The growth of mediation over the last 20 years has promulgated quantities of literature both pragmatic and theoretical as practitioners and academics have grappled with the critical issues facing the development of mediation practice and alternative dispute resolution (ADR).
The briefing required that this literature review be focused on current national and international trends in mediation and dispute resolution and comment on any processes and practices that support professionals in the delivery of quality dispute resolution services, particularly those within a statutory context. The purpose of this literature review is to attempt to capture “the state of the art” as academics and practitioners currently regard it and has focussed on material produced between 2000 and 2007. The review has been written with a practical application in mind and is designed to set the context for discussion.
Although this review attempts to address the works of seminal thinkers, time constraints and limited access to information mean that some works will not have been included. In a review of the book “Managing Workplace Conflict: Alternative Dispute Resolution in Australia” by Van Gramberg, Tillett (2006) points out that given the importance of employment for most people and the number of disputes that arise, he is surprised at how little attention seems to have been paid to the resolution of workplace disputes in the literature of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in Australia and this would seem to apply to New Zealand as well.
What became apparent in the process of the review was the need to identify themes to help refine the material. With this in mind two themes were selected; the first relates to an explanation of the models and styles of mediation that are currently being promoted in the literature in an endeavour to capture some of the current thinking around the practice of mediation and ADR. The second theme relates more specifically to global trends and reflective thinking about the future emerging in the field of mediation and dispute resolution practice.