Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

Preview Page

The increasing globalization of commerce and the growth of multi-national companies have, among other things, resulted in an increased use of arbitration and mediation to resolve commercial disputes, both domestically and internationally. Accompanying this growth is a greater need for arbitrators, mediators, and advocates to develop critical cross-cultural competency skills. More and more parties to disputes hail from different legal systems, social traditions, faith-based customs, and family backgrounds.  These disparate perspectives permit disputants to look at the same set of facts and circumstances and interpret them differently because of their respective cultural paradigms. They then bring those paradigms with them as they engage in the arbitration and mediation processes, affording endless opportunities for cross-cultural misunderstandings, even among citizens of the same country.  Thus, developing cultural sensitivity and cultivating awareness of subtle cultural nuances in an arbitration or mediation proceeding can lead to prompt recognition and identification of cultural issues so that they can be addressed in a manner most useful to the proceeding.  This is neither a simple nor straightforward process, but well worth the effort.