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When conflict or an argument at work escalates into a dispute it can make it very difficult for people to communicate with each other and this in turn will result in an uncomfortable working environment for everyone else within the workplace. Workplace mediators specialise in dealing with disputes in the workplace and will act impartially to achieve a solution that is acceptable for both parties.

Conflict exists within all organisations and mostly this will be managed internally with negotiation, however when communication breaks down altogether it may be necessary to bring in someone from outside the organisation to take an impartial view of the dispute and listen carefully to both sides before assisting them to reach a mutually acceptable agreement.

Because most people spend the majority of their time at work, it will be extremely distressing if they are having to go into work each day and become embroiled in any conflict that is going on even if it does not directly involve them. By working with an alternative dispute resolution expert, business people can resolve their workplace conflict and hopefully restore harmony to the workplace.

A mediator will spend time with all parties concerned listening to their concerns and giving everyone the chance to put forward their perspective on the conflict and what they would like to achieve through the mediation process. Workplace mediation can prevent low morale, reduced productivity and wasted manpower by dealing with the situation before it escalates any further.

Alternative dispute resolution is a far better alternative than resorting to litigation, which may be costly and time consuming and ultimately mean that working relationships are broken forever. Mediation provides a quick and effective solution to workplace disputes and is a cost effective alternative to going to a tribunal/court.

Mediation is a highly effective tool which can be utilised within the workplace. Commercial mediation can save a business a huge amount of money and can help to avoid a long term dispute from potentially bankrupting a company. Disputes in the workplace can create a great deal of stress to all parties involved and can affect relationships both within the company as well as with other businesses.

Commercial mediation can be utilised to deal with a wide range of issues. For example it can solve disputes regarding contracts, rights, materials and land. One benefit of mediation is that instead of finding a winner or a loser, it instead tries to find a mutually acceptable outcome which will help both parties in the long term. Even if a full compromise is not met, each party will come away from the mediation session having a better understanding of the other parties position.

Mediation is a sensible way of solving commercial disputes. It has the advantage that it is private and confidential, and ensures publicity is avoided. The mediator is completely independent, and will listen carefully to both parties and ask appropriate questions to move the dispute forward.

Employment mediation also has a large number of benefits. It can be set up a short space of time, enabling disputes between employees to be resolved swiftly and fairly. Conflict in the workplace can have a huge impact on employees, and if not resolved in a reasonable amount of time, can cause issues such as low morale, increased long term sickness absence levels and even a higher turnover of staff. All of these issues can have a negative impact on the productivity of the company which will inevitably lose the firm money.

In conclusion, mediation is a useful method of solving disputes both within a company and also with its business partners. employment mediation could be implemented in house by a HR department, or it could be arranged by an independent party. The cost of organising a mediation session can save a business not only a large amount of money, but also a great deal of time and stress.

CEDR & the Civil Mediation Council are conducting an audit on commercial mediation to raise its awareness the findings will be used in the Alternative Dispute Resolution world.

Designed for both mediators who are lawyers and not the questionnaire seeks to gage views from the mediation world about mediator’s individual experience and so forth.

Further details can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/cedraudit2012m

Last month saw several changes to the procedure of employment tribunals in the UK, new legal timetables, case law all with implications for employers.

Workplace disputes are emotionally and financially draining as well as destructive, they can be easily resolved preventing individuals from ever having to go to an employment tribunal.

The benefits of mediation are immense therefore workplace mediation is a must if there is a dispute in the workplace.

The Civil Mediation Council is hosting its sixth national mediation conference on Tuesday 15^th May 2012 at London Universities Senate House.

The Civil Mediation Council is the recognised authority in the UK for all matters related to civil mediation, commercial mediation, workplace mediation and other non-family mediation.

The conference will be housing a number of key note speakers from the mediation world, and experts from the commercial mediation and workplace mediation fields, to address and discuss a number of key mediation issues, which shall be debated and discussed in the form of a series of workshops.

The conference is a must for those who are involved in alternative dispute resolution, workplace mediation, civil mediation commercial mediation and mediation as a whole to keep abreast of the latest developments. Booking details can be found on the Civil Mediation Council’s website.

On receipt of the pleadings the action had been lodged some 14 months ago, it then took another 6 weeks to decide on a venue, much was the ill feeling between the parties, neither of them wanted to mediate but had been ordered by the District Judge to do so, neither party wanted to travel to the other parties solicitors offices in Leeds or London where they were respectively based as they felt why should I.

A suggestion made when I had became involved was to mediate at a branch office of the defendants solicitors which in fact was in Birmingham which was actually marketed as their Birmingham mediation suite, more than suitable and fitting for this matter again this was refused.

After another week of heated discussions the venue was finally agreed upon, it was to take place in the Midlands mediation suite of a competitor of ours, which raised a few more complications but I digress.

Having what felt like mediating the decision on where to mediate and finally getting agreement on that the day came to actually mediate. The matter itself concerned the claimants purchasing 90 truck mount cleaning machines from the defendant’s company in the USA.

The machines were delivered to the defendant in the UK, who stored and installed the machines when sold to the claimant’s franchisees. 82 of the machines had been installed leaving 8 in stock. The claimant had an enquiry to purchase the remaining machines and informed the defendant of this and they responded saying they no longer had the machines. The defendant claimed some person from the claimants turned up and asked for the machines, the claimants claimed they did not request the release of the machines nor send anyone to collect them. The claimants therefore held the defendant liable for the machines and sought compensation in full or replacement of the 8 machines bringing an action for £92,000 inclusive of legal fees.

Allowing the parties to vent and provide explanations once they would actually allowed the parties to talk and resolve this matter once they got going, quite quickly a deal was finally done with an hour to spare, but why did this have to take nearly 16 months to happen? The amount of legal fees expended, time and stress could have so easily been avoided and could have got the parties much quicker to their solution which is the solution they would have no doubt have got to over a year ago.

Disputes should not be allowed to fester as the original issues are usually lost and the dispute is usually driven by other factors, issues and motives as was the case in this matter.

Don’t litigate, mediate, and do so as soon as possible would be the lesson to be learned here.  

Hezbollah the militant Lebanese group’s leader has offered to mediate the conflict in Syria in the hope of urging a political solution. Since the crisis began the group has backed the Syrian President, Nasrallah having spoken to the opposition advised they were not willing to negotiate.

For mediation to be successful it needs the buy in of all parties concerned it will be interesting to see what does happen and if any mediation is actually entered into and what comes out of it.

In Basile v Royal College of General Practitioners Basile brought a claim concerning sexual and racial discrimination, allegations that he had been harassed by others including his manager throughout his 10 years employ.

The race claim was found to be out of time by the tribunal, as Basile had not brought his complaint to the employers attention equally the acts which were of issue to him occurred around 5 years before he was made redundant.

It was found that he had informally complained of sex discrimination but did not pursue this as he should of due to the relationship with his manager. Due to this complaint being unresolved, his claim for sexual harassment and direct sex discrimination even though out of time were upheld.

The 2010 Equality Act – discrimination by an employee in the course of employment is treated as having been done by the employer, unless the employer can show it took all reasonable steps to prevent the employee concerned from discriminating. Organisations / employers usually come unstuck when complaints have not been properly handled as was the case in this matter.

This is a perfect example of where workplace mediation could have been used to tackle the issues immediately and preventing the escalation of this unfortunate matter and it ending up before the tribunal. The benefits of mediation are immense and can be used in almost any context of a dispute.

Mediation should be used when you have exhausted all other options and you are considering resorting to litigation or a formal practice to achieve a resolution.

Mediation can also be used even if proceedings have been instigated an in certain situations the court will even stay proceedings to allow mediation to take place or even recommend the parties try mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution process.

The earlier you decide to use mediation the more likely you are to see an increased saving in costs, time and stress. Where proceedings have not been commenced no court fees would have yet been expended and if any solicitor or experts fees have been paid out they normally would be minimal when compared to where litigation has been commenced and a trial date is looming.

The Access to Justice Act 1999 and the Civil Procedure Rules 1999, highlighted that the civil courts were over congested with numerous disputants who were pursuing actions over familiar issues, whereby, the legal costs involved in those actions outweighed the original compensation which disputants sought.

Therefore it makes no sense to keep racking up legal and court fees as research has shown that the legal fees associated to recouping an original sum can soon be outweighed costing the party pursuing an action even more!

Even if a trial date is looming and there are little further legal fees which would be incurred by going through with the trial one party will inevitably lose and the other will win, mediation allows for a win – win situation, whereby there are no losers.

Civil mediation should be used for civil disputes – one individual suing another, commercial mediation should be used for commercial disputes – one organisation / business suing another, workplace mediation should be used for workplace and employment disputes rather than going through an employment tribunal. Our Birmingham mediation service covers the whole of the UK providing the major alternative dispute resolution processes practiced in the UK today alongside our array of UK mediation services which encompass the main types of mediation practiced in the UK today.

As an avid fan of mediation, (coincidentally) because of the main benefits of mediation, quicker, cheaper and less stressful compared to civil / commercial litigation and other formal procedures, there are times when I believe mediation is not appropriate to use in certain circumstances such as the below scenarios.

1. If a party is acting in bad faith
2. Delay tactics, to delay / avoid litigation
3. Safety of a person / party is at risk
4. An issue / point of law – legal precedent is required

As mediators we should only take on cases which are capable of being mediated.