Following some recent multi-million pound commercial mediations, the thought struck me that there is one thing common to disputes - whether at this level or between two individuals who can't get on at work - they take up a huge amount of time and energy which could so usefully be spent on other things.
This week I bumped into a friend who's a psychologist and we got into a discussion about the approach to leaving a problem in the past and moving into the future.
Charities and social enterprises could make much needed financial savings by engaging in mediation instead of costly legal action - that was the message this morning as Belfast based law-firm Edwards & Co launched ‘the better way’, a dedicated mediation service for third sector organisations in Northern Ireland.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) has issued a survey report (April 2015) entitled ‘Getting Under the Skin of Workplace Conflict’
In the NI Charity Commission’s 2014 report it highlighted as a concern ‘Disagreements and disputes within a charity’ and warned of the importance of Charities having a means of resolving such disputes since often these will not be something that the Commission has either the power or resources to become involved in.
In this excellent article Tony Allen, one of the UK’s most experienced mediators, looks at recent comments made by the judiciary in cases where mediation is the obvious solution
Headline news or just causing you grief – there is a better way to resolve workplace disputes
Mediation –the way ahead This morning’s news reports in Northern Ireland without exception carried the story that there had been a call for the parties to mediate in the so-called ‘gay cake case’. Last week’s local news reports carried the story of Sport NI and the issues in the workplace that appear to have led to a string of grievances leading to media attention which has nothing to do with the benevolent objectives of the organisation.