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Conflict
Management HRM624
VU
Lesson
33
ADVANTAGES
AND DISADVANTAGES OF MEDIATION II
Quotations
Discourage
litigation. Persuade your neighbors to
compromise whenever you can.
As a peacemaker the
lawyer
has a superior opportunity of being a
good man. There will still
be business enough.
Abraham
Lincoln (1809 - 1865) U.S.
president.
Win
your lawsuit and lose
your money.
Anonymous,
Chinese Proverb.
Advantages
and Disadvantages of Mediation
The
following points can help
decide the advantages and
disadvantages of mediation.
· Quality
of consent
· Position-based
vs. principle based
mediation
· Finality
of ADR process
· Individual
transformation
· Benefit
for legal council
· Comparative
advantages and disadvantages of
mediation, arbitration, and
litigation
Quality
of Consent
Quality
of consent refers to how
willing the disputants are to
accede to the process and
outcome. And also,
is this
consent freely given and disputant is
well informed?
Seven
quality-of-consent attributes in dispute
resolution:
· Explicit
identification of principals' goals and
interests
· Explicit
identification of plausible options
for satisfying these
interests
· Disputants'
generation of options for achieving
their interests
· Disputants'
careful consideration of these
options
· Neutral's
restraint in pressuring principals to accept
particular outcome
· Limitation
on the neutral's use of time
pressure
· Neutral's
confirmation of principals' consent to
selected options
Quality
of Consent Effect
Disputants
tend to "psychologically own" the outcome
and the outcome tends to be
more durable. If
there
is a
failure of the settlement, the disputants
may act more
constructively.
Relationship
Preservation
Mediation
is widely regarded as the most effective
dispute resolution process
for preserving
ongoing
disputant
relationships. This advantage of
mediation is particularly important in situations in
which
disputants
will be required to deal with
each other after the conflict is
resolved. Examples of such
situations
include
parents who are divorcing,
disputes between neighbors,
disputes between corporate
shareholder
groups,
landlords with rental disputes with
tenants, parent teacher conflicts
etc.
Conflict
Management and Prevention
Mediators
diagnose the conflict and
act accordingly. Mediators (particularly
facilitative) promote
interests
analysis.
Effects:
1.
Impasses can be avoided disputants
are better focused on the joint
task and not on scoring
points
against
each other
2.
Outcomes are optimized to the
situation and often quite
creative
114
Conflict
Management HRM624
VU
3. Better
resolution of entire dispute
possible
4.
Mediation flexible in scope,
deals with entire
situation
5.
Mediator diagnosis of
conflict
6.
Mediator exploration of disputant
interests
Outcome
flexibility
Result:
more
effective and complete
outcomes
Effects
of mediation when no settlement is
attained:
When
no settlement is attained in a dispute,
then following are the
effects of mediation
1.
Clarify and narrow the
issues
2. Promote
cooperative interactions
3.
Increase both disputants' expert power
and knowledge of BATNA
4.
Directly discuss strategies
for resolving unresolved
issues
Effects
on the parties to
mediation:
It
teaches dispute resolution, negotiation,
and conflict diagnosis
skills. It may have some
long-term positive
effects
on relationships (but evidence does
not bear this out).
Effect on
social system:
Widespread
use of mediation could
improve
the cultural approaches taken to conflict
(impossible to
determine
whether this is happening).
Litigation
Arbitration
Mediation
Formal
process
Less
formal process
Least
formal process
Formal
rules of evidence
Rules of
evidence
Rules of
evidence do not
relaxed
apply
Formal
discovery
Limited
discovery
Informal
fact-finding
Public
record
Hearings
are private
Private
and confidential
Judge/Jury
makes
Arbiter
makes decision
Parties
make decision
decision
Verdicts
final, subject to
Decisions
can be binding Parties
decide whether
appeal
with
limited appeal
to settle;
agreements
rights
are
enforceable
contracts
Expensive
and time-
Often
quicker and
Quicker,
cheaper and
consuming
cheaper
than
less stressful
than
litigation
litigation
Summary
Quality
of consent is an important factor
behind the success of mediation as a
strategy to resolve
conflict.
Presently
informal mediation is prevalent in Pakistan
but formal mediation will
become significant. NAB
has
used mediation or ADR strategies to
resolve conflict between or
among disputants.
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