The Effect of Mediator Power and Facework on Face Negotiation

?The fundamental concept in social science is power, in the same sense in which energy is the fundamental concept in physics.? - Russell (1938) ?Communication is the manifest stage of conflict; that is, it surfaces as social interaction or as strategies and tactics. As such, communication seems bound by a set of presumed relationships between communication and conflict.? - Putnam (2006) ?In mediation, facework is the effort that participants and mediators put into managing face.? - Littlejohn & Domenici (2006) The selected quotations capture the essential elements of conflict: power, communication, mediation, and facework. Communication is central to the current investigation because messages are the by-ways for communicating power and facework during mediation sessions. Despite mediation?s popularity and its potential for helping understand communication related to power and face issues in conflict, there is surprisingly little empirical research about the theoretical and practical issues of conflict. Therefore, this study explores the relationships between mediator power and disputant facework and their effect on face concerns and facework.