 |
| |
| Member of the Bulgarian Human Resource Menagement Association |
|
| |
We live in a time when conflicts between people are a phenomena we face every day because of the transition in different fields of our lives – social, political, economic and values.
The bigger the company is, the more the prerequisites and factors for raising a conflict are.
Also there is a stronger probability that in bigger companies a “latent” period in conflicts might exist – a period when they pine away for a longer time and burst more strongly because of the comparatively difficult situation.
Last but not least we can point out our national culture – we seldom look for an exit from a conflict situation by negotiation and mutually advantageous decisions.
Most people: react impulsively, aggressively, they complain or backbite, they are ready to do various destructive things, if they can.
Such approaches, ways of communication and inner relationships, are harmful for the climate in the organization and its productivity; they lead to loss of time, money and effort.
In their wish to find a solution many people appeal to the court. However, this often leads to a deeper conflict between both sides and there are lots of reasons:
- One of the parties wins while the other one loses
- Too much expenses, which weaken the parties (or at least one of them) financially
- The loosing party (and sometimes both of them) suffers from stress, which hard to recover from
- Relationships are broken, a wish to harm and sometimes even enemies appear
Here comes mediation. Mediation is a voluntary, informal, private and confidential procedure for solving conflicts out of the court, in which a third, neutral party – mediator – helps the sides of the controversy to reach a mutually acceptable decision (written or oral) by their own will and effort.
Mediation is:
- New culture of arguing, in which both sides are satisfied with a solution
- Comparatively fast procedure. A session (meeting between the sides of the controversy and the mediator) can be appointed and conducted in a week. According to the experience most conflicts are solved in one or more sessions, each one – 2-3hours long
- Confidential procedure. There are a limited number of people on sessions – usually there are the sides of the controversy and one or two mediators (or managers or other employees who are trained for the procedure).
Advantages:
- easiness and rapidity in overcoming the conflict
- freedom and open admission to an alternative approach for solving conflicts
- keeping mutual relationships and interests of both sides
- saving material and financial losses of the company
Lots of dismissals and law proceedings can be saved by including a third party that is a professional in solving problems.
Mediation is applied when solving hard conflicts, which appeared in collective labor arguments and their voluntary solutions.
Mediation is one of the mechanisms for:
- effective management and development of human resources
- building up successful and effective managers
The contemporary manager builds, develops and manages relationships with:
- inner partners – co-workers, colleagues
- outer partners – clients, suppliers, controlling organs, based on the “I win, you win” strategy
That’s why mediation has a key meaning:
- for the managers’ success
- for the success of the organization as a whole, its team and structural parts
|
| |
|
