Dr. Janet Ampadu-Fofie, Chairperson of Public Services Commission has charged Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) practitioners to live above reproach so as to protect the image of the profession.
Dr Ampadu-Fofie gave the advice when she chaired the 2022 joint graduation and matriculation ceremony of the Gamey and Gamey Groups Professional Executive Master of ADR (PEM.ADR) Programme at Tema at the weekend.
It had the theme, “The ADR Practitioner as a signpost for core values.”
Describing the theme for the event as “more opportune,” Dr. Ampadu-Fofie, who is also a certified ADR practitioner and an alumnus of the PEM ADR programme, urged practitioners to uphold ethical standards so as to build public confidence in ADR.
“If we go to sleep and decide not to adopt ethical behaviors, we will spoil all that ADR stands for and erode public confidence in the practice,” she stressed.
She congratulated the 29 graduands for the achievement and urged them to offer quality services as they commence their journey as professional ADR practitioners.
Giving testimony of the impact of the PEM ADR programme on her, she said she enrolled in the programme in 2014 with a firm belief that she had had a diverse and rich career experience. “But this programme is different. It opened my eyes to quite a bit I didn’t know I needed. And it was worth more than the time I spent pursuing it.”
“To my mind, dispute resolution skills are not a soft skill you need to acquire in the world of work and as a business leader. It is actually a core skill.
“Much of the decisions in business and in government are actually about reconciling competing interests in resource allocation, deployment of human capital and navigating through rules of compliance and relationship building. These are actually fine ways of describing conflict without really saying so.
“As Chairperson of the PSC, I tend to find myself in these situations on a daily basis. And my time in this programme has been quite helpful,” she stressed.
