Spring 2016 Diener & Khan/137 THWARTING THE STRUCTURAL AND INDIVIDUALIZED ISSUES OF MEDIATION: THE FORMALIZED REFLECTIVE APPROACH KEITH WILLIAM DIENER  SHAZIA REHMAN KHAN  I. INTRODUCTION Mediation’s legacy as a prime technique for dispute resolution crosses the boundaries of cultures and societies over time. 1 Even today, mediation continues its legacy as a primary form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the United States and abroad. Mediation is a process involving a mediator, a neutral third party who assists disputants with crafting an agreement to resolve their conflict. 2 Although the mediator facilitates the agreement, the terms of the agreement are ultimately decided by the parties in conflict. The role of the mediator remains confined to that of a facilitator who has no power to influence the outcome which is arrived at mutually by the disputing parties. 3 In mediation, the obligation to align interests and produce results lies with the disputants, 4 and frequently involves concessions made by both parties to the dispute. As a technique for resolving conflict, mediation sometimes falls short of attaining its lofty purpose of resolving disputes. This failure is frequently due to a combination of structural and individualized flaws with the mediation process. This article sets forth a normative framework for combatting these flaws and thereby improving the likelihood of a successful mediation process. The literature review of the last decade reveals that mediation is advancing across many fields and specializations of both law and society. Mediation is advancing in, among other areas: international law, environmental law, education, divorce and family law, organizational disputes, consumer disputes, sexual harassment claims/employment law,  M.A., J.D., LL.M., D.L.S., Assistant Professor, Stockton University.  Ph.D. Candidate, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology. 1 JEROLD AUERBACH, JUSTICE WITHOUT LAW (1983). 2 MARIAN LIEBMANN, MEDIATION IN CONTEXT (2000). 3 KENNETH KRESSEL & DEAN PRUITT, MEDIATION RESEARCH (1989); James A. Wall et al., Mediation: A Current Review and Theory Development, 45 J. CONFLICT RESOL. 370 (2001). 4 Michael Gibbons, Better Dispute Resolution: A Review of Employment Dispute Resolution in Great Britain (Department of Trade and Industry 2007), http://adrresources.com/getdoc-2-2- 1113.php.