Mediation and Dispute Resolution at Work Place

Introduction

When achieving shared business goals by a work force having various working styles, personalities and different backgrounds, arising of conflicts are an inevitable issue. Strategies to prevent conflicts by building an organizational culture and conflict resolution at its initial stages are essential in achieving overall success in business. If not issues can be more escalated and may result in employee termination, discipline procedure and decreasing performance.

Conflicts at workplace

Bullying at workplace, rude verbal and nonverbal conducts, personality differences, unmet necessities, poor communication and misunderstandings are some causes for conflicts at workplaces.

Effects of conflicts on organizations include,

· Time and money to be used on business is used to handle the conflict

· Underperformance and reducing productivity.

· Staff turnover.

· Decline in employee relationships.

· Costs related to new recruitments.

So companies use dispute resolution methods.

I. Adjudicative processes

A judge or jury decides the outcome based on the presented facts.

II. Consensual processes

Disputed parties arrive at settlements by mutual understanding.

Ex:  mediation, conciliation

What is mediation?

Mediation is an efficient method of resolving conflicts and arriving at negotiations with the help of a third party, which is independent. Often in other conflict resolution methods a third party decides the final decision or judgement. But here the negotiation or the outcome is decided by the parties relevant to the dispute.

Mediation can be regarded as a conflict resolution strategy, as any agreement arrived during the mediation process is made directly between the parties related to the conflict rather than being imposed upon them by a third party. (Carthy, 2021)

Mediation can be introduced as an informal conflict resolution tool. It is a cost effective method use in resolution of conflicts among employees. Mediation is a voluntary process that operates with the agreement of both parties. It should be remembered that any party can withdraw from the mediation process whenever they want after agreeing for mediation.

Mediation for whom?

Mediation is used to resolving conflicts among employees at same ranks and also for conflicts between employees of various ranks and different seniority levels.

When?

Mediation is used in the initial stage of the dispute to meet resolutions. This can prevent the escalating the dispute. Mediation can be used in any phase including after a formal conflict resolution also.

What mediation can address?

Work place conflicts such as communication issues, harassments, unfair treatments, etc can be settled using mediation.  Mediation is not appropriate during criminal activities, frauds and when disputed parties are not agreed on mediation.

During any stage of the conflict, the issue can be referred to the mediators or the third party by the disputed parties or by the manager. As the initial step, mediators discuss separately with the parties relevant to dispute to understand their side of the experience, their position, ideas and the expectations. With the agreement of the both parties mediators arranges a joint meeting where,

· Both parties present their experience, interests, expectations and both parties listen to the other party’s experience without interruptions.

· Both parties negotiate a mutually acceptable resolution.

Mediators,

· Shift the mind sets

- Mediators change the focus from the earlier grievances, arguments and experiences towards what parties want to achieve next.

· Protect the confidentiality

- Without the permission of the relevant parties discussions or anything happened during the mediation should be kept confidential. Mediators can report the outcome or the success to the HR department, but should not disclose the discussions unless an unlawful act.

· Facilitate communications between the parties.

· Participate the mediation in an impartial way.

Advantages of mediation

· Disputed parties have the chance of making resolutions.

· Negotiating workable, practical solutions.

· Prevents the acceleration of hostility among parties and reduce the future potential of conflicts.

· Protects workplace relationships.

· Time and money saving process of conflict resolution.

Mediation practices

In Australia and England mediation is a significant, well utilized conflict resolution method. (Austin et al, 2013)

Making the employees aware of the mediation process is essential in achieving the better results. Senior leaders, managers and trade unions can contribute for making efficient mediation strategies in the company.

Mediation can be done through internal mediation by specially trained internal mediators and also can arrange external mediator services. By considering the size of the company, associated costs and other factors method of mediation can be selected. Small scale organizations more tend to use external mediatory services.

When internal mediation is used, it is necessary to train them to achieve necessary skills to the task and give them needed time-offs for the process. And also the training given to the management and all the employees are vital to achieve efficient mediation process.

Conclusion

Mediation is actually an impartial way of resolving disputes with the participation of an independent third party. This process helps in resolution of conflicts at the initial stage before it is developed into something more severe and damaging. This varies form formal procedure of disciplinary actions. Mediation provides benefits to the employee as well as the employer. It is a well-known procedure which is used all over the world.

Reference

Austin, R., Candido, T., Chang, D., Kosk, J. and Scully, M., 2013. International mediation, global trends. [ebook] Clifford Chance. Available at: <https://www.cliffordchance.com/content/dam/cliffordchance/briefings/2013/03/international-mediation-global-trends.pdf> [Accessed 29 April 2022].

Carthy, D., 2021. What is mediation. [Blog] Graphite HRM, Available at: <https://www.graphitehrm.com/what-is-mediation/> [Accessed 29 April 2022].