Mediator Planning and PreparationJ contacted S asking for S to act as mediator in their case and briefly explained the disputed issues to him. S agreed but explained to both parties that he was going to settle another mediation case, so he asked if they would prefer to start the mediation during that week or at the end of the first mediation. J and M asked S if this could in any way influence the outcome of their mediation. S assured them that she had previously had an experience where she had managed to organize two cases at the same time and furthermore, she felt that she was reconciling the parties of the first mediation. Therefore, J and M agreed to enter mediation that week. For the pre-mediation phase, S asked the parties to send the confidential pre-mediation communication and mediation planning documents, indicating BATNA, WATNA and booking price. The parties were also asked to prioritize their issues, so that she knew what was most and least important to them. Furthermore, S requested from the parties other necessary information and documents that would facilitate the understanding of the parties' concerns and interests. Beyond that, he asked them to explain how they saw things, their positions and in what capacity they carried out their cause. He offered to meet at the Mediation Center in Washington, which would be neutral territory for M, and JS expected that he would encounter cultural differences because one of the participants was from Japan, where the majority of people are collectivists, and the other party was a US citizen of natural origin, where the majority are individualists. Collectivists tend to give the group's interests the highest priority. They see themselves as interdependent and closely interconnected with one or more large… middle of paper… in mediation. For this reason, S decided to meet with M and J to provide some presentations on the mediation process and hear their stories from each party's perspective. If necessary she would move to individual caucuses until the parties found their own solutions to their problems. Behind all the parties' needs, including economic and psychological ones, S had to consider the parties' latent needs or concerns. In this case, there may have been additional needs that the customer was not aware of. Here, M may need consultation with a therapist. The therapist could have helped him manage the uncomfortable situation. S wanted to talk to M about this idea. If he agreed, she would invite the therapist to mediation or give him the therapists email so that he could contact him at any time convenient for him.