Listening in court-connected mediations

Abstract

As the use of court-connected mediations has received a permanent status as an intrajudicial conflict resolution method, the purpose of this study (n = 38/44 Finnish judges) was to elucidate how listening is used in mediations. The data set one consisted of answers to open-ended questions and was analyzed using thematic content analysis. The data set two consisted 56 statements that were used to create a personal listening profile for each participating judge. The results suggest that 1) facilitative, evaluative, and transformative mediation models have both shared and different listening goals that require an extensive listening competence from the mediator judges, 2) complexity and relationality characterize listening in facilitative mediations, and 3) most judges sent highly or moderately person-centered messages and were excellent in interpretation and evaluation. These results suggest that the relationality of listening in court-connected mediations is imperative in meeting the needs of the mediating parties. The judges’ listening behavior, listening goals, and the listening requirements of each mediation style suggest that the full potential of listening in court-connected mediations is yet to be reached.