Content provided in partnership with

Business Services Industry

Hot Disputes Cool Down in Online Mediation

Workforce, Jan, 2001 by Brenda Paik Sunoo

Cyberspace dispute resolution can defuse anger and save HR managers time, energy--and real-world lawsuits.

Janet Rifkin has resolved numerous workplace conflicts. As a former ombudsperson and current chair of legal studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, she has witnessed the rage and wrath of many disgruntled employees.

In the past, she typically conducted face-to-face meetings, whereas now she champions online mediation to prevent, manage, and resolve workplace disputes. Not only is it cheaper than litigation, but it can also save time, energy--and face. Had she known about online mediation earlier, Rifkin says, she would have included Web-based technology (e-mail, Web sites, and chat rooms) to facilitate preliminary discussions with core disputants, set ground rules for negotiations, and abate any anger.

Most Popular Articles in Business: Research and Markets : Tesco Plc - SWOT Framework Analysis; Do Us a Flavor - Ben & Jerry's Issues a Call for Euphoric New Flavors; eBay made easy: ready to start an eBay business? These 5 simple steps will ...; Katrina's lawsuit surge: a legal battle to force insurers to pay for flood ...; Wal-Mart's newest distribution center opened last month near the southwest ...; More »

Up to 30 percent of a manager's time is wasted in dealing with employee conflicts, according to estimates by the Academy of Management Journal, an e-journal on the Internet. With the advent of online mediation services such as NewCourtCity.com and onlinemediators.com, employers and HR managers may have additional reasons to click a mouse: failed partnership agreements, labor negotiations, sexual harassment charges, customer problems with payments--even employee battles over parking spaces.

"We're at the beginning of a whole new age," says Rifkin, also co-director of the Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution, a Hewlett Foundation-funded project. "Within the next five years, we're going to see an incredible explosion of this [type of service]." In some cases, online mediation can be used in lieu of face-to-face negotiations. If not, it can complement your current mediation practices, regardless of the number, locations, and time zones of disputing parties.

Meet today's pathfinders

In 1995, John R. Helie and Jim Melamed, co-directors of Eugene, Oregon-based Mediation Information & Resource Center (MIRC), developed Mediate.com to spread the gospel of mediation. Today, the Web site contains more than 400 articles, hosts 1,500 visitors a day, and contains a database of more than 5,000 mediation service providers.

Last June, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce sponsored a conference entitled "Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Transactions in the Borderless Online Marketplace." Although the specific focus of the conference was online business-to-consumer transactions, conference participants--including Helie--also addressed the broader use of online dispute resolution.

As the Internet continues to grow, conflict resolution will become not only an integral component of e-commerce (between buyers and sellers) but also a virtual means of solving traditional workplace disputes. Consider, for example, how two major convention centers in Chicago and the Culinary Union used online mediation during their recent contract negotiations.

According to labor counsel Stuart R. Korshak, a partner in the San Francisco-based law firm Korshak, Kracoff, Kong and Sugano, the process was facilitated by TAGS[TM] (Technology Assisted Group Solutions), a network of computers and customized software that federal mediators used to help solve their labor problems. Through a specially designed Web site (www.TAGS.fmcs.gov), both the convention center owners and union were able to view master proposals, the tentative agreements, each side's notes, lists of open issues, and other agreements for the purposes of comparison and to participate in a chat line. "The ability to have a neutral federal agency [Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service] with computer and mediating expertise--that was offered for free--made the unions and members willing to accept and trust it," says Korshak.

Employers also can use online mediation to avert today's litigation crisis, says Kristina Eisenacher, founder of NewCourtCity.com. The high cost and long delays associated with the trial of civil matters often make litigation an impractical method of resolving disputes. It's not uncommon for the attorney fees, expert witness fees, jury fees, court reporter fees, and other related costs to exceed the amount in dispute. "Parties increasingly find they're spending more to litigate than the cost to settle the matter," says Eisenacher. Litigation, she adds, can cost as much as 80 percent more than mediation. Litigation awards in workplace-violence cases, for example, can average up to $1 million, according to Palm Springs-based Workplace Violence Research Institute.

How it works

Although many online mediation services focus primarily on e-commerce disputes (Clicknsettle.com and Squaretrade.com), NewCourtCity.com has created an online package that addresses every level of employment-from hiring, training, and education to termination. It recommends that employers and HR managers implement a three-step process:

* Dispute prevention: All current and/or potential new employees are first asked to sign a release authorization for a background check. Upon successfully passing a background check, employees are asked to sign a pre-dispute mediation agreement. This document is an agreement between the company and the employee to enter into mediation as a first step in the event of a dispute before going to the labor board or courts. This step alone can save a company hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

Business Services Industry

Hot Disputes Cool Down in Online Mediation

Workforce, Jan, 2001 by Brenda Paik Sunoo

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Sports

Most Popular Articles in Business

Most Popular Publications in Business