What is Mediation?

What is Mediation?

Mediation is an amicable mode of conflict resolving process and this blog post discusses further about it and the importance of putting it into practice. Mediation allows the disputants to arrive at a common decision by voluntary agreement with the support of a neutral third-party facilitator.

The third-party facilitator, known as a Mediator assists the parties to find common ground through various negotiation techniques. Mediation can be used in situations varying from commercial disputes, trespass, and divorce to labour disputes.

It helps disputants to restore, redefine or transform their attitudes and interactions toward one another, and move towards more peaceful relationships and reconciliations. Among the other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, mediation has proved to be one of the most effective owing to its unique features such as efficacy, cost effectiveness and ability to arrive at a win-win solution.

Power of Mediation

Mediation is never a forced agreement like in arbitration or in a court case. Thus, parties are allowed to come up with creative and amicable solutions by understanding strengths and weaknesses of their case while deciding their own terms and conditions.

Mediation also have transformative approach where it does not seek the resolution of the immediate problem, but rather, seeks the empowerment and mutual recognition of the parties. Therefore, mediation can be identified as a friendly form of approach to dispute resolution. Moreover, since the parties involved can come into a mutual agreement, there is a more chance of long-lasting effect in this kind of process.

Importance of Mediation

Compared with civil lawsuits, mediation is much less costly and a much faster process. Unlike court cases, mediation is a private process and is not subjected to public knowledge and possible media attention.

Furthermore, both parties can express their own opinions and concerns freely which allows for flexible settlements. As a result, settlements reached in mediation are more agreeable to both parties than court judgements.

In mediation, both parties have the opportunity to check the background and experience of the mediator unless the mediator is specified in the dispute resolution section of their contract, which enables the parties to have faith on the mediator.

In conclusion, it is evident that Mediation is a much friendlier and a flexible alternative approach to dispute resolution that should be put into practice more in our day to day lives. Many people are still not familiar with this concept and the benefits it offers, hence proper measure of awareness should be made among people regarding this concept.

written by Akshina Liyanage