A Multiparty Workplace Mediation: A Case Summary
Challenge
Five members representing different organizational levels of a company experienced ongoing issues and escalating conflicts over several months. Previous efforts to resolve the disputes by Human Resources and the Executive Director proved unsuccessful. The organization contacted JRB Mediations to help resolve the issues.
Background
Mediation is a voluntary process. Out of the five disputants, one declined to participate in mediation. The disputants to the mediation were Mary, Lisa, Kathy, and Jane (names have been changed).
Mary, Kathy, and Jane had a number of issues with the Manager, Lisa.
Mary and Lisa had been working for the organization for over 10 years and had a good working relationship. Each worked in different areas and both reported to the Executive Management. Lisa and Kathy also worked in different divisions and had a good relationship on both a personal and professional level. Recently, Kathy was promoted to Manager to oversee a contingent of 10 employees.
Lisa’s friend Yanny worked under Kathy. When a supervisory position opened in Kathy’s area, Kathy selected Jane for the position, rather than Yanny. Over time, Yanny and Xavier, who also also worked under Kathy, began raising concerns about kathy’s area to Lisa, instead of directly to Kathy. Yanny soon left the organization a few months later. Xavier also exited a few moths after Yanny. Unknown to Lisa, there were many performance issues with Xavier.
Not long after Xavier left it was discovered that both he and Yanny had made negative digital statements about:
Kathy’s (Manager) work area,
Kathy and Jane (Supervisor) personally,
about Mary (Director), and
had been corresponding with Lisa (Manager).
It was found that Lisa had been communicating a reorganization proposal with Yanny and Xavier. Though she had discussed the proposal with Executive Management, she had not approached Mary or Kathy about it, though it would have impacted their areas. Mary and Kathy heard of the proposal from Executive Management.
It was also discovered that Lisa had posted a congratulatory message to Xavier on social media for moving on from the organization. Kathy and Jane took issue with this given Lisa’s lack of knowledge of Xavier’s performance issues. Since Lisa reports directly to Executive Management, Mary, the Director, had no conversations with Lisa regarding the reorganization proposal and other issues. She felt it was Executive Management’s responsibility to speak to Lisa.
The Goal
The organization wanted to achieve specific outcomes from the mediation:
For everyone to work as a team, following the lines of authority.
For the team to be happy, working within a cohesive environment.
To know whether a negotiated resolution and agreement were made and the key resolution points.
The Process
Pre-Mediation Interviews
JRB Mediations conducted pre-mediation interviews with each of the five disputants separately to gain an understanding of the situation from each of their perspectives. This included:
determining each participants’ concerns, issues, and interests.
the impact of the dispute.
what had been done previously to try to resolve the disputes.
their worst- and best-case scenarios.
what resolution looked like to each of them and how that could be obtained.
Positions & Interests of the parties
Mary, the Director
Mary’s perspective is that:
Lisa had been acting inappropriately, unprofessionally, and overstepped boundaries, including interfering with Mary and Kathy’s staff and their ability to provide their staff support.
Lisa’s perspectives on her activities and behavior differ from Mary’s, especially regarding the reorganization proposal, which Mary believes Lisa submitted to the Executive Management behind Mary’s back in an attempt to “save” Xavier and Yanny recommending they move to her area.
Lisa had encouraged Yanny and Xavier to undermine Mary so Lisa could get what she wanted.
Lisa must take accountability and ownership for her actions and behavior, and only then can they move forward.
Mary feels hurt and sabotaged given she has always had Lisa’s back. Conflict at work has also been negatively impacting Mary’s personal life.
Lisa, the Manager
Lisa’s perspective is that:
She disagrees with the reasons provided to her by Human Resources regarding the inappropriateness of having discussions with Yanny and Xavier about Kathy’s work area.
Work area issues were simply communication issues that could easily be resolved since she knew Yanny and Xavier on a personal level. She believed that conjecture and false assumptions were being made by the other parties based on information she’d shared with them regarding these learned issues.
Since she reported directly to Executive Management, she submitted her envisioned reorganization proposal to them. She did not think to discuss her ideas with Mary or Kathy.
She provided words of encouragement to Xavier on her personal Facebook Page based on her own experiences when job searching and did not take into consideration how others may interpret the message.
Her intentions were genuine and not meant to hurt, be disrespectful, nor undermine anyone.
Kathy, Manager
Kathy’s perspective is that:
Lisa does not believe Kathy deserved to be promoted to Manager. Lisa overstepped her role and boundaries and had a role in assisting Xavier and Yanny with attempting to sabotage Kathy and Jane in their new roles.
It is not appropriate for Lisa to be speaking to Kathy’s staff about Kathy’s area.
Lisa was protecting Xavier and Yanny for several reasons:
1) They were Lisa’s friends.
2) Emails written by Xavier and Yanny disparaged Kathy, Jane, and Mary.
3) Lisa shared the reorganization proposal with Xavier and Yanny.
Lisa’s social media post about Xavier is irresponsible, reprehensible, and makes Kathy look bad since Kathy and HR had been dealing with Xavier’s performance issues and the newly discovered email issues.
Lisa is not a team player, lacking self confidence and thus seeks it out from others.
Jane, Supervisor
Jane’s perspective is that:
Lisa would overstep and tell Jane how to supervise Xavier and during meetings it felt as though Lisa, Xavier, and Yanny were against Jane and Kathy
Jane felt disrespected and judged by Lisa as Lisa attempted to advocate for Xavier and Yanny.
In Lisa’s personal Facebook message to Xavier, she was being passive aggressive towards her and Kathy and the message reflected poorly on Jane, damaging her reputation.
Jane felt that the message was offensive given Lisa’s lack of knowledge about Xavier’s performance issues.
She feels stuck on how to move forward.
The situation has produced an awkwardness with staff and it is doubtful that a positive working environment can be attained after these issues.
Digging Deeper: What Are the Main Issues?
Issues Raised by the Parties:
Communication and relationships.
Boundaries and confidentiality.
Trust and respect.
Emails, Facebook, relationships.
Reorganization proposal.
Common Interests of the Parties:
Positive working relationships and team environment.
Work as a team and provide support to each other.
To move forward with business as usual.
Follow hierarchical processes and protocols.
Boundaries around roles.
Have each other’s back.
Being valued and respected.
Finding understanding and being professional.
Details of the Mediation
JRB Mediations conducted two mediations.
The first mediation was between Director Mary and Manager Lisa. Since they had issues that were not relevant to the other two parties (Kathy and Jane), this allowed them to engage in a fuller, more open conversation with each other, without concerns of junior staff being present.
Managers Lisa and Kathy, and Supervisor Jane were given a choice of one mediation between the three of them or two separate mediations (one between Lisa and Kathy, and another between Lisa and Jane). Since the parties agreed to have one mediation between the three of them, the second mediation was between Lisa, Kathy, and Jane.
Duration of the Mediations:
The first mediation concluded in 3 hours.
The second mediation concluded in just over 2 hours.
The Successful Resolutions
The mediations were a voluntary process facilitated by JRB Mediations, allowing participants to come to their own resolutions.
In both mediations, the facilitated discussions enabled the parties to understand each other's perspectives of the situation and the issues. They explored their past and current working relationships; where it was going wrong and what they expected from each other to move forward. They discovered and explored each other’s concerns, assumptions, and expectations.
Each mediation spoke to key issues (among other issues) related to boundaries, protocols and processes, communication, and trust. They explored what they needed from each other to move forward towards positive working relationships and a positive workplace environment.
Since mediation is confidential, all parties in each of the two mediations agreed as to what information they could and could not share outside the mediation.
In both mediations, all parties agreed that no formal agreement be drawn up.
Regret and apologies were voiced in both mediations.
The issues identified by the parties in both mediations were resolved and agreed to by the relevant parties.
The employer was informed of the outcome of the mediations.
The parties agreed to share key elements of the agreement with the employer.
Though typically the mediator would provide a mediated agreement report to the employer, the employer was happy to receive from the parties what they had agreed upon, rather than a report.