Conflict Management Mediation Arbitration case 5 Essay

Conflict Management Mediation Arbitration case 5 - Essay Example This, as expressed is a voluntary process and this means that the settlement cannot be imposed or forced on the disputants by the mediators. Arbitration on the other hand has been defined as ‘A process in which a disagreement between two or more parties is resolved by impartial individuals, called arbitrators, in order to avoid costly and lengthy litigation’ (Investor Words – Arbitration, 2009). This is a procedure, where a third party holds a meeting for the disputants. This meeting is normally a ground for the disputants to state the issues, facts, to provide witnesses and also any possible evidence for the positions (Herrman, 2006). There is also an existence of a combined strategy. An example if that of mediation – arbitration, which consists of two stages. Firstly, mediation and then followed by arbitration. In certain cases it has been noted that mediation alone does not provide for a solution for the argument and it is then that the third party would need to bring in arbitration as well. Here the third party would act as both an arbitrator as well as a mediator (Kagel, 1976, as cited in (Herrman, 2006)). There however has been a fairly new strategy which is a combination of the two and is referred to as arb – med. This has been noted to have three phases: "In phase one, the third party holds an arbitration hearing. At the end of this phase, the third party makes a decision, which is placed in a sealed envelope and is not revealed to the parties. The second phase consists of mediation. The sealed envelope containing the third partys decision is displayed prominently during the mediation phase. Only if mediation fails to produce a voluntary agreement by a specified deadline do the parties enter the third phase, called the ruling phase. Here, the third party removes the ruling from the envelope and reveals the binding ruling to the disputants (Cobbledick, 1992; Sander, 1993, as cited in (Herrman, 2006)). To ensure