Alternative Dispute Resolution

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is a voluntary compilation of different alternatives to resolve disputes or conflicts that may arise among employers and employees, team members, or companies and consumers (Sturm College, 2009). This essay will focus on an ADR for learning teams to resolve disputes among the team members.

Individual differences can sometimes create conflict when working on teams. This can make team work become very challenging when trying to overcome this obstacle. Team environments almost always have disputes arise. The team charter is designed to be a guide for the teams to flow smoothly and each member is expected to abide by the rules the team created in the team's charter. If the charter is not followed or if disputes arise that affect the team's productivity and performance, an ADR should be used. The ADR clause reads: Any dispute that involves team members that fail to abide by the charter in relation to assignments, meetings, discussions, disrespect, or collaborations, the team will first confer to try to resolve the issue. If it is found that the team members and the team leader are unable to resolve the dispute, a neutral third party who will be elected by the team will become involved as the mediator. The mediator will hear from all parties involved and make a final decision about how the team will resolve the issue. The decision of the mediator will stand.

Learning teams will find that implementing a charter and following the rules stated will help them avoid conflict; however, when conflict does arise, using an ADR method will save the team time and further conflicts. Teams should try to resolve their issues among themselves first because each member have the same mission, success.

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