Mediation and HRM

As I was reading in my Human Resource Management book I came across a section on mediation. Mediation is the alternative to going on stick. Mediation is a conflict resolution procedure in which a mediator hears the views of both sides and facilitates a negotiation process but has no formal authority to dictate a resolution. I am currently taking a mediation class and I can see how this would be a much better way to resolve a concern. I would like to tell you about some of the cases that I have mediated.
I had the opportunity to observe a great mediation at the Provo District Court. The dispute was between a landlord and tenant. This was my first mediation so I didn’t know exactly what to expect. We meet in the court room and without looking at the case the judge ordered these people to mediation. The mediation was about an hour and the tension was high. The conflict was over a contract that was signed and broken. The tenants came well prepared with all sorts of paperwork supporting the broken contract. The landlord only had the fact of a broken contract going with her. The two mediators where great and handled the high tension well. They worked well together and backed each other up in everything that was said. At one point when the mediators could tell the mediation wasn’t going anywhere they called for a private caucus. In the caucus each party talked about how they really felt. After the individual caucuses they came back in and tried one last time to work things out. Nothing worked so they agreed to go back in to court.
I also had the opportunity to mediate a court case involving contract problems. A young lady was thinking about going to school but financially couldn’t do it. The school was able to fix her up with a loan and she applied for school. The mediation was needed because the young lady never paid back the person who gave the loan. In mediation we found out that the girl was unaware of the contract she was making and at the time was underage. Through mediation we were able to work out that the girl would pay the court fees and the man who gave the loan would take the 2,000 dollar loss.