8125

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

How Mediation Works
31
1. The level of conflict development and the timing of a medi-
ator's entry.
2. The capability of negotiators to resolve their own dispute.
3. The power equality of the disputants and the mediator's
role as a power balancer and agent of empowerment.
4. The negotiation procedures used by the parties.
5. The complexity of the issues negotiated.
6. The role and tasks of the mediator as mutually defined by
the parties and the intervenor.
I will examine each of these variables and how they affect
the role of the mediator and his or her application of general
and specific strategies.
Conflict Development and Timing of Entry. The stage of
conflict development and the degree of emotional intensity of
the parties influence the tasks that negotiators have to per-
form. If a mediator enters a dispute in its early stages before ex-
treme issue polarization or the development of intense emo-
tions, he or she will use a different strategy and set of moves to
assist the parties than if he or she arrives at a later stage when
the parties have been negotiating and have reached a substantive
impasse. In viewing mediation as a general process, however, the
change in strategy and moves is ,primarily one of emphasis
rather than a specific change in the type of move. Conciliation,
for example, generally must occur more at the beginning of
negotiations rather than later. If, however, a mediator enters in
the later phases of a negotiation, after impasse, for example, he
or she will probably still have to conciliate. The mediator will
generally have to complete this phase prior to pursuing develop-
mental moves more appropriate to the stage in which the parties
have reached impasse.
Capability of Disputants to Resolve Their Own Disputes.
Whether the disputants are capable of resolving their own dis-
pute also strongly affects the mediator's intervention strategies.
Parties who are able to negotiate rationally, who are aware of
problem-solving procedures, and who appear to be progressing
toward a settlement will require little assistance from a medi-
ator. In this situation, the mediator may lend support to the