Pragmatic Tactics in Mediation

• Authors: Bruce Fraser
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Mediation is the process by which a neutral third-party works with disputing parties to assist them in reaching an acceptable, voluntary settlement of their dispute. Mediators are often faced with competing demands over and above those of the dispute itself. For example, establishing and maintaining control of the mediation process without appearing to bully the disputants, persuading a party to reexamine it's position without appearing to lose their neutrality, and convincing a party that the present offer of settlement is the best possible, given the circumstances, without appearing to be determined to reach closure at all costs.The present paper examines data from labor, divorce, and community mediations (both transcripts and reports from the mediators) to show how mediators reduce tensions like those mentioned above through various devices such as establishing common ground, reframing the issue, use of metaphorical examples, and reliance on innuendo, ambiguity, and equivocation.

Keywords

EN

Mediation; pragmatic gambits; conflict/dispute resolution; negotiation; arbitration; settlement

• Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
• Journal: Lodz Papers in Pragmatics
• Year: 2007
• Volume: 3
• Issue: -1
• Pages: 61-78

Dates

published

2007-01-01

online

2007-07-24

Contributors

author

Bruce Fraser

• Boston University

References

• Goldberg, Stephen, Eric Green and Frank Sander. Dispute Resolution. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1985.
• Moore, Christopher. The Mediation Process: Practical Strategies for Resolving Conflict. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996.
• Nader, Laura and Harry Todd, eds. The Disputing Process: Law in 10 Societies. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978.
• Nicolaidis, Kalypso. "Power and Negotiation: When should lambs negotiate with lions?" In Negotiating Eclectics: Essays in Memory of Jeffrey Z. Rubin, edited by Deborah Kolb, 102-119. Cambridge: PON, 1999.

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10016-007-0005-8