Whether the legal profession creates a demand for its services or merely responds to the demands of its clients, it is clear that attorneys and courts are feeling the pressure of overcrowded dockets, increasingly complex laws, and the need to prevail at any cost. It is against this backdrop that alternatives to litigation are gaining more popularity. The greatest value of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) lies in its ability to address and resolve conflict in a way that saves time, money, and, in some cases, relationships; this is something litigation was not designed to do. 

As business embraces this new and novel approach to address related conflict, not only will corporate counsel and top management benefit from ADR, but managers, union officials, and other leadership of the organization can profit from ADR principles and techniques. The transaction costs of conflict can be staggering. Research studies show that up to 42% of employees’ time is spent engaging in or attempting to resolve conflict. Conflict contaminates the decision-making process by causing information to be incomplete or unreliable, and each decision-maker’s judgment and objectivity may be affected when threatened by the apparent hostile intentions of others. Managers sometimes restructure the design and flow of tasks to reduce interaction between conflicting employees, and thereby reduce effectiveness and productivity of the original design. 

Exit interviews, which explore departing employees’ underlying reasons for quitting, reveal that chronic, unresolved conflict is a decisive factor in at least 50% of all voluntary departures. Studies reveal a direct correlation between prevalence of employee conflict and the amount of damage and theft to inventory and equipment. Covert sabotage of work processes often occurs when employees feel angry toward their employer. Much of the cost incurred by hostility is hidden from top management as accidental or inadvertent mistakes. 

Absenteeism is associated with job stress and especially the stress of chronic conflict with coworkers. Nearly every physical illness or injury has a component which is psychogenic, that is, they are caused in part by psychological or emotional conditions. From time to time, most employees’ motivation to do a good job is eroded by the unrelieved stress of trying to deal with a troublesome or difficult person. Aside from lost work time resulting from illness and injury, medical care costs are increased, since the rate of claims affects the premium paid by an employer to its health care provided.

Tony Belak