Glossary content

A full list of all items in the glossary:

Advisory

Advisory means „trusted strategic consulting of decisionmakers“ in a top-down process. Based on the latin language this word is composed by „visio“ (I see) and „ad“ (to add) which means something like: to add another view. In business mediation contexts primarily conflict resolving is in the focus.

Applied business mediation

You benefit from getting economically advantageous solutions for your company. Acute exceptional circumstances will be resolved by speed mediation immediately. In the long term, preventive mediation stabilizes your business success with a professionally managed top-down-process.

Art and competences

What method, technique or intervention is chosen in individual cases: the most used "instrument", the most important factor in a mediation process is always the mediator himself, and fact from the very beginning. All the contradictions and conflict lines are running through them as resonating bodies, they have to be lightning rods, catalysts and moreover as "charismatic" as possible.

To deal with all this, to run all the related emotional reactions, to notice them and to be able to develop a well-founded intervention , may be the "true" art of this profession, which especially in the first beginnings of a mediatory order works in a constructive or destructive way. So we find ourselves back in the reality of practice. Because "ineffective" mediators will also receive no orders and won’t be able to make initial settings; trained social skills are therefore the key to success.

Attitude

The following principles - in the sense of a mission that ideally has to be aspired, but in fact has never been reached - concerning the "attitude" of mediators, have to be communicated to the client and form the basis of mediatory work:

  • Neutrality and impartiality
  • Autonomy
  • Responsibility for proceedings
  • Confidentiality
  • Orientation to the future
  • Immediacy

Business mediation

You benefit from getting economically advantageous solutions for your company. Acute exceptional circumstances will be resolved by speed mediation immediately. In the long term, preventive mediation stabilizes your business success with a professionally managed top-down-process.

Business private partnership

Our innovative seminar design on the pulse of time is trendsetting. Entirely oriented to the needs and demands of our clients, we developed seminars with structural constellations specifically for private and professional partnerships. In each case, two BP-partners are in succession in the focus and reflect their particular question using specific dimensions.

These useful and pleasurable seminars, especially made for partnerships of 2 persons, treat the evaluation and mutual interaction of the own actions in cooperation with the partner, with the perfected methods of systemic structural constellation. Aim is the development and optimization of specific professional or business goals and projects. By using current requests of the participants and with situational inclusion of resources, options, obstacles or conflicts etc., possible efficient alternatives of action are defined, efficiently reflected and optimized. Contexts: company foundations, project management, reorganization, restructuring, handover/takeover, termination/separation, product range, questions of location, optimization of success etc.

Co-mediation

Co-mediation means that two mediators work simultaneously; one of them shall have a legal profession, the other a therapeutic-psychological profession. This model has obvious benefits: for example mutual relief, better opportunities for monitoring, consulting or reflection of the interaction; but also professional and liability reasons.

The extension of complexity by a second mediator, however, raises additional problems, such as the coordination with each other or the creation of conflicts between the mediators and how they handle it. In addition, this model is also more expensive and complicated simply because of the logistics of time. However, co-mediation has proved to be particularly useful in very sensitive cases. However, in conflicts within and between groups (especially in the environmental mediation), co-mediation and team-mediation become a necessity “legis artis”.

Competence in best-practice

Competence in best-practice means core competencies for success-constitutive acquisition, order clarification and design up to a phase-oriented handling of actual projects and processes with goal-oriented demand for business excellence and best practice performance. The development of a personal USP.

Competence in leadership

Increase of the social competence in dealing with clients, employees and cooperation partners. Recognition of interdisciplinary overall contexts of mistakes in organization, business, practices and leadership. Recognition of the limits of influence. Promotion of motivation, team spirit, followership, success orientation and consequences for results. Call for loyalty, identification, power, development, excellence. Balance of work, family and leisure. Increase of the own leadership. Code of a responsible advisory and leadership style.

Competence in reflection

Expansion of behavioral competence: reflecting, exploring, learning from social communicative competence, action/reaction patterns in different leadership situations in practice as well as sharpening the ability of orientation and flexibility. Team, group and organizational competences as well as identification of relevant interfaces and patterns of social systems.

Confrontation

Confrontation (from the Latin confrontatio) is a comparison of mutually interfering and initially incompatible opinions. It establishes a conflict and describes the opinions through positions of the litigants with the aim of solving the conflict by giving up or getting the individual positions closer. The conflict resulting from the confrontation may be solved with or without violence. Law and civilization generally lead to a solution by negotiations. The conflict resolution can end in giving-up one of the two positions (win-lose), in a result which is satisfactory for both parties (win-win) or the conflict can be solved by a compromise, such as getting the two positions closer.

(Wikipedia)

Congresses

Congress (from the Latin congressus) stands for "meeting" and is a gathering of people who work or who are interested in a particular topic.

(Wikipedia)

Definition of mediation

"Mediation is intervention" probably seems to be the simplest formula. Similarly short, but more significant: "mediation is facilitated negotiation" (Riskin 2001), which describes mediation as "moderated trial". Many, very different definitions of mediation can be found in the literature (Falk 2000), none of them will be the "only true". The following definition from the internationally pioneering Austrian Federal Law on "Mediation in Civil Matters" (ZivMediatG 2003), which was created after extensive discussions of various professions of the mediation scene and carries the essential elements of mediation, seems to be rather useful:

"Mediation is an activity, based on the voluntary of the parties, in which a professionally trained, neutral mediator systematically encourages the communication between the parties with approved methods and with the aim of enabling the parties themselves to find a solution to their conflict."

Education goals

Participants in the Master-course are prepared in theory and practical-oriented for careers in the field of mediation, especially in the business sector in the context of project management. Mediators permanently move in unknown, uncertain and complex configurations and need to act there professionally. Thus, a theoretical base, methodical skills, the knowledge of goals or tasks of the mediation system as well as a high level of social flexibility and competence are necessary, both in consulting and in management. Professional skills (business, law, management) as well as social and personal competence are in the center of the Master-course. These skills and competences are integratively taught and developed participant-oriented.

EU Directive

"The Mediation Act is a milestone on the path to a new culture of debate in Germany. With the help of mediators, parties may resolve their conflicts on the basis of voluntariness and mutual agreement. This will avoid that disputes are decide to the bitter end - often with losers. The parties save also time-consuming and costly litigation. Mediation thus also benefiting the state courts, which can focus on the non-consensus solvable litigation. ... the new law on mediation is a new culture and it will certainly take some time until the changeover happened. However, with the present law we pursue the right course."

News release no. 2, 1st June 2012:
Bonn. 1. German mediation-conference on 16 June 2012 in the former chamber of the German Bundestag. Statement in advance by the Bundestag, Prof. Dr. Patrick Sensburg, as a member of the legal Committee involved in the implementation of the EU Directive on the promotion of mediation.

European Parliament

At the beginning of the third century, the worldwide developing definition of mediation is becoming integrated  into the European legal systems by the European Parliament. Under the label "ADR" (Alternative Dispute Resolution) of Article 6 ECHR (right to a fair trial), Recommendation No. R (98) 1 of the Council of Europe from 21st January 1998, 98/257/EG from 30th March 1998 and 2001/310/EG from 4th April 2001, directive instructions and recommendations on mediation can be found. On 19th April 2002, the Commission presented a "Green Paper" on alternative proceedings in civil and commercial matters.

Excellent in business

The procurement of current practical- and business-oriented knowledge in the respective overall context and interactions. The transfer of internal company issues and tasks to get an exemplary performance by the successful integration of various operative and strategic elements, and thus to set apart from competitors.

Freedom

Individual freedom is a necessary condition for mediation. The development of autonomy, to which it is inseparably connected, is really only possible within the frame of law or freedom (including the freedom of divorce), which also allows this. Where equality, the possibility for criticism and change-oriented will to design are guaranteed and the given freedom of action is not subject to subsequent interventions. Therefore, fundamental freedoms that are guaranteed and protected for all by law, are the central basis of each mediative question.

History of mediation

Many believe that mediation has come from the United States, and exemplary prove that this term is mentioned e.g. in 1947 in the context of the regulation of conflicts of the labor union. However, a more detailed examination shows that the term of mediation has been used much earlier in Europe, so at the most, it could have been re-imported recently.

In the final document for the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, it has been written, that the diplomat Fabio Chigi, sent by Pope Urban VIII, has worked successfully for five years as a "peace broker" ("mediator pacis") for five years "... without partiality, hard and sedulously ...". Already 30 years ago, in the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation", the Elector of Saxony, tried to act, with three co-mediators on his side, as a "mediator" between the Bohemian Estates and Habsburg. In the "Danske Lov", a Danish codification of law from the year 1683, you can find the original term as well. In this law, the freedom of the parties for a peaceful conflict solution by "mediation" is mentioned. An additional decree from 1795 contains directives and detailed reasons to carry out mediations instead of court proceedings.

Image

In total a mediational orientation of your company's image causes growth in public, because global business mediation embodies modern spirit and cleverness.

Impartiality

Impartiality is a special form of neutrality. Taking into account the strengthening of autonomy, the mediator tries to understand the position of each mediand. 

Jack Himmelstein

15 years after the first mediation seminar with Jack Himmelstein and Gary Friedman in Austria and after the great success of our 4th Congress, the 5th International Congress "Business Mediation & Management" took place in Vienna on 19th and 20th of October 2009, with our "special guest" Professor Jack Himmelstein and other top speakers such as Jutta Lack-Strecker, Matthias Varga von Kibéd and Gerhard Falk.

Jack Himmelstein is mediator, trainer, advocate in New York and leader of the Center for Mediation in Law (NY, SF). He is pioneer of the “first hour” of mediation in many countries of Europe and a close cooperation partner of the FALK Group International.

Lecturers

Our excellent international lecturers at the highest level have both, the expertise and the long lasting experience as well as the skills to optimally pass on their useful practical knowledge in a pleasurable and interactive way. From the carefully arranged, pleasurable learning experiences within the network and on the pulse of the time as well as in close cooperation with famous universities, we gain further well-founded knowledge, the latest trends and sustainable meta-themes. Be inspired by our strength and our success!

Legal protection

Also on the legal level, foresight is not really predictable. Nobody really knows what may come. This uncertainty inevitably collides with the understandable desire for certainty, clarity and protection (also against overreaching). Our legal system on the one hand has the task to ensure agreements once achieved and to cement them so that in future better actionability is given, and on the other hand, law shall meet the requirements especially of the individual in his/her social context and thus it be dynamic, verifiable and thus changeable. Therefore, under the title "legal protection" there are well-tried ways and institutions (which of course also have their limits of wisdom).

Master thesis

For the successful graduation of the master course it is necessary to write a scientific paper in the form of a "Master thesis". The master thesis is a practical-oriented scientific work to a topic which is relevant for this master course. The main messages of the master thesis have to be defended in terms of content by the author at the end of the course and assessed by the examination committee. The assessment is included in the final certificate.

Mediation

Mediation offers no pre-fabricated answers; a redelegation of competence concerning contents and decisions to the people concerned takes place (except in the environmental mediation, there always the authorities ultimately decide - see Zilleßen). Its dialectical self-logic can be contradictory: indeed, it is obliged to the paradox of solution-constitutive clarification of difference and dissent. To make visible opposites, to sustain and manage them - similar to Fisher's negotiation dilemma “cooperation despite competition” – is indispensable in the mediation process and basic requirement for a synthesis by compromise or consensus in the form of a "win-win" relationship in which each party achieves benefits from the contradictions. The rule is: If there are two conflicting statements (positions) depending on each other, both can be true.

Methodical competences

The Masters course will give knowledge on how to apply or implement the specific concepts, methods and instruments for the solution of the particular problem. Very important in this context are also the methodical and business issues, in which way a viable and solution-constitutive order can be effected. Because of the achieved integrative technical and methodical expertise, the participants are able to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of the underlying concepts and methods and to initiate and implement necessary improvements.

Network

Our network, consisting of the top brains in the field as well as in close cooperation with famous universities, foresees the latest trends and recognizes sustainable meta-themes, which are trained in pleasant atmospheres in our education programs and have practically proved in the most effective way.

Night of mediation

"... However, the court of justice legally complained about part of the regulation of the planning declaratory resolution concerning the night flights that would allow an average of 150 scheduled flight movements per night, 17 of them allowed to take place between 23:00 and 5:00 o’clock, the so-called night of mediation. Particularly the night silence has to be respected. This fact is not taken into consideration sufficiently in the planning declaratory resolution. The reasons mentioned by the planning declaratory authority could not resist to a legal review ...”

(Excerpt from the finding of the Hesse Administrative Court 24/2009 to test cases against the expansion of Frankfurt Airport)

Obligation to confidentiality

The mediator is obliged to confidentiality about all facts that he gets to know during the mediation or in any other way. He has to handle all documents that are created or submitted during the mediation, with confidence. The same applies to the mediator’s assistants as well as to people who work in a practical training with a mediator under his/her guidance (§ 18 Mediation Law 2003). This means that, depending on the legal form of this duty, mediators especially will not become a witness in court. Thus, mediation is basically a non-public method to protect the privacy of mediands.

Optimization

The updating of legal standards for business mediation according to the latest (inter)national regulations minimizes future conflicts or optimizes a more efficient handling of these conflicts. Therefore, mediation clauses in all contracts, general business conditions, employment contracts and shareholder agreements are used inter alia.

Processes of solution

Solution, as opposed to bond in this case, means the liquefaction and clarification of complex and deadlocked constellations.

Professional competence

The master course provides the knowledge, which is necessary to establish and lead business mediation in complex contexts. The acquired skills allow to systematically analyze problems – even in interregional context – and to advise or carry out methodically based approaches.

Self-management

The tasks for mediation as well as project management require the awareness for your own behavior as well as the development of possibilities for self-management and self-reflection. Therefore, the master-course provides special key skills and abilities to take over cross-functional management tasks in business contexts and to manage and perform mediatory projects. The focus is on competences in internationalization, training of strategic thinking, procurement of essential methods and techniques, sensitization for the business environment and adequate skills in solving problems.

Social intelligence

Expansion of behavioral competence: reflecting, exploring, learning from social communicative competence, action/reaction patterns in different leadership situations in practice as well as sharpening the ability of orientation and flexibility. Team, group and organizational competences as well as identification of relevant interfaces and patterns of social systems.

Stages of mediation

A social system which has to be mediated, never behaves completely static and predictable, but rather open, dynamic and trial-like. To capture this process somehow, the distinction of certain stages of mediation is helpful, since these stages may require different possibilities and tasks to the parties concerned. The model of stages with its five stages of mediation is an analytical scale (not a strict pattern) and serves as a grid or guide for mediators. For mediators, the detailed knowledge of the possible stages of mediation and their consequences is essential.

Standards of quality

From the very beginning, the master-course will ensure a high standard of quality, which can be guaranteed on the one hand by the contents that are always up-to-date and scientific-based, and on the other hand by the high professional and didactic quality of the trainers. As speakers are only used trainers, managers, experts and successful entrepreneurs with experience in practice and training for several years. The course is held in the form of seminars, training, case studies and simulations as well as moderated discussion groups. The participants must pass written tests and also write and present a master thesis.

Success

Essential for the effective success of business mediation is the mediating integration or joining of opposing parties. The mediators, who are under strongest obligation to confidentiality by law, quasi act as creative catalysts. They control the solution process between the parties in which the so far opposing parties cooperate actively and self-determined.

Target groups

The target groups of business mediation are: companies of all sizes, public institutions, management teams or also constellations of two or three business partners.
The master course also aims at advisory profession from economic, legal, psycho-social and scientific issues, as well as entrepreneurs and managers with relevant basic education in mediation or project management.

Team competence and standing

Forming teams of experts, taking over of leadership roles in teams of experts advicing and supporting of companies, entrepreneurs and managers in mediation processes or in project-related mediations. Defining and dealing with counterparts in complex processes. Increase of the acting competence and the personal "standings" in complex multiple situations of decision and action.

Training

Training is the best investment, it multiplies by itself. Knowledge and competences are continuously growing values, that for you and your dears mean income, as well as success and happiness in your life. Therefore, our aim is to strengthen your natural-intuitively existing potential in management and advisory in all professional contexts or disciplines in a playful way, in order to increase your personal success in an essential and sustainable way. In a pleasant atmosphere, we design for you efficient excitement learning and practical advisory. Sun, sea and charming places almost like on holiday stimulate a particularly effective and pleasurable learning sensation. In a pleasant holiday atmosphere, learning is much easier.

Trans-contextual flexibility

Mediators in business and organizational contexts often take similar functions as managers or are managers according to mediatory principles. This results in an increased demand for skills in social integration in different social parts (e.g. customers, suppliers, management-level employees, cooperation partners etc.), which in turn requires a high degree of social and communicative skills and relationship skills. These competences are especially supported in an exploratory way by the required connectivity towards a defined social seminar group in the master course.

Unequal power situations

Unequal power situations between the litigants (such as between employees and employers, consumers and producers, citizens and state, teachers and students etc.) should be recognized by the mediator and considered in an appropriate way. The parties concerned shall recognize the problem as a common and bear the responsibility for the regulation in equal parts. Especially this matter is very sensitive in business mediation of organizations and in higher social complexities that always generate hierarchical structures; in such cases, inexperienced mediators almost inevitably fall in traps by suffering perhaps the illusion to be able to simply "agree away" an imbalance of power. In reality,  in most cases only a certain, conscious renunciation of power is possible, that, however, has to be cleared - as well as the question of representatives – which means that it must be actively addressed and handled by the mediator.

Values

Beside the identity-giving autonomy, especially the simplicity and efficiency (time, costs and formalism), the confidentiality (non-public in opposition to trial), the opportunity to maintain (business) relationships and the creative potential for expansion (using negotiating power towards a "pie enlargement") must be mentioned as particular values of mediation.

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