The characteristics of mediation according to fields of application

Abstract

Mediation has various features as being a special communicational endeavour regarding to the agreement of two or more parties in a conflicted situation. Presenting these features allows to draw the conclusion that mediation is beyond simple conflict management, thus, it has independent institutional framing both theoretically and practically. This paper reflects on the Participation Theory of Communication (PTC) as a theoretical framing, although the practical implementation stands in its main focus. By presenting all application fields of mediation – family, workplace, communal (urban), peer (school), healthcare and intercultural (minority) mediation – based on the author's personal experience as practicing mediator, the specific features of the mediation process are demonstrated.