Chapter Analysis Assignment

The Personal Growth Exercise on p. 252 offers several suggestions for improving your mediation skills. Choose any of these suggestions except the last one (you’re already in a course!). Read the suggested sources or talk to the suggested people. Write a summary of what you learned. Include references for any readings or cite dates and times of interviews if you choose one of the conversation options.

Your summary must be a minimum of 800 words.

Your grade will be based on:

1). Clearly articulating what you learned or discovered. (35 points)

2). Discussing how what you learned relates to course content. (25)

3). Including references or citing with whom you spoke (15 points)

In other words, generic, unfocused, or otherwise vague responses will not count. Your responses must be substantive, and show that you clearly put thought and effort into them.

You will lose points for incorrect grammar, spelling, and punctuation, so make sure that you proofread your responses before submitting.

Any instances of plagiarism or copying from online sources will result in automatic 0 for the assignment.

 

 

 

Personal growth exerCise

Study mediation and how mediations are conducted in various situations. The more you observe how mediations are conducted and learn about the process of mediation, the better prepared you will be to conduct mediation among the employees you manage. Here are some suggestions

: ■ Read books and articles on mediation. The references in this and other chapters in the book provide an excellent start. Also, check the Internet for sources on mediation and read articles that interest you.

■ Read the newspaper and popular news magazines and look for examples of mediation in the news. For example, read the international section to study examples of attempts at mediation in the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict, in the Middle East, or elsewhere in the world. Read the local section for examples of community conflicts. Read the business section and find examples of mediations involving merg-ers and acquisitions, bankruptcy settlements, environmental protection, contract and personal liability lawsuits, employment discrimination, and management/labor disputes. ■

■ Talk to lawyers, professional mediator associations, community and religious leaders, advocacy groups, and others, and ask about how they go about resolving disputes and how they utilize mediators.

Talk with the human resources and labor relations departments within your organization and ask about the processes and methods they use to resolve conflicts between two or more employees. In particular, if you don’t already know, ask how they can assist you if and when you need to intervene in conflicts among employees you manage.

Talk with marriage and family counselors, social workers, and others involved in helping couples, families, and others resolve conflicts in their relationships. You can also talk with mediators specifically trained to mediate family and domestic issues.

■ Sign up for continuing studies courses involving conflict resolution. Many of these courses include components on mediating disputes.