Every business or corporation requires the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes in the day to day management of the organization. This is not to suggest that rather than busy themselves carrying out their productive operations, such organizations should be holed up somewhere mediating or resolving disputes. The practical implication of this assertion is that each organization need to understand and apply the principles of fairness, openness and team strategy of the alternative dispute resolution practice in order to run sustainable business cycles. Curiously however, it would appear that while the promoters of the concept and practice of ADR market its relevance to commercial relationships, little or nothing is said about the centrality of ADR to labour or employee relations.
It is incontestable that every organizational set up is a conflict arena. This is because of the existence of two diametrically opposed interests continually at play in the business environment. The legitimate interests of employers are opposed to those of employees. The owner of capital who sets up a business does so for a profit. He desires to grow his capital at less operating costs. He yearns for a dedicated team of employees who will produce goods and services at rock-bottom salaries and emoluments that would enable him make his desired profits. On the other hand, the employees are in search of an employment that would pay them top of the range salaries and emoluments. They desire a flexible working system that would provide them adequate free time to enjoy the fruits of their labour. There is no magic by which these divergent interests can be satisfied concurrently. This therefore creates a scenario whereby the financial wellbeing of the organization is continually pulled on opposite directions by the two key stakeholders. The employer at his wits end may wield the big stick of dismissals or worker suspension, while the employees acting in the representative capacity of workers Unions can declare a strike and frustrate the entire business operations.
As I write this, I am yet to understand why the ADR community pays little or no attention to employer – employee mediation. Could it be the result of the triviality with which issues that affect labour as a factor of production are treated or is it the outcome of the thinking that labour mediation is a specialist area which should be left aside for those who intend to dig their toes into it? The imperative for the use of the ADR platform of mediation in the workplace cannot be overemphasized. Every discerning employer or management team must recognize it as an invaluable tool which will enable all interests in the organization to freely express themselves in an atmosphere of sincerity. Crisis erupts in organizations when an oppressed workforce bottles its misgivings until such time it explodes on a very minut or insignificant trigger.
As an accredited mediation advocate, I have always known that mediation or alternative dispute resolution can be applied to practically every sphere of life. What was however unknown to me was that by the mandate of law – the Trade Dispute Act, employers and employees in dispute were to first explore the platforms of alternative dispute resolution before approaching the courts for adjudication. Under the old dispensation, the complex mechanisms of litigation in the conventional courts hindered smooth industrial relations, given the fact that there exists no magic to fast track the process of any litigation. Labour matters by their very nature are unsuitable for delays as these may come with consequences for the economy. This was the situation before the full emergence of the specialist National Industrial Court of Nigeria and its Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre.
In the world of work there is no superior party between the Employer, Employee and Government. Even though contractual relationship is often between the independent employer and employee, all industrial activities are carried out under the shadow of government. That is why in industrial relations recognition is given to the three interest groups working as a team in what is referred to as tripartism. Industrial relations agreements reached through a collective agreement must necessarily have government input and or recognition through the Ministry of Labour to be effective and or binding. Decisions and control of the business should necessarily be carried out through constant dialogue and negotiation which are key elements of the alternative dispute resolution processes. Working under the umbrella of tripartism management, unions and governments must constantly engage themselves on issues that affect the workplace. Workers must be carried along in all plans, proposals and implementation of policies that affect them. Anecdotal evidence indicate that there is no better way this can be guaranteed unless there is in place an educated management and staff schooled in the finest traditions of negotiation and amicable dispute resolution. The story is told of a food processing organization in Ota, in Ogun State which regularly runs alternative dispute resolution programs for its management and staff members. The foreign owned company is known never to have had a work stoppage irrespective of economic situations. And what is more, its worker turnover is a study in corporate stability.