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    Workplace Mediation: An Irish Study


    Kenny, Treasa (2019) Workplace Mediation: An Irish Study. In: International Association for Conflict Management, 7-10 July 2019.

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    Abstract

    This paper presents the results of the first systematic study of workplace mediators in Ireland. It examines the characteristics and features of workplace mediation using a mixed methods study. The research identified, for the first time, the active population of workplace mediators in Ireland. Mediation entered the workplace conflict resolution lexicon from 2002-2004 at the ‘macro-level’ of State policy; at the ‘meso-level’ through the Mediators’ Institute of Ireland, and at the ‘micro-level’ of organisations. Findings are based on qualitative data obtained from six focus groups, with 25 participants, seven interviews with internal mediation service coordinators and an officer of the Workplace Relations Commission. Quantitative data were obtained from a survey of 144 workplace mediators. The findings are consistent with the claims of the literature in a number of areas and advances knowledge in the emerging theoretical domain of workplace mediation in a number of ways. It shows that as workplace mediation has developed to address more individual conflict issues inside organisations, the ‘three-stage mediation process’ identified in in the literature is more commonly a ‘six-stage’ process in practice. Workplace mediators in Ireland are ‘general practitioners’, often combining workplace mediation with a number of other professional activities, as well as ‘stylistically eclectic’ in their practice. Three out of four workplace mediators adopt a short-term focus on process which achieves outcomes primarily relevant to participants in mediation. Only one in four workplace mediators engage in practices that influence long-term organisational outcomes such as changes in working environments or capacity-building in conflict resolution skills.

    Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
    Keywords: Workplace Mediation; Irish Study;
    Academic Unit: Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > Edward M Kennedy Institute
    Item ID: 15997
    Depositing User: Treasa Kenny
    Date Deposited: 24 May 2022 14:18
    Refereed: Yes
    URI:
    Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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