WHERE DID ONLINE MEDIATION COME FROM?

Popular media have been reporting on various online alternatives to face-to-face interaction whether talking about classroom teaching, yoga instruction, healthcare visits and more. As a result, a number of people have asked me about how well this “new” form of communication works for mediation.

Actually, online mediation has been around for quite some time, with its origins starting with the necessity to build trust within the world of e-commerce. In 1995, eBay was launched, and in 2002, PayPal became a wholly owned subsidiary. As the number of sellers, buyers and transactions increased at these sites, so did the number of disputes. In 1999, eBay sponsored a pilot program to mediate disputes between buyers and sellers. With the success of the pilot, eBay initially contracted with an Internet startup, SquareTrade, to handle the program. All communication was by e-mail. The complaining party explained the issue and possible solutions. The defending party would also use e-mail to counter. If no settlement was reached, a mediator wound intervene. eBay later took over the program itself and in 2010 claimed to have handled over 60 million disputes with an 80% settlement rate for its automatic processes.

Several other Internet startups offered online dispute resolution. Cybersettle was founded in 1996 and claims to have settled $1.9 billion in disputes for medical billing, insurance claims and municipalities.

With various online video platforms, many mediators are offering online versions of traditional face-to-face mediation. One early study of online mediation using simulation disputes showed that mediators who used a hybrid of the facilitative and evaluative styles reported being able to utilize them online. However, mediators who used a more facilitative style of mediation online reported the need to become more directive and evaluative in order to maintain momentum in the session. Supporting that conclusion were the role-playing disputants who preferred when the mediators were more proactive and directive.

The study raises the question whether there is something in the online environment conducive to mediators becoming more directive in problem solving and disputants becoming more accepting of that approach. The authors of the study concluded that the nature of online mediations encouraged the mediators to focus on the conflict itself rather than giving attention to interaction styles.

Whether this changes as mediators become more comfortable dealing with online sessions is yet to be seen. But the message is online mediation works well and is here to stay.