There are many technologies with which alternative conflict resolution takes place. One of them is mediation. This is such a method of resolving disputes, in which a third party appears, a mediator who should not be interested in winning any of the parties. This is a well-known practice that shows its effectiveness over the long term.
Plectrum Functions
A mediator is a person whose duties include helping the parties to a conflict to resolve it. At the same time, the disputants themselves control this process and the final decision is still theirs. Mediation is a process aimed at helping the parties to behave properly.
The mediator must remain neutral in any difficult situations and not succumb to feelings of personal sympathy or antipathy. It often happens that before the independent side ceases to be such. In this case, the effectiveness of this process is seriously reduced.
Principles of Mediation
This process has a number of starting points on which the mediator normally relies. So, the intermediary should adhere to such principles:
- Volunteering All parties, including the mediator, should be willing to resolve the conflict in this way. Mediation is an exclusively voluntary process, as it is aimed at reconciliation, and not oppression of the two sides.
- Confidentiality. The mediator should not disclose the content of the conflict, as well as its resolution, provided that both parties have not agreed to it. The mediator can tell specific cases, but without mentioning names, surnames and other data that may directly or indirectly indicate conflicting persons.
- Mutual respect. Only on this basis can a compromise be reached.
- The equal rights of the parties. Relations between conflicting parties should be built exclusively business, implying perfect equality.
- Neutrality
- The transparency of the procedure. Despite confidentiality, mediation is a procedure that should not have pitfalls.
Types of Mediation
In general, mediation is a complex process, therefore, in each specific situation, a separate variety of it should be used. What are they like? There are such forms of mediation:
- Problem-oriented mediation involves focusing on the interests of both parties, and not on the approaches themselves, which are the cause of the conflict.
- Transformative, the meaning of which is to focus on the communication between the two parties, so that they learn to listen and hear each other.
- Narrative mediation, in which it is a process, when each side expresses its own opinion about the ongoing action.
- Ecosystem - helping families to resolve conflicts.
There are also a number of other types of process that are derived from this type. The mediation procedure may contain the components of all these varieties, therefore this division is only conditional. In real practice, the mediator himself determines the style that is most effective in a given situation.
Benefits of Mediation
The mediation process has a huge number of advantages over litigation. And it will be right to list them.
- Save time, effort and money. The trial may take several weeks, months, or even years. The result of mediation is likely to be felt right now.
- Mediation better takes into account the individuality of the situation, while the court conducts its procedure solely according to templates.
- It is aimed not at establishing the correctness of one of the parties, but at finding solutions to the current situation.
- The mediation process takes into account the needs of participants and their emotional state at the moment, as well as in dynamics.
So, mediation is aimed at taking into account the experience of the parties, and not similar conflicts, as is the case with court proceedings. This is the biggest plus.
Areas of application of mediation
Conflicts are characteristic of any human relationship. Consequently, mediation can also be applied in any fields of activity. So, it is actively used in resolving commercial disputes in which the court sometimes can not even intervene. For example, at work there were minor conflicts that do not violate the law. In such a situation, only a professional pick can resolve it.
Actively used mediation in the field of social work and psychology. For example, the classic resolution of family conflict is a pronounced case of mediation. Families often quarrel. This is normal. As they quarreled, they reconciled, and thoughts of divorce do not even go to the head. But some conflicts are so serious that they make a family dysfunctional. And here, without mediation, it is almost impossible to solve the problem. Therefore, social work with the family has a predominantly intermediary function, as does the entire sphere as a whole.
Mediation service
There are many private and public services that provide mediation services between conflicting parties. Departmental institutions may include social services, and private ones may include organizations specializing in mediation. Nevertheless, representatives of other professions not related to jurisprudence or social work may also act as intermediaries.
So, it was said earlier that the psychologist who regulates family relations focuses on certain types of mediation. Another interesting view is school mediation, which appeared relatively recently and has already shown its effectiveness in resolving school conflicts. It should be discussed in more detail.
School Mediation
Very often, there is no school psychologist or social educator whose responsibilities include mediation between conflicting children. In times of crisis that swept the whole country, it’s quite difficult to find money to hire a professional, so a teacher or class teacher can and should take on such functions.
Some people perceive the mediation process as an attempt to calm the fighting teenagers by force and then call their parents to the director or class teacher. But it is an attempt to resolve the conflict, and not freeze it. In the first case, parents will come and possibly punish their children. But the conflict will still remain and at one point may erupt again. The teacher should teach children the right way to compromise, and not eliminate the symptoms of the problem in a social group called the school class. There may also be a school mediation service that deals with problem solving. True, it happens in educational institutions extremely rarely.
What conflicts does mediation in secondary schools solve?
Some believe that it is primarily aimed at resolving conflicts between different students. But teachers are also people, and therefore they can quarrel with children. And the mediator in the school should eliminate any possible conflicts, even if the child had an argument with a cleaning lady who has nothing to do with him. Moreover, to argue that some conflicts are more serious, while others are trifling, is by no means worth it. If both sides perceive them painfully, then they should not be underestimated.
Age should not be considered. There are victims, and therefore it is necessary to take into account the interests of both parties, regardless of social status. In general, discrimination against young people and children never ended well. Very often, in an attempt to prove their worth, they go to commit cruel acts or simply become "difficult teenagers." Communication with children is important to build solely on positions of mutual respect, as well as with any adults.
conclusions
Mediation in school or any other area of human life will exist for a very long time. Indeed, in a situation of acute conflict, not a single quarrel will be able to understand the whole situation. And a sober look from the outside can provide a great service in this case.