The Mediator's Role

The mediator's role is to serve as an advocate for a fair process and to facilitate effective communication among the parties. The mediation process is assisted negotiations. The mediator's role is as an acceptable third party who has limited or no authoritative decision-making power in the conflicts confronting the parties.

Generally, a mediator only encounters situations when negotiations between the parties have not been successful or when parties have avoided negotiations. The mediator's role is to assist the parties procedurally in their negotiations. The mediator's role is to remain neutral, impartial, and separate his or her personal opinions about the past while continually focusing the parties on the options for resolution of their conflicts.

When parties are involved in negotiations, they are faced with a variety of procedural and psychological problems that they must work through before a resolution to their conflicts can be reached. For the mediator's role to be effective, the mediator needs to assist the parties in dealing with the emotional issues while helping the parties to define the issues involved in their conflicts. The mediation process assists the parties in assessing their alternatives for the future while generating options for the resolution of the conflicts between the parties.

A mediator's role can vary along a continuum from highly directive to highly nondirective with respect to the issues confronting the parties, the mediation process, and the interaction between the parties. The mediator's role is to gain insight relating to the parties' conflicts and adapt the mediation process to meet the needs of the parties. In general, the mediator's role is moderately directive in assisting the parties to be successful in their negotiations.

The mediator's goal is to provide the parties with a realistic examination of the issues and options during the mediation process. The parties in the mediation process are assisted by the mediator in realizing the opportunity for attaining the resolution that they are seeking. The mediator conducts the mediation in an unbiased role. The role of the mediator is to help guide the parties in the initiation of actions that are not potentially detrimental in resolving the conflicts they are involved in. The guidance from the mediator helps the parties in the dispute to work more effectively to resolve their issues. The mediator's role is as an advocate for a fair process for both parties.