Exam Preview for 1429: Interest-Based Mediation: A Collaborative Ap

Interest-Based Mediation: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Conflict

Please note: exam questions are subject to change.

1. A client couple is arguing about whether their teenager should have a curfew of 9 PM or 11 PM. Which of the following is an example of the underlying interest in this situation? The teenager should have a curfew of 9 PM The teenager should have a curfew of 11 PM The couple’s underlying concerns may include their teenager’s safety The couple should compromise with a curfew of 10 PM
2. Interest-based mediation is a conflict resolution process facilitated by a neutral third person who: Helps people focus on their underlying interests in order to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement. Decides what is the best outcome to resolve the dispute. Builds consensus by encouraging people into making compromises and to reach partial-win/partial-win solutions. Focuses people on how to negotiate based on their respective power, positions, and politics.
3. Social workers are playing a mediation role when they: Assign homework assignments to clients. Report clients to child protection services when they suspect that a child is at risk of child abuse or neglect. Help clients communicate about a conflict and discuss the best way to manage it. Explore intrapsychic conflicts with clients, such as repressed memories of childhood trauma.
4. In interest-based mediation, which of the following are examples of interests? Blessings, Urges, Responsibilities, and Perspectives (BURP) Concerns, Hopes, Expectations, Aspirations, and Priorities (CHEAP) Lessons, Intelligence, Fortitude, and Experience (LIFE) Welfare, Organization, Reliability, Knowledge (WORK)
5. Which of the following is an interest-based approach to generating options for mutual gain? Model how to listen actively. Educate people about the most prudent and efficient way to settle their issues. Encourage people to compromise by taking a middle position. Engage people in brainstorming of different ways to resolve the conflict.
6. A social worker is supervising two students who do not like one another. Which of the following is an example of “separating the person from the problem”? Terminating the field placements of both students. Taking the students to lunch and promising to provide them a positive field evaluation if they would simply stop fighting and become good friends. Helping the students understand how to focus on their work and the issues to be resolved, rather than their feelings toward one another. Encouraging the students to discuss what they do not like about one another.
7. Which of the following strategies is designed to help clients embroiled in conflict to engage in more effective communication? Evaluate which of their positions is most reasonable and tell them the best way to resolve their conflict. Ask the clients whether they would like to terminate the mediation process right away. Write down a bunch of options and have the clients pull one of the options out of a hat to determine how to resolve the conflict. Encourage the clients to use active listening and clarification questions.
8. “Consensus building” refers to helping people: Debate one another until one person concedes that the other is right. Focus on their interests in order to develop a mutually satisfactory agreement. Gather evidence and present it to the mediator so that the mediator can decide who is right. Show empathy to one another, but stay firm with each of their positions.
9. In interest-based mediation, applying “objective criteria” refers to assessing options by referring to: Subjective indicators of what each person thinks is a good solution. Independent factors or indicators to identify a fair solution. Separating the person from the problem. Focusing on positions, not interests.
10. In interest-based mediation, the “Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement” (BATNA) refers to: The need for a mediator to be neutral or impartial. The clients’ underlying emotions. A decision to fight it out in court, even if it costs a lot of money and nobody is going to be happy. The best course of action that one or both clients can take if they are not able to reach an agreement through negotiation.