The Mediator's Handbook - Paperback

by Jennifer E. Beer (Author), Caroline C. Packard (Author), Eileen Stief (With)

Resolve workplace and community conflicts with proven mediation frameworks that achieve 85% success rates. Professional mediators reveal step-by-step processes used in thousands of successful mediations, from family disputes to corporate negotiations, with complete guidance for both new and experienced practitioners.

Why Professional Mediation Skills Are Essential:

Litigation costs average $50,000-200,000 per workplace dispute. Mediation resolves 85% of conflicts at under $5,000 while preserving relationships and preventing recurring issues.

What You'll Master:

• Five-phase mediation process - systematic approach that works across all conflict types


• Advanced communication techniques - defuse emotion and focus on underlying interests


• Multi-party dispute strategies - manage complex organizational and family conflicts



• Cultural competency methods - navigate diverse community mediation successfully


• Professional development pathways - certification requirements and career advancement

Real-World Applications:

Used by Fortune 500 companies, family courts, and community organizations worldwide. Practitioners report 90%+ client satisfaction and 65% reduction in recurring conflicts.

Master the skills that turn adversaries into allies. Essential for HR professionals, managers, community leaders, and anyone who deals with conflict.

Back Jacket

THE CLASSIC RESOURCE FOR EFFECTIVE MEDIATION - NOW FULLY UPDATED AND EXPANDED

A beautiful book, written with a deep understanding of the mediator's art...
-- Hideaki Irie, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Kyushu University

Can you really make the classic book in its field even better? Authors Jennifer Beer and Caroline Packard prove the answer is a resounding "Yes!" Bravo!
-- G. Richard Shell, Thomas Gerrity Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics, Wharton School of Business; author of Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

I have taught from previous editions for 25 years, and this new edition is even better, with new insights into conflict and new strategies that work.
-- Susan Sgorbati, Director, The Conflict Resolution Program, Bennington College, Jones Chair for Social Activism.

The Mediator's Handbook presents a time-tested, adaptable model for helping people work through conflict. Now extensively revised to incorporate recent practice and thinking, it lays out the process step by step, from first contact with the parties, to forging a resolution. The "Toolbox" section explains each concept and skill mediators need to guide the process, support the participants and help them reach decisions.

Long a popular course textbook used by universities, high schools, and training programs, The Mediator's Handbook is also a valued desk reference for professional mediators, and a down-to-earth guide for managers, organizers, teachers and anyone working with clients, customers, volunteers, committees or teams.

Jennifer Beer, PhD, an anthropologist, trainer, and facilitator, mediates in communities and organizations and teaches Negotiation & Dispute Resolution at the Wharton School.

Caroline Packard, JD, a family and organizational mediator and trainer, led Friends Conflict Resolution Programs for fifteen years, and was before that a corporate litigator.

Eileen Stief was a key early developer of the Friends Conflict Resolution Programs model on which the Handbook is based, and trained a whole generation of mediators.

Author Biography

Dr. Jennifer E. Beer, PhD, combines mediation experience with her cultural anthropology background to lead courses and workshops in mediation, conflict resolution, and cross-cultural communication. She regularly teaches a negotiation course at Wharton (University of Pennsylvania). Author of the Mediator's Handbook and of Peacemaking in Your Neighborhood, she has mediated conflicts and facilitated meetings for communities and organizations for 30 years. She lives in Pennsylvania.

Caroline C. Packard, JD, is an organizational change and conflict response specialist and mediator with 30 years' experience in the field. A graduate of Yale College and NYU School of Law, and a former corporate litigator with extensive formal training in individual and group psychology, Caroline has a special interest in the evolutionary psychology of group conflict and cooperation. She provides mediation and conflict-resolution services and training to organizations, families, and family businesses. She lives in the United States

Eileen Stief developed the mediation process and principles documented in The Mediator's Handbook, and trained a generation of mediators to work with community, multi-party, and environmental disputes. Now retired, she led the Friends Conflict Resolution Program's experiment in community dispute settlement and later specialized in environmental mediation. She lives in the United States.

Elizabeth Elwood Gates provided the delightful cartoon illustrations in honor of her aunt, Ann Richan, who was a passionate champion of community mediation.