To Be a Mediator: Expressive Tactics in Mediation

Labor mediators lack formal authority to compel parties to settle. What authority mediators do have emanates from their person, their behavior and skill, and the parties' ongoing assessment of them during a case. These “expressive” dimensions of mediation are latent features of the process, which makes them difficult to isolate and study. In this study, a dramaturgical framework is applied to observational case data to identify a core of expressive tactics commonly used by mediators. These tactics are organized around the theme of professional work. The findings suggest that mediators manage impressions of their expertise to frame settlements, impressions of their social position to convey neutrality toward the parties and a shared collegial network with chief negotiators, and impressions of their legitimacy to establish reputations for action and success. Contrasts in the ways these tactics are used suggest tentative postulates about the differential ways authority is mobilized in mediation.