Conflict Resolution Processes (DP IB Business Management)

Conciliation & Arbitration

• Conciliation involves an independent mediator supporting negotiation and compromise between conflicting groups

• Arbitration involves an independent mediator making a decision to resolve a dispute on behalf of conflicting groups

  • Non-binding arbitration decisions can be accepted or ignored by conflicting parties

  • Binding arbitration decisions involve a compromise that must be accepted by both parties

  • Pendulum decisions are a binding decision that makes no compromise - they declare entirely for one party

• In 2019 Prospect union and airports company Hial invited the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) to conciliate in a pay dispute

• Air traffic controllers increased pay demands were at odds with Hial's refusal to increase wage budgets

Employee Participation

• Employee participation involves giving authority to workers to take on responsibilities and have some level of authority in the organisation

• Examples include teamwork, suggestion schemes, quality circles and worker panels

• Animation studio Pixar has a successful culture of collaboration which enables teams to work together on complex creative projects

• Employees are encouraged to share ideas, actively participate in the creative process and make decisions

Industrial Democracy

• Industrial democracy involves workers having significant involvement in the decision-making process

• Worker-owned businesses and worker co-operatives have strong commitments to industrial democracy

• Workers at the UK's John Lewis Partnership influence how the business is run through their elected representatives in local forums

• Staff, known as partners, also receive a generous share of business profits

No-strike Agreements

• An agreement with trade union members not to take strike action when workplace conflict arises

• These agreements can improve the reputation of a trade union

  • Builds trust and increases the likelihood of businesses being willing to negotiate

• An "Olympic truce" was declared following meetings between unions including the National Syndicate of Air Traffic Controllers (SNCTA) and the French Directorate General of Civil Aviation

• Despite ongoing conflict French air traffic controllers' unions agreed that no strike action would take place until after the 2024 Olympics in Paris 

Single-union Agreements

• A business agrees to negotiate with one, rather than multiple, trade union organisations to resolve conflict

• After refusing for many years Starbucks started, in 2023, to negotiate with the Starbucks Workers United union

• Early agreements include a $20 per hour starting wage, a 32-hour minimum working week for full-time employees and credit card staff tipping at all stores