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The extraordinary diversity of mediation practices is due in particular to the large number of possible choices regarding the methods. To illustrate this diversity, the following tables present the main variables, which offer endless combinations. As of now, some light will be shed on the key choices.

The question of the free acceptance of mediation – or, on the contrary, when it is imposed – deserves to be raised immediately (before being further examined in Chapter 4). What happens, depending on whether the parties hear a suggestion (“How about going to mediation?”) or receive an injunction (“You must go first to mediation!”)? In fact, when the judge says to the parties: “I strongly suggest that you go to mediation,” they are more or less forced to do so, even if the judge adds: “Do you agree?” In mediation sessions, we have frequently heard expressions such as “we did not want to displease the judge.”

TABLE 1.1

Before the mediation takes place
Named as such – The upcoming process is explicitly labeled: “a mediation.”	Not named as such – We proceed the same way, but without specifically calling it “mediation.”
With much prior information on mediation given to the parties – The parties have received more or less lengthy information on the principles, procedure, objectives, and rules of mediation.	With little prior information on mediation given to the parties – The parties engage in mediation with little or no information on how mediation works.
With formal acceptance of the mediation – The parties say “yes,” orally or in writing, for the initiation of a mediation process, after a more or less lengthy reflection.	With superficial acceptance of mediation, without any deep understanding of what mediation is – The parties experiment with mediation, “to see,” without prior in‐depth reflection, or because the judge or another authority has invited them to do so.
With contractual or legal obligation – Due to the law or a mediation clause in a contract, the parties are required to attempt mediation before they engage in legal proceedings (depending on the country, such clauses may apply in bankruptcy, labor disputes, or divorces).	With acceptance not linked to a contractual or legal clause requiring mediation – Once a conflict has arisen, the parties decide by mutual agreement to engage in a mediation without having previously committed to it.

A hypothesis often put forward is that only mediation that is genuinely accepted at the outset leads to an agreement. However, the probability of an agreement is fairly close in both cases. If there is an obligation to mediate, whether the parties wish it or not, they need to at least try a mediation process. When a mediation is well conducted, the parties feel recognized, realize that there is a shared purpose to understand each other – and eventually reach an agreement, more often than expected.

TABLE 1.2

From whom? And with whom?
Internally – Mediation concerns internal relations within a group (family) or an organization (company, public body).	Externally – Mediation concerns the external partners of a group or an organization: customers, suppliers, users.
With official institutional mediators, mediation bodies, or mediation centers.	With informal mediators, or independent mediators on ad hoc missions.
With a single mediator.	With a team of mediators (co‐mediators).
In the presence of the parties – The parties involved are present in person.	In the absence of the parties – Only their representatives attend (lawyers, elected representatives, agents, etc.).
In the presence of all parties concerned.	In the presence of only some of the parties concerned – Only the main ones, as involving all of them would complicate the process.

When the parties are not there in person and are represented (by a friend, a spouse, a lawyer, etc.), it is necessary for mediators to find out, at the start of mediation, the representatives' decision‐making power. They will thus know, when the discussion turns toward the search for solutions and then the approval stage, if the agreement will still have to receive external approval, or if an agreement can be reached here and now, with the agent being empowered to decide for the principal.

The presence, or absence, of many actors involved (multi‐party mediation) poses particular difficulties: