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Cross-cultural mediation – how to fail mediation in the first 5 minutes!
About the session There is an increasingly multi-cultural landscape in our society with the growing number of immigrants bringing about many more multi-cultural exchanges. Inevitably these exchanges can result in conflict which may lead to mediation. There are many different ways that cultures interact with each other and how cultures approach conflict. Managing these differences within mediation can be overwhelming, especially if the mediator is not culturally knowledgeable or sensitive to the needs of the parties in the room.
Royal will speak from her real world experience in mediation between cross-cultural parties. Royal will share her experiences where the mediator failed in the first 5 minutes of the mediation due to lack of sensitivity on the finer social and cultural issues. From those key moments and failure experiences what are the lessons we can learn? Royal hopes this workshop will enlighten attendees, draw upon participant's knowledge and background of other cultures, and help stimulate thought provoking discussion which will be collected as shared knowledge and used for further research into this subject. Given the context of culture in small groups participants will be asked to discuss the following: Podcast: Listen to Royal talking about her session (6 mins) >> |
Audio recording of this sesssion (37 mins) >>
This workshop will deal with real cultures and the real cultural qualities that come with cross cultural mediation. It will look at the spoken and unspoken rules that impact upon the mediation process, the influence of specific cultural understanding during mediation, and the party's perception of the mediator's impartiality of the whole process. There is a wealth of cultural understanding that is beyond the normal mediator's comprehension and control. Royal Reed
Royal Reed has participated both as a mediator and a support person in mediations where cultural influences have been strong and sometimes overbearing. Royal is from Taiwan, has a law degree from the University of Auckland, and runs her own Firm in Auckland, New Zealand. Royal has worked as a tenancy mediator and has experience in employment and family mediation. Royal will speak from her real world experience in mediation between cross-cultural parties.
Royal is the legal advisor to a number of Asian associations in New Zealand including the Hwa Hsia Society NZ, the Taiwan Business Association (TBANZ), and the Taiwan Womens Association (TWANZ). Royal has a regular radio program discussing real life topics to inform migrants about current every day information that is just not getting through to them otherwise.
She has a passion about giving each individual their given right to a fair go and sees mediation as a crucial part of that process. For those who find dealing with other cultures difficult and confusing, come to hear Royal talk about some real stories about real failures and what might just help in the next cross-cultural mediation you find yourself in.
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