Jun 14, 2017
Philip Gamey a certified Mediator and CEO of the Institute of Executive Studies has encouraged company executives to take the primary role in resolving workplace conflicts through mediation, saying “executives should be interested in intervening to settle conflicts among workers.
He said instead of engaging external professional mediators to settle disputes in organisations, executives could themselves mediate workplace disputes.
That, he indicates, is necessary because such interventions help to promote good relations between executives and subordinates.
“Although the professional mediator would resolve the dispute, it is much easier and less costly to employ executive mediation as a mode to resolve workplace disputes,” he said.
In that regard, he urged executives to equip themselves with the requisite mediation skills so as to be efficient and effective in that area for the benefit of the organisation.
He explained that executive mediation refers to the process where a manager steps in as a mediator using mediation skills to settle a workplace dispute.
“Executive mediation can also be called leadership mediation which is an existing practice of other jurisdictions, but it is not widely practiced in the country.
A cross section of Managers ADR Daily spoke to indicated that they were not aware of the processes of executive mediation, saying that they prefer to seek the help of professional mediators in the resolution of workplace disputes.
But Mr. Gamey says “executive mediation is part of the role of a manager, who has to intervene when disputes occur at the workplace.”
In a human environment, workplace conflicts are deemed to occur, however, their management depends on the expertise of the manager or leader.
For instance, he said when disputes occur between a unit head and a subordinate which affects production, the manager’s preoccupation should not be on issuing queries and applying sanctions, but to find ways to mediate to settle the dispute to ensure peace at the workplace.
“The manager must practice mediation effectively to ensure that disputes are resolved peacefully without damage to the workplace relationship,” he said.
Mr. Gamey advised companies to implement executive mediation as one of their policies on conflict resolution to aid as an alternative to professional mediation.
“First, they need to use executive mediation to solve the conflict. If it fails then they can seek external professional help.
“When you use executive mediation you save time, money and resources and you can calm tensions down, because of the relationship you have with the workers there is a high possibility that the dispute would be resolved,” he stressed.
By: Fred Gadese-Mensah/adrdaily.com
