Mapping Cultures-Strategies For Effective Intercultural Negotiations
Christopher Moore and Peter Woodrow
Few 'maps' exist to describe how different cultures resolve conflict. This often leads to misunderstanding and less than optimal agreements. Chris Moore and Peter Woodrow offer a framework for understanding cultural differences and negotiating accordingly...

A Mediator’s Cross Cultural Dynamics Involving Latino's
Rene Llapur
Once the mediator has self-evaluated thoroughly and has a deep understanding of his own knowledge and skills, the next step is to take into consideration the cross-cultural dynamics. As a foreigner, the mediator must understand the commonalities and the differences between the two cultures: the native one and the new one. The elements that the mediator must consider in order to be successful are the mediator’s individuality amidst the Latino cultural diversity, the mediator’s role under Latino clients, the mediator’s involvement in the conflict, the Latino family dynamics, the formality and informality in dealing with Latinos, and collectivistic patterns that the mediator must consider in order to be successful.

Access ADR: Promoting Diversity In ADR October 2003 Washington, DC, October 8, 2003 – In a move designed to increase the number of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) professionals of color and to enhance their access to ADR clients, The JAMS Foundation in cooperation with the American Bar Association’s Section of Dispute Resolution have created “ACCESS ADR.” ACCESS ADR – a project conceived by African-American ADR experts Homer C. La Rue and Marvin E. Johnson of JAMS and sponsored by the JAMS Foundation -- will offer training, mentoring and business development support to experienced mediators from various racial and ethnic groups underrepresented as full-time neutrals in the field. Mr. La Rue and Mr. Johnson are based in JAMS’ Washington, D.C. office. Candidates for the first group of Fellows of ACCESS ADR in 2004 will be asked to demonstrate their integrity, competence and commitment to ADR as full-time ADR professionals in order to enter the program. Some Fellows of the program will be asked to become mentors for future Fellows of the project. The announcement of ACCESS ADR was made today by Jay Welsh, JAMS Vice President and General Counsel and Richard Chernick, Vice President and Managing Director of JAMS Arbitration Practice, who is Chair of the ABA’s Section of Dispute Resolution. “The need for more full-time mediators from a variety of racial and ethnic groups is one of the great challenges facing the ADR industry today, “Mr. Johnson said. “This is the reason ACCESS ADR was created.” “As the largest private provider of ADR services in the U.S., we at JAMS, The Resolution Experts must play an active role in attracting more people of color and diverse ethnic backgrounds to the profession,” said Mr. Welsh. “ACCESS ADR is precisely the kind of innovative program we had in mind when we created The JAMS Foundation in 2001.” “The assumption underlying ACCESS ADR is that there are mediators from a variety of racial and ethic groups who are qualified to handle high-stakes/complex mediations, and that there are users of ADR services who want to use such mediators,” Mr. La Rue said. “The problem has been that the users of the services do not know these mediators. This project, ACCESS ADR, is designed to link the two.” ACCESS ADR will be overseen by an independent Advisory Board that will include members of plaintiff bar organizations, defense bar organizations, insurance company representatives, corporations and other high-volume users of neutral services. Members of the Advisory Board will be asked to assist Program Fellows by helping them further their careers as full-time ADR neutrals.

Diversity Resistance (Part III)
Marvin Johnson
Although the outcomes that derive from encounters are not always positive, Diversity Resistance, as defined herein, is not about “bad people.” It is about the unconscious behavior of well-meaning individuals who, without provocation, would not intentionally harm another human being. If their actions/behavior inadvertently harmed or injured someone, most would apologize and, thereafter, pay closer attention to their actions/behavior under the same or similar circumstances.

Preparing for Peace (Book Review)
Bonita Para
John Paul Lederach’s Preparing for Peace, presents a case for considering how we approach conflict resolution training across cultures. His approach in this book is to draw the reader into considering the objectives and mechanics used to achieving the goals we set forth for training and to also to be open minded in our consideration of conflict; peoples’ cultural resources; and conflict transformation. This is not a “how-to” book on training, but one that encourages leaving the imagination open to endless methodologies of training approaches.   1 Comment

Conflict Mediation Across Cultures: Pathways and Patterns (Book Review)
Bonita Para
David Augsburger’s book, Conflict Mediation Across Cultures, is not only a scholarly work in regards to conflict resolution, but also a wonderful collection of folk tales and proverbs that reflect the content of each chapter. This is not a book on how to mediate cross-cultural disputes, but one that addresses different cultural conflict patterns and models of conflict resolution. The book presents a way to understand how our own and other cultures’ responses to conflict are formed through our cultural myths, history and values.

Culture and Conflict Resolution (Book Review)
Bonita Para
Kevin Avruch presents us with the idea that culture is a dynamic characteristic in humans, having been informed by past experiences and by our history, past and present of social interactions. Essentially, it is the way we think and act. He espouses that it is only through seeing culture in this way that it can be a useful tool in the analysis of conflict and its resolution.   1 Comment

Considerations for Mediating with People Who Are Culturally Deaf
Annette Leonard, Deb Duren, and John Reiman
Historically, mediation has not been an effective venue for dispute resolution for Deaf people because of linguistic inaccessibility and cultural non-recognition. Like other linguistic minority groups who experience and resolve conflict in a manner consistent with their social and communicative norms Deaf people have some unique perspectives. The following article illuminates some of these perspectives and explains how mediators can address these differences when working with Deaf people, in order to make mediation a more linguistically and culturally respectful and responsive endeavor.   4 Comments

Enhancing Mediation Services to the Spanish-Speaking Community:Perceived Needs and Recommendations
Clara I. Gómez, Josefina M. Rendón & Walter A. Wright
We conducted a survey of Texas Dispute Resolution Centers to study the impact of the growth of the Hispanic/Latino population under the auspices of the Texas Association of Mediators. In this article, we will discuss the Dispute Resolution Centers perceived needs and our own recommendations for serving their Spanish-Speaking residents.   3 Comments

Colonialism, Crime, and Dispute Resolution: A Critical Analysis of Canada's Aboriginal Justice Strategy
Jessie Sutherland
In various parts of the world, Europeans have used criminal justice systems as a key colonial tool to dismantle and de-legitimise "the social institutions and political aspiration of indigenous people". Certainly, Canada has been no different in its implementation of laws and policies that have resulted in eroding First Nations' political, economic, social and cultural institutions and ways of life .In this essay, Jessie Sutherland not only outlines how this erosion has taken place but more importantly recommends ways to restore and repair the relationship between First Nations and the Canadian state.

Negotiations and other ADR with the Chinese
Urs Martin Lauchli
Cross-cultural negotiations are inherently more difficult than intra cultural negotiations, however, they are among the most intellectually exciting challenges in the field of dispute resolution.   1 Comment

Beyond Cultural Identity: Reflections on Multiculturalism
Peter S. Adler
No one is culture free. Yet, the conditions of contemporary history are such that we may now be on the threshold of a new kind of person, a person who is socially and psychologically a product of the interweaving of cultures in the twentieth century.   1 Comment

Mediation in India
D .K. Sampath
D .K. Sampath provided mediation services through the Tamil Nadu State Legal Aid& Advice Board in India. In this article he reflects on the use of mediation to resolve workplace disuputes in the banking and insurance industry.

Mediation-A Resource of the Rural Poor in India
D .K. Sampath
This article has taken for its theme, the legal services to the rural poor and other disadvantaged groups. Particular reference is made to the role of law schools in delivery of such services. What follows is a report on an attempt to deliver mediation as a dispute resolution resource under the leadership of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Aid & Advice Board of Madras with Justice Sri.N .Krishnaswamy Reddiar as Chairman.

Diversity Resistance (Part II)
Marvin Johnson
Like the proverbial elephant in the room, Diversity Resistance can be in our face yet difficult to see. Lurking in the shadows of our existence, it is part of the blind spot that forms the barrier between the cognitive understanding and the actual acceptance of diversity.   1 Comment

Mediating with Interpreters
Josefina M. Rendón & Edward Bujosa
Many mediators will encounter mediations where the parties do not speak English fluently. Sometimes a mediator may speak the parties’ language and may continue the mediation without the need for interpretation. Other times, the mediator can barely communicate with a party and has no interpreter. In either situation, the mediator may have to decide whether the mediation is even appropriate or whether an interpreter is necessary to continue the mediation. The following are some questions third party neutrals should ask themselves where an interpreter might be needed.   4 Comments

Cross Cultural Conflict Resolution in Teams
John Ford
The use of teams represents an important change in the way we work. The theory is that through the interdependency of the parts greater productivity is achieved by the whole. Experience has been less kind. One reason that teams fail to meet performance expectations is their paralysis through unresolved conflict. This article focuses on the impact of culture on the prevention and resolution of conflict in teams.

The Challenge of Terror: A Traveling Essay
John Paul Lederach
Though natural, the cry for revenge and the call for the unleashing of the first war of this century, prolonged or not, seems more connected to social and psychological processes of finding a way to release deep emotional anguish, a sense of powerlessness, and our collective loss than it does as a plan of action seeking to redress the injustice, promote change and prevent it from ever happening again.   26 Comments

Diversity Resistance
Marvin Johnson
Over the years, some have wondered why developing and implementing a diversity program was so challenging. Many have attributed part of the difficulty to the natural resistance to change (e.g. uncertainty, discomfort, loss of control). Notwithstanding those who outright oppose the concept of diversity, the difference between understanding the concept and accepting the implementation of diversity initiatives is a barrier that has to be surmounted.

Techniques For Resolving Cross-Cultural Disputes
Bob Delaney
The major sources of disputes involve roles, emotions, misinformation (and misinterpretation) and values. These will all be present in the workforce, whether there is a degree of cultural integration or not. The presence of various cultures may increase the potential for the sources of conflict to come to the surface in a harmful way. Forum/Diversity   2 Comments