Friendly Persuasion in Civil Case Mediations

Professor James A. Wall Jr., Fellow at the University of Missouri School of Law’s Center for Dispute Resolution, and Dr. Suzanne Chan-Serafin, Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales, Australia School of Organization and Management, have published an interesting article entitled, Friendly Persuasion in Civil Case Mediations, Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 31: 285–303. In their paper, the authors discuss the results of an observational study that analyzed disputant satisfaction following civil case mediations with a particular focus on 50 mediations during which mediators utilized assertive strategies.

Here is the abstract:

This study investigates why mediators’ assertive strategies — evaluative and directive — did not generate high disputant dissatisfaction when they produced agreements. We thoroughly investigated the transcripts from fifty cases in which the mediators had used assertive strategies and attained agreement. We found that mediators did not irk disputants because the mediators complemented their strategies with four tactical approaches. First, they established their legitimacy, and when mediating they shifted their strategies (from assertive to neutral or vice versa) round by round. They also used a ratchet approach to nudge disputants toward agreement, and they took steps to reduce the disputants’ aspirations.

A copy of this and other scholarly articles authored by Professor Wall and Dr. Chan-Serafin may be downloaded free of charge from the Wiley Online Library.

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