Audio recording of this session (53 mins) >>

(At times the sound volume is a little faint and the recording quality is mediocre).

Power point >>

“That was fabulous! I loved the game at the beginning, it was a great way of demonstrating culture clash.” -- Participant.

To the question: "Do you think it is important for the mediator to understand the cultural backgrounds of the participants in a mediation", Barbara answered: "Absolutely! The mediator needs to understand the culture of the participants and their own cultural background too."

About the session

Organisations can be viewed as systems of subcultures working together as a single entity.

By viewing Canada’s Navy through the lens of culture, two distinct organisational subcultures emerge: military and civilian. These two dominant organisational subcultures are founded in underlying assumptions and values that are not always shared, or are manifested in different ways. As a result, members of the Navy team often misunderstand each other’s intentions, reactions, behaviours and decisions based on their own set of visible and often invisible cultural rules, as a result creating persistent and systemic conflict between sailors and civilian employees.

In the corporate world, subcultures also contribute to organisational conflict, as the values, beliefs, and ways of being and doing differ widely between line functions (accounting, engineering, marketing etc).

Drawing on the training developed for the Canadian Navy, ADR practitioners will gain insight into how cultural frameworks and materials from the intercultural and organisational development disciplines can be used in an organisational setting to explain and educated staff on this type of conflict dynamic.  The workshop will also explore how commonly held values across subcultures can be used to create greater understanding and curiosity about hidden organisational cultural conflict.

Podcast: Listen to Barbara explain what this session is about (5 mins) >>

Barbara stumbled into the dispute resolution field by chance (which has defined much of her career, actually).  After 12 years as a practicing Chartered Accountant, she ran away and joined the Canadian Navy full time when women were finally permitted to go to sea and drive warships. Riding the wave of culture change has defined much of her career, and this experience has shaped her style of leadership and management, as well as set the conditions for her current ADR role with the Canadian Forces. 

Despite being Canadian, she does not live where it snows (although does drive to the mountains regularly in winter to ski and snowboard), and much prefers living where she can scuba dive and ride the ocean waves on a board or in a kayak, accompanied by her two children, year round.  Sadly, her work takes her to some of the coldest cities in Canada, so returning to Victoria at the end of a dark, cold and stormy winter week and being able to reach out and touch the ocean is what keeps her sane. As do her children. Sort of.