What's New
(9/09/08)
Keith Seat
Mediation successfully reaches agreement in 95% of the workplace psychological harassment cases mediated by the Commission des norms du travail in Quebec. In the four years since legislation was enacted protecting employees from psychological harassment, about 8,600 complaints have been filed and a little over a third have been resolved through mediation. Of complainants using mediation, 85% reported they were very satisfied with the mediator’s work.
Canada Newswire (July 3, 2008) (Subscription Required)
(9/09/08)
Keith Seat
After seven months of mediation facilitated by the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service, a settlement agreement was signed by Fountain Inn (SC) city leaders and a citizens group concerned about police misconduct against African-Americans. Tensions had escalated with the hanging death of a jail inmate in July 2007. The resolution reached to improve police relations requires the police department to seek state accreditation and the city to establish a Citizens Review Committee to hear complaints, review appeals and oversee police handling of complaints.
Greenville News (August 12, 2008); Greenville News (August 13, 2008)
Hip-hop video blog explains how to tell someone they're racist (8/11/08)
Diane J. Levin Jay Smooth, founder of New York’s longest running hip-hop radio show, WBAI’s Underground Railroad, hosts ill doctrine, a hip-hop video blog featuring hard-hitting, thoughtful social commentary.
Smooth recently posted “How to Tell People They Sound Racist“, a video with advice on having one of the most difficult conversations there is, and underscores the difference between the “what they did” conversation and the “what they are”...
Shari'ah Principles And Mediation (8/05/08)
Geoff Sharp For those following the debate around the Lord Chief Justice's view that there is no reason why Shari'ah principles should not be the basis for mediation in the UK here is a Muslim perspective which responds to the likes of the Telegraph's Is cosying up to Muslim extremists the best way to defeat terrorism? and the Spectator's A careless talk.Full text of Lord Phillips' speech at the East London Muslim Centre on July 3 here.
Recognizing And Validating Diversity In Mediation (8/04/08)
Malcolm Sher When they become involved in disputes, whether litigated or not, people from differing cultural or ethnic backgrounds often bring to the table differences that may have caused or contributed to the dispute, and that may well govern its outcome. This article will examine some of those differences and emphasize the need for all participants in the mediation process to learn about and validate them in order to bring about a mutually beneficial settlement.
Where are women who mediate, part 2: how can you hold a panel discussion on diversity and forget to include women? (7/21/08)
Diane J. Levin Last week fellow mediator, blogger and rabble-rouser Victoria Pynchon published a post with a confrontational title: “Dispute Resolution by Old White Men: Gender Prejudice Sinks Arbitration Award“.
Lobbed like a Molotov cocktail, Vickie’s post blew gender bias apart, as she recited a litany of examples of discrimination spanning decades against women inside and outside the legal profession.
It’s not just the persistence of gender bias that makes women like Vickie and...
Facing ourselves: new tests for hidden biases at Project Implicit (7/21/08)
Diane J. Levin This is by no means the first time I’ve encouraged readers to plumb the depths of their hidden biases with the help of Project Implicit and its Implicit Association Test (IAT), an instrument which “measures implicit attitudes and beliefs that people are either unwilling or unable to report.” With the recent discussion here and elsewhere of gender bias, I thought it was time to revisit the IAT.
The IAT tests for biases across a range of...
Generational Differences in Negotiation (6/17/08)
Nancy Hudgins One aspect of diversity which is sometimes overlooked is age. Phyllis Beck Kritek, in her provocative presentation at the ADRNC annual conference earlier this year, got all of us thinking about age. She included the table above in her handouts. While it focuses on age differences in how people approach their jobs, it is an insightful and useful tool to remind us that age affects how we look at the world. This is especially a good reminder for me, as my default thinking is that (of course)...
(6/06/08)
Keith Seat
Corporate counsel and representatives at an American Bar Association forum stated that mediation is losing its effectiveness because mediators do not have sufficient race and gender diversity, especially in employment matters. The panelists noted that the national alternative dispute resolution (ADR) providers do not offer diverse panels, and that diversity occurs when it positively impacts the bottom line. For example, Shell is introducing diversity among neutrals by contracting with certified minority and women neutrals, and by seeking more diversity at larger ADR firms.
Prudent Press Agency (Netherlands) (May 7, 2008)
(4/07/08)
Keith Seat
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported a 9 percent increase in job bias charges last year, for a total of nearly 83,000 private sector filings in 2007. In addition to non-monetary relief, the EEOC recovered over $290 million for charging parties through administrative enforcement and mediation, compared with $55 million through EEOC litigation. Employers continue to enter into Universal Agreements to Mediate with the EEOC, with the total rising by 15 percent during 2007, to over 1,200. The EEOC’s National Mediation Program has a user satisfaction rate of 96 percent, meaning that nearly everyone using the program would do so again.
Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. (March 5, 2008) (Subscription Required)
A video game tests racial bias - and the willingness to pull the trigger (4/07/08)
Diane J. Levin Joshua Correll, a member of the University of Chicago Department of Psychology faculty, in conjunction with his work with the Stereotyping & Prejudice Research Laboratory, has created The Police Officer’s Dilemma, a video game that tests the effect of racial bias on decisions to shoot.
When you launch the game, you are presented with a series of images of young men against various backgrounds. Some of the men hold guns, while others hold innocent items like cellphones or soda cans. ...
Barack Obama’s Speech on Race (3/19/08)
Barack Obama We find Barack Obama's speech on race to be a top flight example of the kind of mature consideration our most divisive issues deserve and need. We here present the text of Senator Barack Obama’s speech on race in Philadelphia.
Cross-Cultural Negotiation Insights From The Kellogg School of Management (2/27/08)
Victoria Pynchon When you mediate disputes in a major urban center like Los Angeles, you do a lot of cross-cultural negotiation as a matter of course. I've relied in the past upon the Kellogg School of Management's Leigh Thompson and am happy to report that one of her fellow professors, Jeanne Brett has devoted an entire book to the intricacies of negotiating across cultural lines. Excerpt below from the Wall Street Journal's LiveMint article on Professor Brett's book The...
Brains Vary From Culture To Culture—A Lot! (2/19/08)
Stephanie West Allen Vickie Pynchon at her Settle It Now Blog is posting about the event she is attending: Mediators Beyond Borders Founding Congress. Yesterday in How to Make Your Opponent Do What You Want Him to Do: Part I she posted a list created by Ken Cloke of 12 Ways Systems Resist Change. In reading it, I was reminded of how much cultures vary. This list would apply in some cultures; in many other cultures it would be a mismatch.
Neurocience research is showing us that the brains of people in different ...
Martin Luther King, Jr.: lessons in conflict resolution and negotiation (1/21/08)
Diane J. Levin One of the best blogs on cognition, behavior, and the mind sciences is The Situationist, which examines the implications of social psychology for law, policymaking, and legal theory. In honor of Martin Luther King Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. today, The Situationist has republished a post from 2007, “Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Situationism“.
Pointing to excerpts from the text of King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail“, this post makes the case that...
Short Canadian film depicts aboriginal woman's experience with mediation (1/21/08)
Diane J. Levin "An Aboriginal Woman&'s Experience with Mediation" is a six-minute-long film that allows a woman to describe what mediation meant for her and the changes in her life it helped her produce:
…When you go to appear in front of a judge with a lawyer, your lawyer does all the talking and you don’t get to be heard. Whereas with mediation you have a voice and there’s options…and things get worked out on both sides…
Despite its length, this little film...
(1/09/08)
Keith Seat
A mediation group funded by a three-year $300,000 federal grant has been formed on a Hopi Reservation, with the goal of being a role model for other Native American reservations. The concept was developed by the late chief justice of the Hopi Appellate Court. A group of nine has received training in mediation tailored to fit Hopi needs and traditions.
The Independent (January 3, 2008)
Obama: Reflections Of A Hard Core Negotiator (1/07/08)
Robert Benjamin On Thursday evening, January 3rd, 2008, I watched Barack Obama appear to channel Dr. Martin Luther King and President John F. Kennedy as he gave his ‘audacity of hope’ speech to his supporters after winning the Iowa Caucus. Even someone as constitutionally pessimistic as I am was moved; I wanted to take a chance and believe in the future of this country---again.
Negotiation Tip: Race and Negotiation (11/13/07)
Joshua N. Weiss In this podcast Josh talks about the difficult problem of Race and Negotiation with his colleague Stuart Rankin. Among the things they discuss is understanding race in the context of ones larger identity and how that manifests itself in a negotiation process.
MP3 File
Los Angeles County Jails to Introduce Mediation (8/20/07)
Victoria Pynchon (left: a mother and child reunion outside the L.A. County Jail)The last time you heard news from the Los Angeles County Jail, it had to do with Paris Hilton's claustrophobia. Today, we bring you less sizzling but perhaps more important news from our local jail cells. A Santa Clarita radio station has announced that Los Angeles County is introducing "disturbance mediation training services for jail inmates." The training, "aimed at reducing racial and...
The Wisdom of Native Americans (7/27/07)
Joe Epstein Native American wisdom focuses on healing wounds, and bringing peace through good feelings, not fear. While mediations are focused principally on legal issues, Native American wisdom teaches us to be mindful of a person's emotional damage as well. Mediators should not only emphasize a need for a legal resolution, but also strive to heal broken relationships, and rebuild personal self-esteem and confidence. Addressing these non-monetary dimensions directly is what makes mediation a unique opportunity for both financial resolution and closure. A mediator can assist in addressing non monetary dimensions by using Native American wisdom. This article will present twelve values inspired by Native American wisdom. Each value will be defined used traditional Native American quotes. We will then use actual stories and give examples and tips on how each value can effectively aid in a dispute resolution. The use of stories to explain basic concepts allows the reader to retreat from a linear thought pattern, thereby giving a context and life to ideas that may otherwise be glanced over and forgotten. We invite you to open your minds to a more balanced approach to mediation and a new understanding of how Native American wisdom can help facilitate the mediation process.
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