Contemporary Mediation

Contemporary Mediation

University of Phoenix

November 5, 2009

MGT 445

Contemporary Mediation

In the following paper I am going to analyze two articles dealing with contemporary mediation situations, describe the process employed, and compare and contrast the two articles and how they might apply to my work place. The articles I have chosen are titled: Let’s Work This Out…Or Else: The Case of Mediation and Got a Money Gripe? Settle Online. These two articles deal with mediation and techniques used.

Article Summary

The first article I chose for this paper is titled: Let’s Work This Out…Or Else: The Case for Mediation. In this article it tells the short story of Carolyn Osborn, she dissolved a graphic-arts business six months prior and was stilled owed over 7,000 dollars from her former associate. At the time she though litigation was her only solution to get the money she was owed. Osborne knew that the legal fees would eat up most of what she might get back. Then her brother, a business man who has dealt with this situation before, suggest that she and the ex-partner go to a mediator at the Tacoma office of U.S. Arbitration and Mediation. This company is a national provider for dispute-resolution services, within two hours of the talks starting the two ex0partners hammered out an agreement. The experience left Osborne, and possibly her ex-partner, a fan of mediation. Osborn says: “Everything was conducted in plain English. It was a pleasant and comfortable experience.” Te two parties got what they wanted and agreed that they would split the cost for mediation cost between the two parties. Osborne’s experience shows why mediation has become popular among small businesses that have internal and external conflicts to resolve. Mediation is a form of deal-making which is a comfortable situation for business owners to be involved in. In this case mediation got both parties to a table to hammer out a solution to a problem that they were both stalemate...