Boston Business Journal
September 26-October 2, 2008, Vol 28, No. 35

Decisions, Decisions
DB Reiff, OptionBridge, LLC Associate

Although it would seem that the Boston Business Journal’s annual List of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) firms and the icebergs that our financial systems have hit are not connected, their connections are as powerful as the Dow Jones 30 is to the FTSE and the Nikkei 225.

That connection is decisions, how they are made and who makes them. Were the decisions that led us to financial lifeboats made by virtue of power or merit? Did they flow from organizational position or a process for thorough evaluation of the options?

In corporate and not-for-profit organizations, politics often rule as much as in government agencies. Decisions become byproducts of power struggles. Assuredly, in our current financial meltdown, greed also played an immeasurable role. But no one’s greediness would be satisfied with an outcome of government bailouts and bankruptcies.

When people think of ADR, they may think of small claims court mediation, divorce mediation, or arbitration in labor and employment settings. And, ADR systems do offer alternative ways to help with interpersonal and group conflict at work through workplace mediation, organizational ombuds, conflict coaching, and facilitated difficult discussions. These resources help build an organization’s capacity to prevent, surface, and to resolve conflicts and difficult issues.

Yet a profound result of ADR is the ability for leaders to have access to more and better information and facilitation of a good decision-making process. When a group is responsible for a decision, and conflict is ruining the process and ruling the outcomes, the group can use the expanded resources of an ADR system and call on the services of neutral facilitators, mediators serves the organization and the team.

How could having an alternative dispute resolution system have helped to keep a Lehman Brothers or AIG afloat? We know that there are always people in any organization who do see icebergs on the horizon and who are willing to forego their own potential financial rewards either for ethical reasons or for the good of the organization. An ADR system can help these people be heard, can help leaders consider new ideas, and can facilitate processes that help steer around the icebergs to the ultimate benefit of the organization and all of its stakeholders.

And, if an ADR system may have helped avoid some of carnage we are seeing now in multiple industries, imagine the benefit it could bring in reducing the conflict that is sure to ensue and cost us more in the future.