What is it about?
This paper presents a reflexive approach to mediation by the mediator and mediated as a promising corrective to some positivist ideas in our field that are slow to fade: that we should be neutral as third parties, and that parties should seek solutions based in objective truth. Grounded in a constructivist approach of qualitative social research and analogies that can be made from it to mediation, a reflexive praxis builds on the argument that a third party cannot be neutral nor strive to be so. Moreover, the reflexive approach views conflict as rarely rooted just in “the facts.” Rather a reflexive mediation is one in which an intersubjective rendering of reality – in framing problems and seeking solutions - is forged through a collaborative effort between the mediator and mediated.
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Why is it important?
It presents a corrective to some positivist ideas in our field that are slow to fade: that we should be neutral as third parties
Perspectives
In employing reflexivity to foster disciplined bias and an acute self awareness, the mediator is able to use him/herself as an instrument to support the mediation process. Through reflexivity, the mediator and mediated parties can gain a more nuanced view of the situation, including the needs, values, and identity of the other. The reflexive mediator’s role is to lead sides to a point of resonance through modeling, mirroring and, in general, encouraging reflexive engagement. In such mediation, parties have shared who they are and what they deeply care about –often in ways modeled first by the mediator – and ideally have discovered more about each other, and developed the will to turn their conflict in to collaborative learning and constructive change.
Dr Jay M Rothman
Bar Ilan Univeristy
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Reflexive Mediator, Negotiation Journal, October 2014, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/nejo.12070.
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