Different models in Mediation*

Tania Almeida

In its origin focused on commercial and business issues, Mediation structured as process it used, primarily, the negotiation techniques of the Harvard School of Negotiation (Harvard Negotiation Project). As the instrument began to be used in areas where emotion had greater permission to be part of the dialogue, it incorporated other theoretical pillars, humanizing itself. the initial model exclusively aimed at the conflict was named Mediation for Agreements (Transactional) and was particularly concerned with issues, not conflicting ones.

Communication theory came to meet him when the Mediation process underwent a paradigm shift. A Negotiation Theorist Robert A. Barush Bush and a communication theorist Joseph P. Folger together they built a working model that privileged the conflicting rather than the conflict. The so-called Transformative Mediation, unlike the previous model, was concerned with the characters more than with the substance. He decided to take care of the litigants and to place the agreement in the condition of possibility, not of finality. It was based on the proposal of helping people to recognize, in themselves and in the other – adversary, the needs, possibilities and the ability to choose and decide (empowerment and recognition). It is recommended that such purpose promotes the transformation in the relationship and makes possible, as a natural consequence, the agreement, supporting actor in the process.

Sara Cobb is indebted to the inauguration of the Circular-Narrative Model, which, as the name implies, added systemic thinking with its proposal of circularity, the reflective process unique ability of humans and narrative theory offer of the literary world of the second half of the last century , to the postmodern task of finding in Mediation an instrument of social pacification dedicated to the resolution, management and prevention of controversies. IT'S possible which Will be, an expert em negociação da School de Harvard, has extracted da coexistence com Carlos Sluski, his husband and therapist of dedicated family ao study of networks social, a concern to take in account o speech and the networks de pertinence, too as a focus of attention in your work. of this way, the Circular-Narrative Model covers the proposals of :

seeking information about the dispute process and its purpose;

destabilization of 'official stories' reports and alternatives brought and construction of 'alternative stories' reports and alternatives expanded by the parties in the Mediation process;

construction and making agreement.

This model added, to the concern with the conflict, the same concern with the conflicting ones and was willing to take care of the relationship between litigants as much as the construction of the wake up.

Currently, Mediation is recognized for its transdisciplinary characteristic, since it aggregates knowledge related to Law, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Philosophy and many other disciplines, offering the versatile possibility of an instrument capable of becoming adequate to the contexts in which its employment is necessary.

Negotiation Theory, Communication Theory, Systemic View, Constructivist / Social Constructionist View, Discourse Analysis, Reflective Process, Narrative Theory and Social Network Theory make up today part of the theoretical instruments of the different Mediation Models, to be combined according to the topic to be mediated, the context of the Mediation and the style of the mediator.

QCHALKBOARD SINOPTIC OF TRES MODELS CLASSIC

MEDITION FOR ASTRINGS (TRADITIONAL) MODEL NBUSINESS

The Four Harvard Principles

MEDITION TRANSFORMATIVE (BUSH & FOLGER) MODEL TRANSFORMATIVE

empowerment

Recognition

MODEL CIRCULATE NARRATIVE (SARA COBB) MODEL NARRATIVE

Systemic Theory

Observer Theory:

- Constructivist / Social Constructionist Vision

Theory of Narratives

Reflective Process

Social Media

The situation in question, the stage of Mediation that is being the object of the work, the type of relationship (historical and intended) existing between the mediated and the mediator's style of action, demand the election of the guides privileged by the different models.

In summary:

Mediation for Agreements reopened the use of Mediation as a Dispute Resolution instrument in the 70's and is especially based on the technical quartet known as “The Four Harvard Principles”. This more strategic model of mediation incorporated techniques based on theoretical assumptions that privilege interaction in the construction of man and the events that he participates.

This movement gave rise to a style of mediation that, by being attentive to the relationship between the parties in conflict, made possible a gain beyond the agreement, the qualitative transformation of the relationship. Transformative Mediation. Transformative Mediation has been the style of choice for Mediations that involve relationships that are perpetuated over time, while Mediation for Agreements remains extremely useful for punctual negotiations between people who do not intend to remain in relationship/interaction.

With equal transformative potential, the Circular-Narrative Model by Sara Cobb, expands the theoretical guidelines for the exercise of Mediation. With reflection as a backdrop, this model invites us to think systemically (Theory Systemic), considering the description of reality as an individual construction (Vision Constructivist), to take into account that individuals are the synthesis of their interaction with the environment (Social Constructionist View), to understand narratives as expressions of personal readings rather than translations of facts (Theory of Narratives and Theory of the Observer), and to consider that man speaks for himself and as a representative of his social network of relevance, condensing in his speech, multiple discourses (Theory of Networks Social).

 

* Published on the MEDIARE website in 2004