Nora
Doherty
Director of PMR and Mediation Consultant
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Workplace
Mediation
Skills Training
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A
Case Study of an Interpersonal Mediation |
Two
Senior Marketing Managers, John and Alan, have worked for the
same Marketing company in central London for several years. Two
years ago, they were put in the same open plan office and in
charge of two marketing teams. Over time, their mutual animosity
has caused increasing tension and problems, not only for themselves
(Alan has been taking more time off with a stress related illness)
but also for those around them. |
More
recently, this personal conflict and lack of communication (they
were hardly speaking to each other) has had a detrimental affect
on the company - a large client company made a serious complaint
about one of the projects for which John and Alan were responsible.
Their line Manager, one of the company's Directors, spent some time
with them both but experienced them just cataloguing complaints
against each other and found that she was unable to resolve the
situation. As a result of reading an article about 'Mediation in
the Workplace' in a training magazine, the Director contacted Professional
Mediation Resolutions (P.M.R.). |
After
some discussion on the phone, it was agreed that an independent
mediator from P.M.R. would give initially one day of their time
for this mediation. The Director received John's and Alan's wish
to go ahead and P.M.R. wrote to them both explaining the mediation
process and what to expect. A neutral, comfortable room was made
available by the marketing company in one of their training venues
and a date, for one day, 9.30am to 5pm, was arranged. |
The
independent mediator spent the morning in individual meetings with
John and Alan. A face to face mediation seemed the best way forward
to the mediator and John and Alan agreed. Neither of them wanted
to leave their present employment and they were also fearful of
the consequences if they continued in this manner. The afternoon
was spent in a face to face structured mediation with John and Alan
and the mediator. (Sometimes, depending on the situation, there
are two mediators). By the end of the mediation, they had managed
to speak to each other, to get to the underlying issues and to come
up with five agreements as to how they were going to behave towards
each other in the future, including an agreement on how to deal
with any differences or conflicts if they should arise again. The
disputants themselves came up with the agreements that they are
happy with, while the mediator used their many positive and constructive
skills to facilitate the whole process. |
The
mediator wrote down the agreements for them to be signed by John
and Alan and the mediator. Such agreements are voluntary - it is
up to the individuals themselves to carry them out, but is often
helpful to write them down in case people forget exactly what they
agreed. The content of the mediation itself was completely confidential.
The mediator arranged a follow up meeting with John and Alan two
months later to see how things were going. The agreements were still
being upheld and apparently, a year on they are still managing to
work in a professional manner with each other. Mediation is particularly
good at maintaining working relationships, where this is appropriate. |
We
are glad to say that this mediation was a success (overall mediations
are 85% successful) and that the cost of hiring an independent mediator
was a fraction of the costs of a disciplinary procedure or recruitment
and possible training costs. P.M.R. carries out many such mediations
for a whole variety of organisations in the U.K. This experience,
of actually doing mediations for many complex situations, informs
our training of managers and of mediators in a relevant and useful
way. |
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