WHEN CAN YOU USE MEDIATION?

There are no hard and fast rules for when you can or cannot use mediation. In general, mediation is more likely to be successful if it is used at an early stage before attitudes have hardened. However, it can also be used when other attempts to resolve an issue have failed.

Who? It can be used for conflict involving colleagues of a similar job or grade, or between a line manager and their staff. It can be used, exceptionally, where there is conflict between teams, or between a trade union or groups of employees and management.

When? It can be used at any stage in the conflict as long as any ongoing formal procedures are put in abeyance, or where mediation is a stage in the procedures themselves. It can be used before a formal grievance has been identified. It can be used after a formal dispute has been resolved to rebuild relationships.

What? It can be used to address a range of issues including relationship breakdown, personality clashes, communication problems, bullying and harassment.

A judgement call There are situations where it may not be appropriate to use mediation, but it is often not clear cut and it will be up to the mediator or whoever is overseeing the mediation process to make a judgement on a case-by-case basis. It is often said in relation to mediation that ‘if you can’t make it better, don’t make it worse’.

Mediation may not be suitable if:

• used as a first resort – because people should be encouraged to speak to each other and talk to their manager before they seek a solution via mediation
• it is used by a manager to avoid their managerial responsibilities
• a decision about right or wrong is needed, for example where there is possible criminal activity
• the individual bringing a discrimination or harassment case wants it investigated
• someone has to learn difficulties that would impair their ability to make an informed choice
• an individual is particularly vulnerable
• the parties do not have the power to settle the issue
• one side is completely intransigent and mediation will only raise unrealistic expectations of a positive outcome.

Bullying and harassment

The other issues particularly suited to mediation are bullying and perceived harassment, and perceived discrimination issues, although each situation needs to be judged on a case-by-case basis, as serious cases of bullying and harassment, and clear cases of discrimination, may need to be dealt with by more formal procedures.

When managers are not well-placed to deal with the issue

Mediation can also provide a useful tool for individuals to turn to when managers are, for one reason or another, not well-placed well-placed to deal with a dispute. This may be because an intervention from a manager may be perceived as biased, or as favouring one side over another. It may be that the manager has insufficient skills in handling people conflict or ‘emotional anger’.

Discipline and grievance procedures In some organisations mediation is written into formal discipline and grievance procedures as an optional stage. Where this is not the case, it is useful to be clear about whether the discipline and grievance procedure can be put into abeyance if mediation is deemed to be an appropriate method of resolving the dispute.