What Could A Leader Learn From A Mediator?: Dispute Resolution Strategies for Organizational Leadership

Abstract

It is hard to imagine a leadership situation that is devoid of conflict or even what the function of leadership would be on an island of perpetual harmony where all parties shared a perfectly common vision of their objectives and how to achieve them. Many of leadership’s most important challenges are born of conflict— to build coalitions among divergent interests, forge consensus from discord, and transform destructive disagreement into constructive debates (Burns, 1978; Gardner, 1990; Selznick, 1957). We easily recognize effective leaders as expert negotiators as they confront and appeal to a multiplicity of interests to achieve their objectives (Lax & Sebenius, 1986; Neustadt, 1990; Raiffa, 1982). We less often recognize when leaders are acting as informal mediators or arbitrators of disputes. Yet, the activities of mediators and arbitrators overlap a great deal with the skills and responsibilities of leadership (Raiffa, 1983).