Dr. Maccoby participates in a Weekly Forum on Washington Post.com called "On Leadership". I am compiling all of his responses to the weekly questions here.
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DATE: March 8, 2011 NFL: Let's make a deal?At the center of the labor dispute between NFL owners and professional football players is George Cohen, a federal mediator known for his work in helping Major League Soccer come to a resolution over its own labor battles. Mediators have no power or authority to compel either side to do anything, but they still have the capability to influence the outcome in nuanced ways. What must Cohen do to bring the more uncompromising members of both sides together to make a deal? |
Mediating between players and owners
Sometimes a mediator can get the two sides to moderate their demands by focusing on the need to gain and retain customers. Sometimes a mediator can damp down angry feelings by getting each side to understand the other's thinking. For example, unions are often defending the fruits of past struggles, while management is worrying about future competition. But in the case of the NFL, neither party seems to be thinking about the fans and each seems aware of the other's thinking, which is all about getting a bigger piece of the pie.
In this situation, a mediator has to be sensitive to emotions, keeping them from boiling over, making sure the parties understand each other and reinforcing ideas that could lead to compromise. Sometimes the mediator will explore possible solutions privately with individual actors or groups of owners or player representatives. And this mediator should make sure that owners and players keep in mind that if they fail to agree, they both will suffer painful consequences.
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