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How Parties Experience Mediation pp 205–224Cite as

Grace: Opposing Experiences of Two Mediations: The Importance of Parties’ Openness and Insight

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Abstract

This chapter presents the fine-grained analysis of the story of Grace, a highly experienced subordinate who has been working with children at a public organisation in England. The analysis reports Grace’s conflict with two colleagues in a managerial role and her opposing lived experiences of the two mediations. Grace’s perceptions of organisational injustice deriving from ‘being different’ and leading to discrimination and ostracism are explored as the core of conflict. On one hand, mediation is portrayed as a protective environment to stand up for oneself, but as an experience that leads to the understanding of ‘insurmountable differences’ and a need to move on. On the other hand, mediation is depicted as the process of revealing vulnerabilities and a rich account of ‘opening up as a spiral’ is provided. Grace’s contrasting experiences in her two mediations and the key factors responsible for the differences between the processes, including openness and commitment to the process, are analysed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, University of Essex, Colchester, UK

    Timea Tallodi

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  1. Timea Tallodi
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Tallodi, T. (2019). Grace: Opposing Experiences of Two Mediations: The Importance of Parties’ Openness and Insight. In: How Parties Experience Mediation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28239-4_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28239-4_9

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-28239-4

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