Week 2/13-19: Managing Others’ Disputes through Mediation: Part 1

A mediator is a neutral third party who has no decision-making power regarding the outcome of the mediation. These mediators restore communication, normalize relations, and allows for full participation by the conflicting parties. Communication majors would make great mediators since communication is all about keeping an unbiased view, while communicating with various types of individuals and groups of people while lawyers and psychotherapists are persuaded by money, and would make unsatisfactory mediators. Mediators should not take sides and are not put in these situations for financial gain. Lawyers and psychotherapists jobs are based on being unbiased and fighting for one conflicting parties’ ideas and pursuits. Although mediators need to uphold certain rules, lawyers and psychotherapists may not be able to do so. Some of these rules are creating a positive discussion, hoping for a win-win conclusion/solution, talking about emotion without criticism, and trying to solve the problem versus putting the blame on the opposing party.