The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) is the nation’s largest independent public agency for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and conflict management, providing mediation and conflict resolution services in the private, public, and federal sectors.
The first step to effectively solving a conflict is to understand the difference between a resolution and a solution. The conflict has a way of repeating itself over and over, especially if it is not addressed correctly and a firm decision has not been made. Addressing a conflict correctly includes identifying the key differences between …
Let’s take a deeper look into Face Negotiation Theory. Have you ever been in a negotiation or conversation with someone where you suddenly notice yourself taking on a defensive stance to protect yourself? Maybe you have been more willing to give in a negotiation to help the other person or preserve what you believe the …
What does litigate mean? The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines “litigate” (from 17th Century Latin litigat, meaning “disputed in a lawsuit,” as “verb… take (a claim or a dispute) to a court of law.” Interestingly, the OED’s compilers chose this sentence as an example of proper usage of the word “Litigate”: “even a claim which is litigated …
While all parts of the divorce process can be complex, asking your spouse to initiate a divorce can be one of the most challenging parts of the process. Learning how to ask for a divorce can be daunting when one spouse has decided that separation is the best thing for the family. Even when divorce …
Of all the departments that will need to deal with conflict effectively in a workplace, the human resources department is the most likely. Outside of the hiring process, most employees will only interact with human resources during times of conflict, which often makes human resource departments the least favorite team to interact with for an …
According to a study by Steele and Nimmer, the top two concerns that clients have about their attorneys are that fees are too high, and that performance is delayed. Perhaps because of this, the California Legislature passed laws in 1978 requiring that the State Bar establish a fee arbitration program. It may also establish a …
I’ve been doing appellate mediation since the program began, and I’ve been genuinely surprised by the success rate. At the program’s inception, I anticipated a significantly lower success rate than I’ve had with non-appellate mediations — but it’s about 70%, which isn’t much lower than my rate for other matters. While my approach to conducting …
By Scott C. Van Soye “Blessed are the peacemakers.” We value peacemakers. We may even aspire to be among them. But often we have no firm conception of what it means to “make peace.” Does it mean to cause the cessation of conflict, by whatever means? Or does it refer only to non-violent efforts to …
By Kristofer S. Michaud Dispute Resolution Systems Design and Implementation in a Corporate Setting Increasingly, corporations recognize the value of a Program for managing workplace conflict that precludes litigation. These systems are designed by trained ADR consultants retained by the company on a contract basis. In order to implement such a Program, there must first …