Mediate disputes
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This work is the relationship itself. An agent can prepare for it and write up what happened afterwards, which is real time saved, but the encounter needs a person present and answerable.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Relationships, negotiation and public-facing presence |
| Jobs that do it | 9 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others (4.A.4.a.7) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 9 occupations that perform it.
- Conduct fact-finding or mediation sessions among government units, landowners, or other agencies to resolve disputes.
- Mediate agreements among rangeland users and preservationists as to appropriate land use and management.
- Participate in mediation and dispute resolution.
- Mediate community disputes or assist in developing alternative plans or recommendations for programs or projects.
- Take actions to halt disruption of library activities by problem patrons.
- Prevent or defuse altercations between students.
- Supervise staff and games and mediate disputes.
- Settle seating disputes or help solve other customer concerns.
- Mediate interpersonal problems between residents.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Buy nothing. An assistant can prepare you for the encounter and write up what happened afterwards, which is real time saved, but the encounter itself is the work and it needs you in it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
Who does this work
9 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Mediate disputes”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Arbitrate disputes between parties to resolve legal conflicts | 4 |
| Resolve interpersonal conflicts | 3 |
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.