Many organizations have considered trying to resolve disputes with mediation by using internal resources and staff rather than external fully independent
mediator, and outcome. For participants: will they feel the process is effective in resolving the dispute, respecting their privacy, and in limiting the risk of causing greater damage to their relationships and legal position? For the mediator: will the process allow the mediator to work effectively, act in an impartial manner, and not be in effect an interested party acting on behalf of another entity? In regard to the outcome: will the final decision be that of the parties, and can they reach it free of inappropriate pressure from the process or others?
For an organization considering an internal mediation process, assuming the benefits are accurately stated, maximizing the ideal characteristics can be achieved in the following ways.
First, clear policies should be drafted that set out what the process is, what disputes it will cover, what limitations it may have in terms of outcomes (e.g., any outcome that requires an operational change will be subject to management approval), what protections it will include for participants and the mediator, and how records (if any beyond those legally required) will be kept and who will have access to them. Communication and education about the system should address the concerns of potential participants and the organization must show itself to be committed to the principles of the process.
Second, policies and design should address the major concerns of impartiality and confidentiality explicitly. For maximize impartiality, confidentiality, and self-determination, for instance, a pool of internal mediators can be established from various departments, and a rule instituted that the disputants may choose any mediator so long as he or she is not in the same department as any of the disputants.
Third, confidentiality should be assured by having participants explicitly sign a confidentiality agreement, and by having the limits of confidentiality explained. Within an organization, confidentiality may have different limits than in say the litigation context. For instance, behavior that is contrary to organizational policy, if disclosed during the mediation, may be subject to discipline or other sanctions and the mediator may be under an obligation to report it. For the parties, the choice to disclose information can therefore be made consciously with full knowledge of the risks: this approach preserves their autonomy, and allows the mediator to fulfill a neutral role within the limits of the organizations rules.
Fourth, the parties and
