Third Party Intervention

1. Third Party Intervention Chapter Nine

2. The Need for Third Parties • Conflicts often are so difficult that we turn to others for help • When you and your partner love each other but keep getting caught up in the same destructive spirals, you should consider third-party help • Page 271

3. The Need for Third Party • Third party activity is a normal part of everyday life • The third party may be a trained professional

4. Overview • Informal – for informal interventions, we will discuss cautions about entering others’ disputes and some guidelines for success • Formal – for formal interventions, we will discuss various approaches so you can be an informed consumer of such services

5. Advantages of a Skilled Intermediary • Is trained in intervention and does not have a vested interest in a specific outcome • Skillful intervention transforms the conflict so that issues can be put to rest and people can move on

6. Conditions for Helping • Page 273 • Remember, someone else’s problem is not necessarily your problem – you have a choice. • If you think you don’t have a choice, you cannot be useful as an informal intervener • If you don’t want to help, don’t • Take special care to retain your neutrality

7. Consequences of Taking Sides • Page 274

8. Cautions • Page 275 • A helper who does not work him or herself out of a job is not doing a good job • Application 9.1

9. Formal Intervention • Formal intervention requires specific training or education

10. Coaching • Is a dispute resolution option for those who are unable or unwilling to engage in mediation • They state that the coach helps people with identity, emotion, and power • The coach will help parties deal with strong emotions (their own and others’), and assist the person with a more productive response, whether they meet with the other party or not • A coach looks for opportunities to teach, solve problems, and transform conflicts

11. Counseling • Counseling might entail (1) meeting with one person individually and/or • (2) meeting with two people, or an entire family system • The counselor focuses on all the issues at stake – the emotional and relational issues in addition to the topic dispute, which often simply serves as the “presenting problem”

12. Mediation • Helps the parties negotiate to reach agreement • Mediation is the “art of changing people’s positions with the explicit aim of acceptance of a package put together by both sides • The mediator controls the process – not letting the participants interrupt, call names, or engage in other destructive moves

13. Mediation, cont • The solutions to the dispute come from the parties themselves • The mediator is there to facilitate communication between the parties – not render a judgment • The process of mediation assumes that conflict is inevitable and resolvable

14. Advantages • First, because it relies on the parties’ active negotiation and involvement, it promotes a mutual stake in resolution; therefore, solutions are more likely to be carried out by the parties • Second, . . . The solutions are more likely to be integrative and creative • Third, . . . Mediation helps the parties meet their underlying interests rather than fight over position

15. Advantages, cont • Fourth, mediation is usually cheaper than adjudication or arbitration • Fifth, mediated parties are more satisfied with the process than are participants in adjudication or arbitration

16. Limitations to Mediation • First, not all conflict parties can agree to work through their conflict with the “enemy.” • Mediation involves considerable commitment to working on the conflict • The final limitation of mediation is that involvement in mediation is not worth the effort • Page 282

17. Community Mediation Programs • Offer excellent training, supervision, and guidance, as well as opportunities tohelp others resolve disputes • “Peer Mediation” programs – the party’s peers will help solve disputes ranging from playground difficulties to teacher-student problems

18. Types of Mediation • Family Mediation • Victim-Offender Restitution (VOR) – a specialized form of mediation designed for cases in which someone is guilty of a crime • Mediation in a Business Setting

19. Mediators’ views of the mediation process differ on two primary points, • What issues are tackled in sessions • What the goals for the mediation

20. Disputants with an ongoing relationship do better when mediators expand the issues being considered • The results of research on family mediation are quite clear – when mediators bypass the relational issues and focus only on “facts,” they have trouble obtaining agreement from the parties

21. Agreement or Transformation • Many mediators just want an agreement – to settle the conflict • Others want to see clients undergo transformation – a change in how they see themselves and the other • Transformation occurs when clients experience empowerment and give recognition to each other

22. Agreement or Transformation, cont. • The “just get agreement” problem-solving approach to mediation is more aligned with an individualistic world view, in which we see ourselves as separate entities • The transformative view has as its underpinnings a relational view

23. Mediation • The mediator needs to have an expansive set of skills to control the process of communication, affirm both parties, and move the parties, and move the parties toward creative content and relational solutions, all the while staying within legal and cultural parameters • Page 288

24. Mediator • The key to effective mediation is the level of competence of the mediator and the motivation of the parties • There can be no private disputes of any seriousness because a dispute affects everyone • Neither can we expect Western modes directly into other cultural situations

25. Arbitration • Arbitration and adjudication share an identical structure • In both, a third party is empowered to decide the outcome of a conflict • When the parties contractually agree to arbitration, the arbitrated judgment is enforceable in court • The process is called binding arbitration; the judgment is final

26. Arbitration, cont. • Some distinct features that make it useful as a form of third party intervention • Both parties enter into arbitration voluntarily • It keeps one party from using passive-aggressive or impasse tactics on the other – the issue will be resolved • The arbitrator has special training in the content area of the dispute

27. Arbitration, cont. • Is readily available for use in situations in which the participants experience a communication breakdown and are no longer able to solve their own problems • Is a process that can be used for a wide variety of content areas • Reinforces the assumption that the parties cannot learn to manage their own difficulties – that only a third party can find a solution

28. Reinforces escalation as a legitimate tactic because intransigence will automatically bring in an outsider

29. Adjudication • A process in which parties present their case before a judge or jury • Assumes that parties are unable to solve their own conflicts • A decision must be imported from the outside • The original conflict metamorphoses into a conflict between two lawyers

30. Adjudication, cont. • One party files charges in court and the other must appear to respond • Litigating a dispute is both an alternative to negotiating and at the same time a way to force negotiation • Filing a lawsuit forces a nonresponding party to attend to the complaint – avoidance is not possible once a suit is filed

31. Adjudication as Positive • Serves as a power balancing mechanism • It provides rules for fairness, such as admission of evidence • The use of professionals to speak for the conflict parties is an advantage for parties who need assistance in preparation or presentation of their case • Serves as a backup for other conflict management procedures

32. Limitations • It’s been overused • It’s overburdened and misused • Individuals automatically think of it as the way to “get even” for some wrong • Conflict parties no longer make their own decisions • The adversarial system operates on a win/lose set of conflict assumptions that encourages escalation tactics

33. Filing an action is a signal of serious conflict • The escalating, win/lose atmosphere is often difficult to disengage from once it has been set into motion