Case Study: The Broken Saw Case

McCorkle and Reese (2015) describe mediation as a process where a neutral third party assists individuals with developing a mutual agreement in resolving their conflict (p. 2). Mediation can be offered through a number of different situations such as the court system, through an employer, or educational setting. In the case study, The Broken Saw Case, conflict arose between a retail establishment and a customer and the parties were referred to mediation in an attempt to resolve the matter. McCorkle and Reese (2015) indicate this type of mediation as business mediation which occurs when disagreements exist within an organization due to a business transaction between the customer and the retailer (p.7).
The Broken Saw Case, the conflict …show more content…
First, resolving the matter through the power approach means there is a winner and loser (McCorkle and Reese, 2015, p. 9). However, the resolution might lead to retaliation on the part of the store owner or the customer as both parties indicated they do not want to make an enemy of each other. Secondly, the matter could be settled by means of resolving through rights, which means the legal rights of the individuals are used as a mechanism for conflict resolution (McCorkle and Reese, 2015, p. 9). Although laws are clearly outlined, resolving through rights takes the resolution process out of the hands of the disputants, and the resolution is determined by the legal system.
In the broken saw case, both parties are willing to generate ideas for a resolution to mitigate the situation and maintain a good reputation in their industry. Finally, a third approach is referred to as interest-based resolution, which consists of concentrating mediation efforts on meeting the emotional needs and concerns of the parties (McCorkle and Reese, 2015, p. 11). The parties in dispute get the opportunity to think creatively about the desired outcomes and develop an agreement without either having more leverage over the