Mediating The Neighborhood Research Paper

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Joey Novak Soc 169 Neighborhoods Memo Due: 4/08/2014 Role: Mediator jnovak@college.harvard.edu Mediating the Neighborhood Part I In “Promise of Mediation”, Bush and Folger describe the role of the mediator under conflict transformation theory as “to help the parties make positive interactional shifts by supporting the exercise of their capacities for strength and responsiveness, through their deliberation, decision making, communication, perspective taking, and other party activities” (Bush & Folger, 65). In this negotiation simulation, I have been assigned this role of the mediator between a church that wishes to act as a halfway house, and the neighborhood in which the church resides in. Outside of this information, I know…show more content…
After both parties have acknowledged this fact, my basic goals will be to set up a timetable for the meeting, an agenda that fits this timetable, and a set of ground rules by which both sides must adhere to. The timetable the preparation document suggests includes introductions, a negotiation period in which key issues are deliberated, and a final period in which packages are discussed and a potential deal is reached. In regards to ground rules, I will try to include the suggested rules such as that the parties should let me manage the meeting by being recognized before speaking as well as both groups agreeing to stay on the agreed-upon agenda. I believe that using these recommendations as a basic outline to my mediation strategy will be beneficial to achieving a balanced agreement through a smooth negotiation…show more content…
The church had already established this halfway house, and they had every right to do so outside of some possible zoning laws. The disgruntled party, the neighborhood, seemed to simply want there to be no halfway house, or made what I deemed to be unreasonable demands for it such as it only being open three hours a day or no more than ten people present at once. In response to these hardball tactics by the church, I attempted to follow strategies outlined in Getting to Yes such as responding in kind and appealing to reason. The problem with this is that I, the mediator, was the one trying to bring the neighborhood closer to the church. This certainly made the neighborhood seem alienated in the negotiation, as it now seemed as if I was teaming up with the church against her. As Bush and Folger state, the mediator should encourage and support, but never force or supplant during the negotiation process (Bush & Folger, 66). By appearing to attempt to force the neighborhood to move closer toward the views of the church, I brought out emotions of anger and resentment in the neighborhood that made them feel unappreciated and unaffiliated (Fisher & Shapiro). Thus, my own biases had led to a detrimental emotional

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