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Free review copies of non-English Teacher’s Packages will be emailed upon request. Please contact
chouse@law.harvard.edu
or telephone 800-258-4406 (within the U.S.) or 781-239-1111 (outside the U.S.) SCENARIO:
Neighborhood Care, Inc. is a non-profit mental health organization that provides counseling and recreational health services to mentally challenged adults and teenagers. Neighborhood Care would like to rent space in a local church, and the church is interested. Local residents oppose the idea and plan on staging a protest at the next zoning hearing, when the church will seek a permit to operate the Neighborhood Care facility. The situation is also complicated by the fact that the church is located in a neighborhood with residents of a different religious faith.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
There are two versions of this exercise:
Original by Lawrence Susskind -
Each participant receives a single sheet of paper with a summary of both sides' views. The group is asked to discuss how a mediator, contacted by one side, ought to proceed. The group is then asked to discuss how a mediator, in the mediation, should proceed. The participants are then given a copy of the actual negotiated agreement and asked to evaluate it.
Revised version by Bruce Patton -
This is a mediation exercise. Each side receives its views as confidential instructions. The mediator comes to the meeting at the request of the parties. The parties may be represented by individuals and/or teams. Any agreement reached can be compared with the actual signed agreement.
Estimated Time Requirements:
Original non-mediated Version:
Group discussion on how a mediator ought to proceed after being contacted by one side: 15-30 minutes
Group discussion on how the mediator should proceed during the mediation: 15-30 minutes
Evaluation of an actual negotiated agreement: 15-30 minutes
Total: 45-90 minutes
Revised Mediation Version:
Reading and preparation: 10 minutes
Mediation 60-120 minutes
Debrief: 45-60 minutes
Total: 105 – 190 minutes
MAJOR LESSONS:
Partisan perceptions: This case illustrates how and why groups with competing interests or concerns can view the same situation in different ways.
Mediator issues: The difficulties facing mediators trying to gain entry into community disputes are illustrated, especially the problem of maintaining neutrality.
Identifying success: The prospects for developing written agreements in community conflicts are presented. The difficulties of defining a "good" outcome in a community dispute are also highlighted.
Implementation: Review of the agreement reached in the real-life case highlights the problem of implementing informed negotiated agreements.
TEACHING MATERIALS:
For all parties: Non-Mediated Version
Memorandum on the Neighbors' and Church's Views
The Actual Signed Agreement (names blocked out)
Role specific: Mediated Version
Confidential Instructions for the
Neighbors' Representative(s)
Church's Representative(s)
Mediator
The Actual Signed Agreement (names blocked out)
Teacher's package:
All of the above
Extensive teaching notes for mediated version debrief
KEYWORDS/THEMES:
Agenda control; Authority; Commitment; Communication; Competition v. Cooperation; Compliance; Constituents; Education, as a means; Emotions; Facility siting negotiation; Implementing informed negotiated public agreements; Interest analysis; Issue control; Linkage; Mediation; Mediation, negotiating entry; Meeting design; Negotiating in communities of faith; Objective criteria; One-text procedure; Options, generating; Partisan perceptions; Public dispute mediation; Public opinion; Reality testing; Relationship; Risk perception; Value-based disputes; Yesable propositions
SIMILAR SIMULATIONS:
Jefferson Hazardous Waste Negotiation
Siting an Asphalt Plant in the city of Mandroa
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