The Mediator: A Neutral, a Catalyst or a Leader
![handle is hein.journals/labljo9 and id is 764 raw text is: qualified persons would, of course, be attracted
by offers of high salaries. The market value
of any one person with the formidable array
of talents expected of a mediator is high.
Yet it is a lamentable fact that salary levels
for mediators in government agencies are
far below scales in private industry for
personnel of similar quality.
A resourceful mediator could then do
what an earlier conciliator, Lord Roselerry,
did very effectively and which, according to
the Webbs, was far better than any argu-
ment he could have made about the living
wage, and that was to give both sides an
ample lunch. Two lunches like that and
the average mediator would become un-
easy. This is not a proposal to have the
mediator pick up the meal tabs, but he
should be able to match appropriate hos-
pitality rather than be the target of charitable
gestures.' Although higher salaries would
inevitably produce more applicants, meticulous
care would still have to be applied in the
search for qualified personnel.
The idea, however, of what is expected of,
by and in a mediator should be drawn along
more realistic lines than the typical current
examination prospectus suggests. In es-
sence, an appointing officer should under-
stand that generally (1) all the things
expected of a mediator do nof happen in
one case, (2) all the traits desired in a
mediator do not occur in one man and (3)
no one test is adequate to measure them.
[The End]
The Mediator:
A Neutral, a Catalyst or a Leader?
By EDWARD PETERS
Edward Peters is a conciliator for
the California State Conciliation
Service in Los Angeles, California.
HAVE purposely resorted to wage nego-
tiations throughout this paper as the
simplest method of illustrating the complex
processes inherent in the activity of a con-
ciliator, as a neutral, catalyst or leader, for
according to the particular circumstances
a conciliator may function in any one of
these roles. The word neutral in this dis-
cussion is used in a special sense and is
not intended to mean impartiality, because
it is taken for granted that a conciliator
must always function with thorough-going
impartiality, whatever his role may be in
negotiations. As I see it, there has often
been an unnecessary preoccupation with
impartiality as an attribute of the concilia-
tor's function. Such an overconcern for the
purity of the conciliator's motives is rooted
in the belief that the conciliator can, through
the exercise of his personal prejudices, de-
cisively influence the outcome of a collec-
tive bargaining impasse. No such flexibility
of action exists for him.
In most deadlocks the conciliator has all
he can do to help the parties resolve their
differences on any basis mutually accept-
able to them. The opposing forces in a con-
flict situation are usually in such delicate
balance that the negotiators would instantly
detect a distortion in their relationship
brought about by prejudicial conduct of the
conciliator. The choice for the conciliator
is not that of partiality versus impartiality,
but rather between effectiveness and in-
effectiveness. Only through impartiality can
he become integrated into a bargaining sit-
uation as an effective force. In short, a
See work cited at footnote 1.
Warren and Bernstein, in their pamphlet on
the mediation process, report a story about an
industrialist who was a member of a Truman
panel to list qualifications needed for staff
members of the federal service, which was then
re-established under its new title of FMCS
764
under the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. He asked:
Are these the qualifications you'll need for a
conciliator? Yes was the reply. He said:
Well, if you find anybody like that, send
him to me and I'll give him $15,000 a year.
That offer was made 12 years ago.
October, 1958 * Labor Law Journal](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/labljo9&div=104&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Mediator: A Neutral, a Catalyst or a Leader
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