Explain the concepts of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration with suitable examples of their application.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers may vary.Many cases are settled by negotiation, without the assistance of a third party. Negotiation might be formal, as happens when management and union representatives negotiate a labor contract, or informal, as when attorneys go back and forth in a series of phone calls to settle a personal injury claim. Another informal mechanism involves collaborative divorce, in which lawyers and psychologists work with a divorcing couple to finalize all issues without going to court. Typically, there is a heightened sense of trust, openness, and disclosure in collaborative divorce. As in trials, procedural justice considerations are important in successful negotiations. People care about both the outcome of negotiations and the fairness of the process. In a study in which law students' role-played attorneys in a simulated negotiation about a contract dispute, participants thought negotiations were fair when they believed that they had been listened to and treated with courtesy, and when they perceived the other party as trustworthy.Mediation also has a role in divorce proceedings. An alternative to collaborative divorce (in which both parties employ their own lawyers, who agree to cooperate), a mediated divorce involves a third party who helps the couple to dissolve their marriage. Psychologists have assessed whether a mediated divorce leads to more desirable outcomes than litigation. One remarkable study assessed parent-child contact and co-parenting in families whose custody disputes had been resolved 12 years earlier by either mediation or litigation. Families who mediated custody showed more cooperation and flexibility than families who litigated. In particular, nonresidential parents who mediated had more contact with their children and were more intimately involved in parenting, and fathers who mediated were much more satisfied with their custody arrangements. Compared to litigated divorces, mediation apparently encourages parents to comply with divorce agreements, remained involved in their children's lives, and renegotiate relationships in a more adaptive way.