MEDIATION

Report your role (mediator/designer/contractor) and the outcome of the mediation

I played the role of the mediator, which was to do anything and everything to ensure that the designer
and contractor come to an agreement in the end. My job was to facilitate in the argument between both
parties without taking sides by guiding the designer and the contractor towards a resolution without
taking it further to open courts. In the end both parties agreed to share the late project completion fee
together by splitting it 50:50and have the contractor sell the cheap air conditioners for a lower price at a
later stage or use them in one of his future works.

Describe how the dispute was managed – was it collaborative or combative?

In coming to the dispute resolution, a collaborative approach was followed. The negotiation kick started
by allowing the concerned parties to elaborate their cases which as expected was followed by a series of
arguments. I took charge of the situation by calming both of them down and then diverting their
attention my proposal of a way forward. Firstly, I made both the designer and contractor aware of
what’s at stake here, that either of them is liable to financial strain from taking legal action moreover
the reputation of their entities could be dragged on mud. I guess this stroke a cord as both parties
agreed to share the late submission costs, and the contractor would sell the air conditioners at a
cheaper price or use them in one of his next projects. I got a little suspicious at the designer’s reaction
once they came to an agreement that perhaps he was not telling the truth about the RFI.

Reflect on the role of the mediator – did it make dispute resolution easier? What could
they have done differently?
As the mediator, my role of offering options for considerations, stimulating new perspectives and
offering reference points for consideration made conflict resolution quite easier. The initial task of being
able to change the focus of the case from RFI issue which caused argument set everything in the right
direction. The next step was to present a better way to resolve this issue. By highlighting that if both
parties could come to a settlement they could save money, eases the court load and more often than
not it leaves parties in a better state of mind. Moreover, this could save their entities and hence not
affect their future endeavors.

They could have been done differently done things differently by maybe hiring a professional
investigator to find out who was at fault cause clearly someone was not telling the whole truth. Now
then after finding the culprit between the two who will then be liable to pay all the fees for late
submission and also for the expenses of cheap installed air conditioners.

Comment on potential advantages of mediation over litigation

Benefits of mediation is that it is typically quicker than litigation therefore less stress associated with
court proceedings and the like, and also more flexible as it is done privately and the decision is
voluntary. The cost incurred during the litigation process are higher compared to mediation. The two
parties have a greater control over the outcome because they have greater say in the negotiations in
mediation unlike in a lawsuit.