page last updated September 1, 1998
NEED FOR ADR IN BUSINESS COURSE
Everyday we become embroiled in a variety of conflicts in our personal, academic, and professional lives. In our adversarial society, most of us have few constructive models for quickly and rationally diffusing conflict. Conflict can only be positive if it helps us to understand different viewpoints and to recognize the needs of ourselves and others. Properly addressing conflict brings underlying issues out into the open giving us important information and reducing pent-up hostility. The ability to deal effectively with conflict is essential to resolve our differences and produce more harmonious, productive personal and professional relationships.
Today’s employers are cutting budgets, including resources for outside legal services. Also, with the emergence of the global marketplace, international business partners are unlikely to accept the resolution of disputes through the U.S. court system. Employers are seeking business people who are problem-solvers, not potential litigants, but few students receive training in these essential skills. On both the domestic and international level, business people are seeking alternatives to costly litigation in handling commercial disputes. ADR places a greater emphasis on empowering business people and preserving business relationships through creative business solutions rather than court mandates. ADR has become an important tool to deal with labor/human resources, consumer, environmental, contract, debt collection insurance and international trade disagreements in a confidential, cost-effective manner.
In Legal Environment of Business or Business Law courses, only a brief mention is made of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). However, to properly prepare business students for the workplace, an ADR in Business course is needed to provide a detailed review and application of these various forms of ADR for dealing with business disputes outside of the traditional litigation process. The course should be taught by lawyers who can make clear the benefits and burdens of the current litigation system and the ways in which business people can become better consumers of legal services through a better understanding of the broad range of ADR options. Such a course is suitable for undergraduates preparing for their first jobs, and graduate students seeking to be more effective in their current professional roles.
Through text materials, lectures, interactive video and role-plays, an ADR in Business course will emphasize the theoretical and practical skill development in the areas of negotiation, mediation and arbitration in resolving business disputes. This course may cover the following topics: 1) the evolving role of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in dealing with commercial, consumer and labor disputes; 2) trends in nontraditional forms of litigation such as summary jury trials, minitrials and private judging; 3) the role and application of negotiation, mediation, and domestic and international arbitration programs for resolving business disputes; 4) business considerations and ethical concerns in selecting and utilizing ADR; and, 5) international perspectives on ADR.
SUMMARY OF OVERALL BENEFITS TO BUSINESS PROGRAMS
An ADR in Business Course provides a number of important benefits to graduate and undergraduate business students and to business programs. A number of these points are listed below:
Provides opportunity for students to improve their analytical thinking, negotiation skills and persuasive writing abilities in dealing with dispute situations.
Better prepares current/future business leaders to analyze the select forms of dispute resolution that best meet their business and budgetary needs.
Encourages scholarship on alternative dispute resolution in both domestic and international settings.
Helps promote college vision as to global marketplace by analysis of international ADR mechanisms.
Develops another distinguishing asset of our college’s business education in a cutting edge area of study.
May provide internship opportunities for interested students or cooperative outreach arrangements at local ADR centers.
Helps to promote improved connections between business curriculum with courses taught in other disciplines.
Offers blending of both theoretical concepts and practical skills in the field of conflict resolution.
May provide future opportunity to promote interdisciplinary curriculum development between Law, Management and Behavioral Sciences Departments.
Prepares students to consider selecting other ADR-related courses taught in other departments, such as negotiation skills.
May be modified and promoted as suitable offering from college’s corporate training program to area businesses.
adopted by ALSB Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Section August 1998 at Academy of Legal Studies in Business national meeting in San Diego