The use of Commercial Mediation is on the increase, not just in the UK, but as an international method of resolving disputes. The Civil Procedures Rules, the Court of Appeal and the Small Claims Process have been urging disputants to consider mediation an an alternative to the lengthy and costly process of going to court. In fact, a court can refuse to award costs to the successful party if they failed to take-up an offer of mediation from the other side.
With the state of the economy and businesses struggling to juggle decreasing budgets and increasing disputes, now is not a good time to embark upon a drawn-out court case that will certainly not help the bank balance of any company.
Commercial mediation deals with disputes from professional negligence, buildings, breach of contract and construction to debt-recovery, wills and probate, personal injury and boundary issues. Commercial mediation is different to other types of mediation as it deals with a dispute over something tangiable or contractural rather than an interpersonal issue between two or more individuals.
Companies struggling to keep their bank balances in control and not wishing to waste uneccesary time, benefit from commercial mediation as this allows them to reach a speedy agreement and move on. Something that can benefit every organisation when now really isn’t the time to stand still.
Couldn’t agree more in principle. So how come we aren’t seeing hundreds of people using mediation more? Most people I speak to , including within my own company, seem to dismiss mediation as a ’soft option’ or somethign that other people do! Why so much resistance, anyone?
Martin
I know what Martin means. What Ive heard in my own organisation is that it is ‘weighted in favour fo the company’. Yet whenever we have used medaitors for disputes, we usually get a reoslution within a day, and for about £1000, compared to and average of about 10,000 – 15,000 if the whole grievance / harassment machine has to be rolled out. Mediation makes perfect sense to me.
Lorna