Strategic maneuvering in dispute mediation

Abstract

The study examines transcripts from dispute mediation to explore mediators' strategic maneuvering for keeping the disputants on task-that is, on negotiating plans about caring for their children. The article discusses mediators' institutional practices to keep disputants on task and to constrain what becomes arguable. It analyzes strategic maneuvering at the levels of topical potential, audience demands, and presentational devices. The study also suggests that the concept of strategic maneuvering can be further developed by including identities as another type of interactional resources employed to shape argumentative activity. It focuses on how mediators use interactional resources to balance institutional goals (i.e., reaching an agreement) and interactional goals (i.e., sustaining participants' face) and to shape an institutionally preferred interactivity.

How mediators use reformulation practices to de‐escalate risky moments

“…Lines 27-38 illustrate how the mediators summarize the disputants' talk to draw out Stan's desires, helping him to collaboratively imagine (cf, Murphy, 2005) the alternate reality he has been labeling. In the course of this, the mediators test whether Stan means what he has been saying about wanting friendship even without romantic intimacy while maneuvering Stan away from his off-topic complaints (Vasilyeva, 2017). M1's reformulations edit out the story's messiness (Rebecca's ambivalence, Stan's uncertainty about his feelings for her, and the boyfriend is not present but present), leaving only the easy friendship.…”

“…As "dealmakers," "orchestrators" (Kolb, 1985), and "designers" (Vasilyeva, 2017), mediators engage in embodied practices to conceptualize conflict and manage relationship hurdles, guiding parties toward acceptable outcomes. The mediators in our data use their knowledge about the trajectories of disputes and dispute resolution to reorganize the conceptualizations that disputants make known.…”

Locations for advice‐giving and the production of neutrality in divorce mediation sessions

“…This enabled him to delay discussion of problematic substantive issues and to put polarized personal relationships on the sidelines until trust could be established. Vasilyeva's (2017) study of custody mediation investigates how mediators do "strategic maneuvering" to help parties achieve a fair settlement while facilitating the disputants' interactions during the mediation process. For example, in her data mediators strategically introduced topics of discussion, and at times directed disputants to leave certain topics.…”