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Transformative Mediation Articles
What's New
Elements of Style: The What, Why & How of Transformative Peer Mediation (9/23/07)
Lisa Hershman The recently released, second edition of “Recommended Standards for School-Based Peer Mediation Programs” (Standards) is a notable accomplishment. It compiles years of research, developments, and practical knowledge into a comprehensive, easy to read document that is certain to stimulate further development in the field. This is important to note because there is still much work to be done. Over the next decade, it is my guess that the dialogue over mediation style, currently simmering in the adult mediation community, will extend into the peer mediation field. While the Standards acknowledge that styles other than problem-solving mediation exist, “problem-solving/facilitative” mediation is the touchstone of the entire document. Problem-solving has become the gold standard by default. This article is intended for program coordinators, trainers, and funders who are interested in exploring different approaches to peer mediation.
Bad Apples, Bad Barrels (8/20/07)
Brendan Donaghy Is the focus on relationship and empowerment the correct approach in all circumstances? What if the causes of conflict are not always in the relationship, but in the environmental context in which that relationship exists? What if, as a consequence of this, empowerment of individuals through mediation is not always possible, as the individuals concerned have limited control over the issues at the core of their dispute?
Using a Transformative Approach in an Elementary School Peer Mediation Program (7/02/07)
Lisa Hershman Peer mediation programs traditionally work within a problem-solving framework: Conflict is viewed as a “problem” that can and must be solved. But what happens when there is no solution? Or, better yet, when the conflict isn’t really a problem? Faced with these dilemmas, the problem-solving approach can become frustrating and demoralizing – especially for young children. This article looks to the experience of an elementary school peer mediation program to demonstrate how incorporating elements of transformative mediation can address some of the pitfalls of the problem-solving approach.
Transformation Mediation May Have Led To A Greener Buyout Of A Texas Utility (6/04/07)
Jeffrey Kreisberg In an unprecedented move, environmentalists were called to the negotiation table to help ensure that the buyout of the Texas utility, TXU, was environmentally friendly. The deal resulted in significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, but more could have been done. This paper will discuss how the addition of a mediator with expertise in transformation mediation techniques to the bargaining table may have resulted in a “greener” deal. Transformation mediation would have helped each party better understand that it is our moral obligation and our common interest to do a better job to increase public health and protect the planet for our children. This would have created an opportunity to reduce emissions and pollution further, while putting a serious effort into energy efficiency and the use of alternative and reusable forms of energy. America is poised to lead the world in this arena.
Communicating for Peace (4/30/07)
Sanjana Hattotuwa Growing up in conflict does one of two things – it teaches you the limitations of violence to engender sustainable social change, or it compels you to enter the cycle of violence itself. Violence is often perceived to be an effective way to change the order of things. The internal logic of martyrdom and suicide terrorism may be inexplicable to those outside terrains of hopelessness, but easier to understand when juxtaposed against the backdrop of a perceived lack of alternatives and indoctrination. Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), now often touted as a panacea for socio-economic development, fail to make any sense for those enmeshed in violent conflict. This is why I have proposed a deep and meaningful exploration into the way ICT can help engender peace and conflict transformation. I am interested in how (and indeed, if) democracy and peace can be strengthened in countries such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, Colombia, Timor Leste using ICT – how they could be made more resilient to the mercurial actions and policies of political leaders and non-state actors that often sow the seeds for more conflict, how they could give voice to the voiceless and marginalised, and how they can strengthen the participation of youth and empower women in reconciliation.
How the Quest Was Done (8/20/06)
Gary Weiner Being a thrilling, spellbinding but true story right out of the wild west of a California mediation followed by some musings for mediators on the meaning of the story by the mediator himself, Gary Weiner.
Transforming Chicago: The Purpose of Partnering (8/07/06)
Herman Bingham Herman Bingham, former Manager, EEO Dispute
Resolution for the US Postal Service, Chicago District and
case manager for the REDRESS® program there, describes his
experiences in partnering with the Institute for the Study
of Conflict Transformation in order to foster discussion
about the transformative model among REDRESS mediators and
thereby enhance their practice confidence and competence.
How Transformative Mediation Can Help Divorcing Couples (8/08/05)
Daniel Bjerknes Family relationships are on-going, even though the marriage is over, so couples
that are able to spend time in mediation preparing, discussing, and planning how life may be after the divorce will minimize the stress and conflict often associated with the separation process.
Transformative Mediation: Reviewing The Basics (6/02/05)
Sally Ganong Pope The past ten years have been significant, formative years for transformative mediation. During those ten years, many of us across the United States and in Europe and Japan assisted with the development and understanding of the transformative model. Most recently, last November, a three-day national conference was held in Philadelphia – the first national conference on transformative mediation sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation. The conference inspired me to go back to consider some basics: the arrangement of furniture as symbolic and supportive of our work.
Can Transformative Mediation Work In Commercial Litigation? A Conversation With Joseph P. Folger And Robert A. Baruch Bush (5/02/05)
Victoria Pynchon The transformative mediation model was first articulated by Robert A. Baruch Bush and Joseph P. Folger in their classic work, The Promise of Mediation: The Transformative Approach to Conflict (Jossey-Bass 1994, Revised Second Edition 2005). Because transformative mediation focuses primarily on the personal interaction between the disputing parties, it seems well-placed in family, partnership and other disputes where the parties must continue to interact with one another. Whether or not this model is useful in the resolution of arms-length commercial transactions was the subject of a recent conversation between author Victoria Pynchon, a Los Angeles commercial mediator and litigator, and the two originators of the transformative model.
Talking to the Good (4/13/04)
Sally Ganong Pope I took my first training in mediation more than twenty years ago. The trainer, John Haynes, who became a giant in the field, said that as a mediator he talks to the “good” that he believed existed in every human being. That made sense to me then - and still does.
Diverse Organizations and the Evolution of the Mediation Field (4/13/04)
Joseph P. Folger Five years ago I was a founder of an organization that illustrates how I see the mediation field evolving. The Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation was created in 1999 to provide resources and assistance for those using the transformative approach to conflict intervention. It emerged from the network of practitioners and researchers who expressed interest in developing the transformative framework shortly after the publication of The Promise of Mediation.
A Study in Mediation Styles: A Comparative Analysis of Evaluative and Transformative Styles (6/09/03)
Katina Foster This study investigates two of the four primary mediation styles, evaluative and transformative mediation, and evaluates their strengths and weaknesses. The final conclusion of this study is that no one style is appropriate for dealing with all conflicts. Instead, different styles should be considered as options during the conflict resolution process.
Training Emotional Intelligence For Conflict Resolution Practitioners (7/15/02)
Kristine Paranica, Daniel Bjerknes This brief article explores our need to have certain
competencies outside of our content knowledge and I.Q. in order to
successfully manage and resolve conflict. As trainers, mediators, and
people who experience daily conflict, we hope to develop skills that
will help us manage our conflicts proactively and with better results.
Achieving this goal requires self-exploration of our needs, values,
assumptions, and behaviors. This process of discovery and
self-reflection, of recognizing our emotional triggers or "hot spots,"
our responses to conflict, and our developing emotional intelligence can
take us down the path to success as trainers, mediators, facilitators,
and as human beings.
What About Mediators’ Needs?!! (2/04/02)
Kristine Paranica, Linda Hendrikson, Thomas Fuchs This article will explore the need for mediators to become more self-aware in order to mediate successfully. We believe that mediators need a certain detached yet compassionate strength of self that can only be derived through self-exploration of our own needs, values, and assumptions. Uncovering and reflecting over these ideas, as well as our triggers or “hot spots”, our own response to conflict, and our developing emotional intelligence takes us down the path to success as professional mediators and facilitators, and perhaps as human beings.
Cognitive Dissonance: A Spiritual Perspective (6/26/01)
Barbara Stuart When dissonance occurs people will adjust their patterns of behavior so as to reduce dissonance and move towards consonance. The reason for this adjustment is because no one wants to feel uncomfortable and efforts are made to reduce the tension felt as a result of the dissonance.
What is Peacemaking? (5/17/01)
Douglas Noll Peacemaking is a complicated concept because peace can be defined in so many different ways.
When we speak of peace, we understand it in two ways. First, there is negative peace. The second way of understanding peace is as positive peace.
Community Conferencing As Transformative Problem-Solving (1/18/01)
David B. Moore In cases where the primary problem is general conflict rather than a specific dispute, the appropriate processes are perhaps best categorized as 'conflict transformation'. And there is now an exemplary conflict transformation process. It has come to be known generically as 'community conferencing.' Early versions emerged in New Zealand and Australia in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but the process is now being adopted in parts of Canada, the USA and Western Europe, often in 'restorative justice' programs.
Transformation To What? (1/12/01)
Cris Currie As we mediators struggle to find the right words to define our personal styles of mediation,
descriptors such as transformative, facilitative, and problem-solving are appearing more
and more. Baruch Bush and Joe Folger made a strong case for these distinctions in their
influential book The Promise of Mediation, but it would be prudent to remember that this
book was written more as a dialogue opener than as a definitive treatise on mediation styles.
Mediation Policy: Theory Matters (8/30/99)
Dorothy J. Della Noce Mediation policy-making appears to be a growth
industry. Numerous legislatures, state courts, agencies,
membership organizations and other institutions are
occupied with structuring their corners of the mediation
field, whether it is through the regulation of mediator
qualifications, referrals, training, ethics, confidentiality,
immunity, boundaries of practice or other issues.
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