THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IN ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION: IMPLICATIONS FOR PROFESSIONALIZATION OF MEDIATION

Abstract

A significant movement is developing to professionalize mediation. This article is an examination of the importance of the social organization in alternative dispute resolution agencies and the social characteristics of agency staff and mediators based on data from the 1983 American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Pro gram Directory and a survey of program directors. Among the findings were that ADR agencies fell into three empirically discrete types, depending upon levels of budget and caseload, types of mediators used, and primary referral sources; agency administrators were, by prior employment or education, most likely to be identified with existing professions; and the distribution of social characteristics in mediation panels tended to be skewed toward those of administrations in the same agencies. A paradigm of agency administrators' and mediators' interests in professionalization of mediation is proposed. We conclude that there are likely to be conflicting interests among ADR participants in this movement which vary by context of service.