p. 75) notes that a disagreement becomes a dispute "only when
the two parties are unable and/or unwilling to resolve their dis-
agreement; that is, when one or both are not prepared to accept
the status quo (should that any longer be a possibility) or to