Negotiating Negotiation: The Collaborative Production of Resolution in Small Claims Mediation Hearings

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how participants in mediation hearings get ideas for resolution of the dispute on the table for negotiation and bargaining. The data used at 15 small claims mediation hearings which were videotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using the conversation analytic method. While the tasks involved in producing suggestions for solution are tied to institutional role (mediators make proposals and solicit position reports from disputants; disputants produce position reports) the mediators and disputants collaboratively produce ideas for resolution, and use several techniques to control production of ideas and their placement. Mediators orient to the institutional requirements of neutrality and disputant empowerment as they engage in these tasks, but have ways of resisting these constraints. Disputants, in turn, can resist mediator's attempts to infringe upon their autonomy.