NCJ Number
98964
Journal
Mediation Quarterly Issue: 7 Dated: (March 1985) Pages: 83-99
Date Published
1985
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the mediation of conflicts between employees and clients of the Colorado Division of Rehabilitation (CDR), a publicly funded State rehabilitation agency; the discussion outlines the inhouse mediation perspective and examines some effects of the CDR's structure and operations on inhouse mediation activities.
Abstract
Some types of conflict between clients and employees (counselors, supervisors, and administrators) of the CDR did not require formal mediation assistance, i.e., conflicts growing out of daily organization routines that could be resolved through ordinary problemsolving and complaint procedures. The character of some conflicts, however, required formal mediation. In such cases, the CDR used the services of a special inhouse dispute resolution project, the Colorado Client Assistance Project (CCAP). The CCAP used a third party-mediation model to resolve disputes. Disputants were assisted in developing cooperative resolutions of their conflicts through mutually acceptable agreements. The CCAP inhouse mediators were part of the structure of the CDR. Accordingly, they encountered some aspects of the agency that enhanced their efforts and others that constrained them. Some of the agency activities that impacted mediation were bureaucratic communication, complaint processing, organizational compliance with mediation agreements, and the agency's sponsorship of CCAP mediation. Overall, the CCAP intraorganizational setting for mediation produced successful conflict resolution in most instances. Thirty-four references are listed.