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SCENARIO:
G. Hutter, the representative of the Westville Homelessness Task Force, hopes to turn the old social service center into a shelter for Westville's homeless. J. Wood represents Neighbors Together, a local neighborhood organization. Wood is worried about the shelter's impact on the community: what will this do to property values? A. Goldsmith, a member of the Westville City Planning staff, has been asked by the Mayor to act as a mediator, to help Hutter and Wood come up with an agreement they can live with--before the City Council plunges ahead and decides on its own.
MAJOR LESSONS:
There are three issues to be negotiated. Participants have the opportunity to make use of their different interests, to trade across issues, and to achieve joint gains. However, not all agreements are optimal and there exists considerable scope for the parties to achieve far below what they could possibly receive.
In all, thirteen agreements are possible. Comparing agreements allows discussion of the following points:
Differences between joint gains and compromises
Tensions between creating and claiming value
The centrality of trading, exploiting differences in relative priorities
Issues of power and representation of affected parties
Roles of third party helpers and questions about neutrality
Mediating strategies when mediators have multiple goals
Perceptions and realities of "even-handedness" and neutrality
Sources of mediators' bias
Sources of mediators' influence
Activist vs. neutral mediator roles
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
This exercise was written specifically to explore non-neutral mediation strategies, but can be used to examine distributive and integrative negotiation strategies. Because the mediator's performance is scored, this game allows us an evaluation of the neutral’s intervention strategies under conditions that call into question the mediator's neutrality.
TEACHING MATERIALS:
For all parties:
Background Information: A Shelter for Westville?
Role Specific Confidential Information for:
A. Goldsmith, Planning Director
G. Hutter, Homelessness Task Force Representative
J. Wood, Representative of Neighbors Together
Teacher's Package:
All of the above
Teaching Note
2 key debriefing charts
KEYWORDS/THEMES: Community dispute mediation; mediation; mediator bias
SIMILAR SIMULATIONS:
Homelessness in Niceville
Negotiated Development in Redstone
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