How Existing Procedures Shape Alternatives: The Case of Grievance Mediation

Mediation is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous forms of conflict resolution in American society and throughout the world. Traditionally a prominent adjunct to labor and international negotiation, mediation is now used in divorce, family, civil, consumer, commercial and employee relations, environmental planning and siting, and the development of governmental procedures and regulations.\u27 As mediation has penetrated into these new areas of social life, curiosity about the practice of mediation, that is, what mediators actually do to bring about settlement, has increased