Mediation is one of the many tools the Staff Ombuds Office uses to help people to resolve conflicts. It is a process by which an impartial third party (the ombuds, acting as mediator) helps parties who are in conflict to try to reach agreement. It is, essentially, an assisted negotiation.

One great advantage of mediation is that it allows the parties to stay in control of their own situations, rather than turning over control to another person (whether it be a higher level of management, a hearing officer or arbitrator, or anyone else in a position of authority).

A Constructive Process. The role of the mediator is to assure a fair process -- one which enables both parties to be heard and to sort through their issues in a constructive way.

There are several ways the mediator accomplishes this:

• talking to each party individually before the mediation to help them identify their underlying issues, rights, and goals, and to coach in effective communication skills;
• establishing ground rules for dialogue;
• giving each person a chance to tell her/his story without interruption; helping the parties to clearly identify their concerns (sorting into categories as feasible); and
• guiding them through an exploration of possibilities for resolution.

Confidentiality. In order to encourage the fullest possible exploration of underlying concerns and options for addressing them, everyone agrees to keep everything that is said in mediation confidential. No information concerning the content of the mediation may be given to any other person or used in any subsequent proceeding.

The Agreement Belongs to You. Any agreement reached in mediation belongs to the parties: they, not the mediator, are responsible for reaching (or not reaching) agreement, for defining the specifics of the agreement, and for keeping the agreement. The mediator is solely a facilitator, and does not control, enforce, or oversee the agreement in any way.

  Staff Ombuds is a unit of Administration at the University of California at Berkeley.