The Activity Intervention Model of Third-Party Intervention: A Culturally Sensitive Approach to Improved Small Group Decision Making.

This paper introduces the Activity Intervention (AI) model of mediation. The theoretical model offers new ways to incorporate culturally sensitive third party intervention (Bush and Folger, 1994) by improving decision making. The theory intersects three areas of communication research; mediation, small group decision making, and face theory. Mediation is a small group communication context where the mediator’s role is to harness key “activity interventions.” Activity interventions are breakpoints in the conversation where the mediator senses a shift in activity and can intervene with appropriate face saving strategies (Ting-Toomey, 2005). Small group decision making is complex in itself (Poole, M. S., 1989), without the added stresses of conflict. Therefore the theory proposes that decision making can be improved during mediation by attending to face concerns. The Activity Intervention model extends mediation literature by explaining when intervention is appropriate (at certain breakpoints) and how to intervene (through specific face saving strategies). ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]