8125

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

How Mediation Works 17
intervention to break a specific deadlock. Labor mediators who
intervene in negotiations before a strike deadline are working to
resolve manifest conflicts. Child custody and divorce mediators
also usually intervene in fully manifest disputes.
A mediator has no authoritative decision-making power.
This characteristic distinguishes the mediator from the judge or
arbiter, who is designated by law or contract to make a decision
for the parties based on societal norms, laws, or contracts rather
than the specific interests or personal concepts of justice held
by the parties. The goal of the judicial decision is not reconcilia-
tion but a decision concerning which of the parties is right.
The judge examines the past and evaluates "agreements
that the parties have entered into, violations which one has in-
flicted on the other," and "the norms concerning acquisition of
rights, responsibilities, etc. which are connected with these
events. When he has taken his standpoint on this basis, his task
is finished" (Eckhoff, 1966-67, p. 161).
The mediator, on the other hand, works to reconcile the
competing interests of the two parties. The mediator's goal is to
assist the parties in examining the future and their interests or
needs, and negotiating an exchange of promises and relation-
ships that will be mutually satisfactory and meet their standards
of fairness. The mediator does not have decision-making author-
ity, and parties in dispute therefore often seek the services of a
mediator because they can retain ultimate decision-making
power.
If the mediator does not have authority to decide, does
he or she have any influence at all? The mediator's authority,
such as it is, resides in his or her ability to appeal to the parties
to reach an agreement based on their own interests or the past
performance or reputation of the mediator as a useful resource.
Authority, or recognition of a right to influence the outcome
of the dispute, is granted by the parties themselves rather than
by an external law, contract, or agency.
So far I have identified that a mediator is a third party
who is impartial in attitude and neutral in relationship toward
disputing parties. I will now describe the mediator's functions.
The definition states that a mediator assists disputing parties.