Workplace Conflict Resolution: The use of ADR within a Family Business vs Non Family Business.

Abstract

A review of Family business and Non-family business literature indicates that little to no research has examined family businesses in Ireland in terms of knowledge and use of ADR (AlternativeDisputeResolution) to resolve workplace conflicts.The purpose of this paper is to examine these dynamics through the findings of primary research, there by providing a better understanding about the use of ADR in conflicts that may arise in the workplace within family businesses in Ireland. First of all the paper aims to examine the knowledge about ADR that is known by employers and employees to understand the use of negotiation, conciliation, mediation and arbitration within family business vs non-family business. Secondly the paper aims to understand the types of conflict that occur and how they affect those businesses in the workplace, and lastly the paper aims to measure, how are their experiences with ADR and would those businesses recommend and opt to use ADR for future workplace conflict. There search methodology adopted for this study was that of an email questionnaire, the base of this survey was applied to a sample of 460 employers and employees in Ireland and a total of 108 valid responses were received, which resulted in a valid response rate of 23.48%. The findings of the study identifies that there is little knowledge about ADR as a tool to solve conflicts in the workplace between members of family businesses and non-family businesses, consequently there is a lack of experience with the ADR and on the other hand there is a solid rate of recommendations to use Mediation to resolve future workplace conflict when there is some knowledge from past experience of using it.