The Daily Blogpost from the Harvard Program on Negotiation (PON) is always a great way to start the day. A quick read, it often turns something that I have been processing at the back of my mind into a more solid idea I can inspect and explore. This week, a particularly relevant post about…

This article was prepared by Christian-Radu Chereji and Constantin-Adi Gavrilă. The monologue situation We have all met the person in our mediations. The one that comes to the table and monopolizes the dialogue, which actually stops being a dialogue and turns into a long, ineffective monologue. And it goes on and on, with no end…

In the 1930’s anthropologist Gregory Bateson developed the concept of Schismogenesis – the creation of division. He defined this as ‘a process of differentiation in the norms of individual behaviour resulting from cumulative interaction between individuals’, or groups of individuals. A process of this sort can result in individuals or groups drifting apart, almost becoming mirror…

Mediation is a confidential process with an impartial third party (the mediator) assisting the disputing parties to reach a mutually acceptable solution. Skilled mediators are also engaged by potential business partners to assist in the deal-making process. The Hong Kong SAR Government (Hong Kong Government) and in particular the Department of Justice has been promoting…

Effective inter-governmental relations among the constituent parts of the United Kingdom are essential in an era of increased devolution of powers, post-Brexit allocation of responsibility and contested narratives about the future of the (uncodified) UK constitution. Background One of the rather depressing aspects of the constitutional impasse in the UK is that inter-governmental relations (IGR)…

I teach an online course for lawyers to help them become more comfortable working with numbers. We spend quite a lot of time on litigation forecasting: assigning probabilities to different outcomes, combining these probabilities correctly and coming up with an overall estimated value for the claim. This is useful to frame the parameters for any…

For many years now, I have been conducting workplace mediation and facilitation, including conflicts in teams and between staff and team leaders or between owners, and also regular away-days, strategy and management meetings and the like – where a conflict or dispute is not the main focus and people are taking time to reflect with…

On the first day of this year the international mediation community lost a wonderful friend and colleague. The memorial page established by his family shows just how wide and deep the affection reaches. He provided memorable experiences to so many of us. And whilst we both certainly remember (and enjoyed) his joie de vivre, the…

List of Must-Read Books for Every Negotiator Let me introduce you to my new project. I would like to put together a list of five books every negotiator must-read. And when doing this, I do not have in mind works directly related to negotiation and/or mediation such as Getting to Yes by Roger D. Fisher…

This post is written by Tudor Mureșan and Constantin Adi Gavrilă. It is about the transformations of a young mediator while interiorising restorative justice and mediation principles as a student at the Conflict Analysis and Management International Master Program organised by the College of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, Babeş-Bolyai University. Adi: Tudor, thank you…