Dispute Settlement Counsel

Business owners, managers and entrepreneurs have confirmed some core beliefs of the Zeytoonian Center for Dispute Resolution. They are telling us that the most important element in resolving disputes is preserving important business relationships! They are also telling us that the notion of “winning at all costs” is among the least important considerations in dispute resolution. That is encouraging news and helps to confirm our beliefs about what is critical in dispute resolution and that non-adversarial processes are more responsive and better suited to meet the needs of those involved in disputes.

We participated in the Corridor Nine Chamber of Commerce Business Expo on April 1, 2009 at the Doubletree Hotel in Westborough, MA. It was an incredibly well done trade show by Corridor Nine with over 1000 people attending. Our Center asked visitors to complete a survey on dispute resolution and the results were telling. We asked people to rank several of the following factors in business and employment disputes in order of importance to them: creativity of options for resolution; winning at any cost; preserving relationships; cost efficiency; confidentiality; control over the process; decision making by parties, not judges or juries; prevention of draining resources; time efficiency; and turning the matter over to lawyers and courts so as not to be bothered with the issue.

By more than a three to one margin, most responses placed the need to preserve business and employment relationships as the most important factor, with “the ability to control process and outcome” a distant second as most important concern. “Being cost-effective” and “efficiently using time” were consistently ranked second and third. “Controlling the process and the results” got ranked regularly as either fourth or fifth priority. Somewhat surprisingly, though, was how survey participants viewed “winning at any cost”. This is usually one of the first things potential clients express when they first inquire about our services. They want to win and beat the other party, “make them pay” and get the revenge they are entitled to. Yet, when asked in a survey, arguably at a time when a calmer, practical and rational mind is directing the responses, most people ranked the need to win at all costs as 8, 9 or 10 on the priority list. Along with that sentiment, business people gave the notion of turning the dispute over to the lawyers and courts so they didn’t have to be occupied by it pretty low marks, consistently 8s and 9s.

While it’s only one measure of people’s perspectives, the responses we received did bear out some of our beliefs: that preserving relationships in businesses and employment settings are important, that people do want to control the process and decision-making, rather than give that over to a third party (a judge, jury or arbitrator), that cost effectiveness and time efficiency are vital interests for people trying to resolve a conflict. And winning at all costs, while being the initial emotional response and need, is not at all important when looking at the problem from a measured, practical perspective. Those interests that people tend to point to as important are best served by dispute resolution methods like mediation, collaborative law, using case evaluators, coaches and ombudspersons.

We also learned another thing which was very clear: Corridor Nine Chamber runs an outstanding Business Expo each year. Congratulations and many thanks to the Chamber, its staff, volunteers and members!

One Response to “Most Important? Preserving relationships. Least Important? Winning at all costs!”