"Designing Mediation: Approaches to Training and Practice within a Transformative Framework", edited by Joseph P. Folger and Robert A. Baruch Bush is the newest resource available from the Institute. It includes thought-provoking pieces intended to provide greater clarity about the "inner workings" of transformative practice. The contributing authors, who are trainers and practitioners of the approach and highly skilled at articulating it, share their insights learned from numerous years of training and research.

Designing Mediation will be helpful to practitioners who want empowerment and recognition to be at the heart of their work, to trainers interested in developing training in the transformative approach, and to all who want greater understanding of the differences between the transformative approach and other forms of mediation.

"We hope that this book enables many practitioners and trainers to develop their own skills and trainings based on the processes of empowerment and recognition that are discussed in The Promise of Mediation" said Joseph P. Folger, a Founder and Fellow of the Institute. "As we continue to develop the practice that stemmed from the theory, we strive to share our insights and lessons learned. Our goal is to lay the foundation for moving the transformative framework into a more central place in mediation practice."

The award-winning first edition of The Promise of Mediation, published ten years ago, is a landmark classic that changed the field''s understanding of the theory and practice of conflict intervention. That volume first articulated the "transformative model" of mediation, which greatly humanized the vision of how the mediation process could help parties in conflict. In the past decade, the transformative model has proved itself and gained increasing acceptance. It is now being used in such diverse arenas as workplace, community, family, organizational, and public policy conflicts, among others.

The Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation reports here on a benchmarking study it conducted of selected mediation programs in the family, civil and community sectors. The overall goal of this study is to document the practices that contribute to the successful delivery of mediation service within the mediation programs studied. This study examines how different mediation programs define "success" and identifies factors that support its achievement. It documents innovations programs have made that have facilitated the satisfaction of court or client needs, achieved cost efficiencies, added value to the mediation service, or enhanced the public's understanding and use of mediation. It also describes some of the challenges that mediation programs face and the steps that have been or are being taken to meet them.

Included in this issue of the Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Journal are six articles, all written by Fellows of the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation, which stemmed from the Institute's 2001 Symposium co-sponsored by the Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law. Articles included are: "Mediation Goes Mainstream" by Joseph P. Folger; "Assimilative, Autonomous, or Synergistic Visions: How Mediation Programs in Florida Address the Dilemma of Court Connection by Dorothy Della Noce, Joseph P. Folger, and James R. Antes; "Clarifying the Theoretical Underpinnings of Mediation: Implications for Practice and Policy" by Dorothy Della Noce, Robert A. Baruch Bush, and Joseph P. Folger; "Changing the Quality of Conflict Interaction: Principles and Practice of Transformative Mediation" by Robert A. Baruch Bush and Sally Ganong Pope; "What works in Transformative Mediator Coaching: Field Test Findings" by James R. Antes and Judith A. Saul; and "Substituting Mediation for Arbitration: The Growing Market for Evaluative Mediation and What it Means for the ADR Field" by Robert A. Baruch Bush.

This issue of the Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal was inspired by a Symposium on transformative mediation co-sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and the Hofstra University School of Law in December 2000. The several articles in this Journal represent a unique and multifaceted examination of the largest workplace conflict mediation program in the United States - the United States Postal Service's REDRESS™ Program. Articles included are: Handling Workplace Conflict: Why Transformative Mediation? by Robert A. Baruch Bush; Transforming Workplace Culture through Mediation: Lessons Learned from Swimming Upstream by Cynthia Hallberlin; Mediation Research: Studying Transformative Effects by Joseph P. Folger; Transformative Mediation in the USPS REDRESS™ Program: Observations of ADR Specialists by Lisa Bingham & Tina Nabatchi; Transforming Conflict Interactions in the Workplace: Documented Effects of the USPS REDRESS™ Program by James R. Antes, Joseph P. Folger & Dorothy J. Della Noce; and The Lawyer's Role in Institutionalizing ADR by Karen A. Intrater & Traci Gabhart Gann.

This issue of the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution contains a special series devoted to the topic of Assuring Mediator Quality. The Journal consists of four articles, which generated from the Institute's 2002 Symposium "Assuring Mediator Quality: What Are the Alternatives". The Symposium was held in Baltimore, Maryland in December 2002 and was co-sponsored by The Center for Dispute Resolution at the University of Maryland Law School and Maryland Judiciary Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO). Articles included in the Journal are: From Practice to Theory to Practice: A Brief Retrospective of the Transformative Mediation Model by Dorothy J. Della Noce; The Beaten Path to Mediator Quality Assurance: The Emerging Narrative of Consensus and Its Institutional Functions by Dorothy J. Della Noce; One Size Does Not Fit All: A Pluralistic Approach to Mediator Performance Testing and Quality Assurance by Robert A. Baruch Bush; and, Identifying Practice Competence in Transformative Mediators: An Interactive Rating Scale Assessment Model by Dorothy J. Della Noce, James R. Antes and Judith A. Saul.

Dr. William D. Kimsey James Madison University
Dr. Bruce C. McKinney University of North Carolina Wilmington
Dr. Dorothy J. Della Noce James Madison University
Sallye S. Trobaugh Mediation Associates, LLC

Publisher: Pearson Custom Publishing
Copyright: 2005


Order this Book: 1-800-922-0579
E-mail your request: pcp@pearsoncustom.com

The award-winning first edition of The Promise of Mediation, published ten years ago, is a landmark classic that changed the field''s understanding of the theory and practice of conflict intervention. That volume first articulated the "transformative model" of mediation, which greatly humanized the vision of how the mediation process could help parties in conflict. In the past decade, the transformative model has proved itself and gained increasing acceptance. It is now being used in such diverse arenas as workplace, community, family, organizational, and public policy conflicts, among others.