The main alternative or collaborative techniques for resolving disputes are direct negotiation, conciliation, facilitation, mediation, arbitration and various combinations of techniques such as negotiated rule-making. Direct negotiation is a process in which the parties to the dispute meet to reach a mutually acceptable resolution. Each party represents its own interests. Conciliation is a process in which an outside party brings the parties in dispute together for discussion among themselves. Unlike mediation, conciliation usually connotes only preliminary involvement by the outside party.
Facilitation is similar to conciliation, being a less active form of mediation.
Facilitators may act as moderators in large meetings, ensuring that everyone is able to speak and be heard. They are not expected to volunteer their own ideas or participate actively in moving the parties towards agreement. The mediator assists the parties in reaching an agreement but has no power to impose a result upon them. Mediation is commonly defined as a process of settling conflict in which an outside party oversees the negotiation between two disputing parties. The mediator is a neutral party who, although having no ability to give a judgement, acts in some way as a facilitator in the process of trying to reach agreement.