Noam Ebner

@ face value? Nonverbal communication and trust development in online video-based mediation

Mediation is a process wherein a third party, or mediator, attempts to assist two conflicting parties in dealing with their dispute. Research has identified party trust in the mediator as a key element required for mediator effectiveness. In online video-based mediation, the addition of technology to the mix poses both challenges and opportunities to the capacity of the mediator to build trust with the parties through nonverbal communication. While authors researching the field of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) have often focused on trust, their work has typically targeted text-based processes. As ODR embraces video-based processes, nonverbal communication becomes more salient. Nonverbal communication research has identified examples of specific actions that can contribute to trust. This paper combines that research with current scholarship on trust in mediation and on nonverbal communication in mediation, to map out the landscape mediators face while seeking to build trust through nonverbal communication in online video-based mediation. Suggestions for future research and implications for practice are noted, holding relevance to researchers and practitioners in any field in which trust, nonverbal communication and technology converge.

Negotiation via Email

While certainly one of the most familiar modes for online communication, email is a constantly shifting entity. This chapter explores common pitfalls encountered in negotiating via email as well as advantages the medium offers, and offers best practices for negotiating through this communication channel. In a significant update to the existing literature, this chapter describes the changes that the email medium itself, as well as its users, have undergone in recent years, with the proliferation of smartphones and other platforms for mobile communications. These changes have redesigned the map of challenges and advantages posed to us as we negotiate via email.For further work on online negotiation, focusing specifically on the topic of trust, see:http://ssrn.com/abstract=1722065http://ssrn.com/abstract=2167856This paper was written only two years after a previous paper on the topic, yet due to sweeping changes in the way this medium is used, and their impact on negotiation, it is very, very different from that first piece. To see these changes, in order to get a sense for how the rate of change in todays world requires equally swift change in academia and in practice, you can view the previous version at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1949088

Discovery Learning in Management Education: Design and Case Analysis.

Two approaches to the process of guided discovery learning are compared for their impacts on concept understanding. One, referred to as design, emphasizes invention and draws on the simulation literature. The other, referred to as case analysis, focuses on discovery and draws on the case-based reasoning literature. Following a lecture on four cognitive-bias concepts, management students were assigned randomly to a design, case analysis, or lecture-only condition: A first experiment compared a design with a lecture-only condition and a second experiment compared case analysis with a lecture-only condition. Both design and case analysis students understood the concepts better than lecture-only students. Designers in the first experiment retained their understanding of the concepts better than the case analysts in the second experiment. The impacts on learning for design were similar to those obtained in earlier research where design was compared with role-playing and a classroom lecture. Implications of the findings for theory development and practice are discussed.

Looking Back to Leap Forward: The Potential for E-Mediation at Work

In this chapter, we provide an overview of the broad field of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) so that we can set the stage for a more nuanced discussion of how e-mediation might contribute to dispute resolution mechanisms in the workplace. We discuss the context in which e-mediation has developed and grown, and consider non e-commerce uses for e-mediation such as the use of e-mediation in workplace conflicts. The primary aims of this chapter are (a) providing an overview of the ODR field and (b) provoking new and promising areas of expansion for e-mediation generally and in the workplace specifically. We propose several research avenues as well as suggestions for the application of e-mediation to online and on-ground workplace disputes based on relevant research. It is our hope that this chapter encourages further exploration and experimentation in the field of e-mediation at work.

Negotiation Via (the New) Email

The following sections are included:Negotiation — Here, There, Online and EverywhereNegotiating Online Is Unavoidable — And Unavoidably DifferentThe Medium and the Message: A Theoretical ModelUsing Email: A Moving TargetNegotiating via Email: Eight Major ChallengesA Look AheadConclusion