MEDIATION FOR MANAGERS

RESOLVING CONFLICT AND REBUILDING RELATIONSHIPS AT WORK

John Crawley & Katherine Graham

"From employee violence to dysfunctional turf wars, the need for workplace mediation skill has never been more critical and more in demand. This accessible guide shows to to reduce conflict, avoid crises, and rely on internal talents and resources, rather than external litigators, arbitrators, and high-priced professional mediators." Manager, March 2003

"Mediation for Managers encourages healthy change and moves towards rebuilding relationships. It has an easy-to-read style, which is squential and logical. The book is a sound investment for all managers." Training Journal

"There are a variety of skills to be learned here from the authors' extensive experience." Times Educational Supplement

"All managers who find themselves faced with conflict will find something useful in here. The mediation process comes through clearly, with simple visible cues, checklists and instructions."
David Wyatt - Research Director, GlaxoSmithKline

Mediation is now widely recognized as a highly effective way to reduce conflict, resolve disputes and build a productive workplace. Mediation for Managers focuses on getting mediation skills and the mediation process out of the classroom and away from the lawyers - and directly into the hands of managers where it is needed most.

Here for the first time is an accessible and practical toolkit of exercises, case studies and real-world examples to enable you to become an effective mediator at work. Crawley and Graham show how mediation can offer a fresh and positive way of looking at a wide range of interpersonal disputes - including employment, customer complaints, grievances, bullying, harrassment and discrimination.

Mediation for Managers can help by:

• Taking the adversity out of diversity - when mediation is available, more people choose not to go down the formal route
• Cutting the cost of conflict - the stress, illness and staff loss caused by conflict often afffect the bottom line
• Rebuilding relationships - building rapport, and refocusing people on their core tasks
• Stimulating healthy change - conflicts, effectively managed, can have a positive effect and help avoid stagnation

Going beyond the conventional techniques of resolving conflict to map out the mediation process step by step, this book uniquely shows the management style and core skills required at each stage. It also illustrates mediation in action - between co-workers, managers, direct reports, and customers and corporate staff.

As a mediating manager, you can learn how to deal with different demands, personalities and behaviours while setting a positive lead - and hugely enhance your value to colleagues on both a professional and personal level.

John Crawley is an author, speaker, trainer and international consultant with an acknowledged reputation for designing systems to resolve disputes and other types of conflict in organizations. Recognized as the leading creator of accredited training materials for mediators in the UK, he was the principal consultant on BBC Worldwide's training video on managing conflict at work. He founded Conflict Management Plus in 1990. Katherine Graham has many years' experience of managing mediation for a wide range of organizations, and is the coordinator of TroubleshooterUK, the resolution service of Conflict Management Plus.