Organization Mediation Services
with the Resolutions Model

There are times when a conflict erupts and embroils an entire department; sometimes pitting staff against management, other times pitting one department against another. Every business depends on smooth operations to meet its overall objectives and organizational disputes can impact not just the employees...but the customers as well. Symptoms of these problems can be seen in attempts to unionize, strike, or create work stoppages as well as high turnover and high use of sick time by employees.

Large group mediation and facilitation can be very successful in both highlighting the sources of the problems and developing responsible and accountable action plans to address and improve management and employee concern

"In identifying sources of conflict between employees, departments, and management, the organization can improve communication on all levels, improve productivity and save on recruitment and training costs through better employee retention."
 

Examples of Mediation with Organizations Police Department vs. Police Chief and Town - high publicity conflict between chief of police and entire unionized department in which the department voted no-confidence in the chief. Situation:  The unionized police department of a small town brought a "no-confidence" vote against the police chief to the attention of an entire town by distributing copies of the vote to all the residents.  Mediation: The town's governing body requested the services of Resolutions and we developed and implemented a phased initiative to: (1) assess and understand the real concerns of the department, the chief and the town; (2) bring all the parties together to discuss and address the critical concerns; (3) provide training and coaching in progressive conflict management tools; and (4) provide on-going coaching and facilitation to help the department implement the strategies they had devised. The Outcome: The organization dispute mediation: highlighted issues of management styles that created tensions and the helped the parties develop alternative skills; created substantive performance evaluation processes with pro-active mentoring and feedback components; and improved community-policing work with the town at large. Partnership between two non-profit organizations - joint venture between two high-profile national companies seeking to work together on limited projects in which different corporate styles threatened to scuttle the working arrangement. Situation:  Two nationally known and recognized non-profit advocacy organizations had agreed to pool their resources (staff, finances and supporters) to work together on an issue of joint concern. Each organization had a strong track record of success in the work they had done independently. After the agreement to work together was forged, it became apparent that it might be undermined because each organization wanted to impose their particular style and work culture on the other. Mediation: A two-phase initiative used by Resolutions helped these two organizations create a viable partnership that is continuing to the present. How it worked: (1) In phase one, all staff from both organizations were interviewed to reveal their concerns and needs. This also provided material to develop a meaningful agenda for the second phase. (2) The second phase was a two-day retreat that was attended by the staff of both organizations. The retreat was carefully facilitated to allow for a full expression and discussion of the problems and to develop strategies that would allow both organizations to work collaboratively and effectively.