Chapter 2: Resolving conflict: non-legislative methods
2
Resolving conflict:
non-legislative methods
What is a conflict?
Conflict resolution
Non-legislative methods for resolving industrial conflict
The law of contract
Chapter 2: Resolving conflict: non-legislative methods
What is conflict?
Conflict is:
Disagreements between people
• Between directors, management and unions, and business and its
customers
Causes of conflict:
•
•
•
•
•
Directors and management have different goals (e.g. profitability)
Business and customers disagree on selling price, quality and service
Leadership style of managers can cause conflict with staff
Industrial relations issues (e.g. wages, working conditions and productivity)
Business and suppliers disagree about delivery dates, quality, discounts
and credit terms
Chapter 2: Resolving conflict: non-legislative methods
Conflict Resolution
Conflicts should be resolved to avoid businesses and employees losing out
Consequences of ignoring conflict
 Company can lose sales
 Employees lose wages
 Customers shop elsewhere
Two methods of resolving conflict
 Legislative
 Non-legislative
Chapter 2: Resolving conflict: non-legislative methods
Non-legislative methods of resolving conflict (part 1)
Negotiate a solution
 Aim is to resolve the dispute quickly
 Involves direct discussion between parties
(e.g. employer–employee or employer–union)
 Both sides might have to compromise
Conciliation
 Third party (conciliator – often an Industrial Relations Officer (IRO) provided by
Labour Relations Commission (LRC) http://www.lrc.ie/) hears both sides of the
dispute and suggests a solution
 Commonly used in industrial disputes
 Weakness is that the conciliator’s recommendations are not binding
Chapter 2: Resolving conflict: non-legislative methods
Non-legislative methods of resolving conflict (part 2)
Mediation
 Mediator must be agreed to by both parties in dispute
 Mediator (provided by LRC
http://www.lrc.ie/documents/multilingualpdfs/5english.pdf)
intervenes when dispute is dead-locked and neither side wants to
continue
 Mediator suggests ways to ‘move things on’ to reach a solution
Arbitration
 Both sides ask for an arbitrator to be appointed
 Both sides agree the decision of the arbitrator is binding
 Not used often in industrial disputes
Chapter 2: Resolving conflict: non-legislative methods
The Law of Contract
A contract is a legally binding agreement that is
enforced in law
Example: buying a house or obtaining a loan
Two parties involved in a contract:
offerer and offeree
 Offerer makes the offer
 Offeree receives the offer
Chapter 2: Resolving conflict: non-legislative methods
Elements of a valid contract
All these must be present for a contract to be valid
 Agreement: the offer and acceptance
 Consideration: the money value of contract
 Intention: both parties want the contract for it to exist
 Capacity: parties must be of legal age (18 or over) to enter into
contract
 Consent: both parties must consent to contract’s terms without
pressure
 Legality of form: if a contract is not legal, it’s not binding
 Writing: contract may need to be in writing to be valid
Chapter 2: Resolving conflict: non-legislative methods
Termination of Contract
Can be terminated by either party
 By performance: obligations not carried out
 By agreement: mutual consent of offerer and offeree
 By breach of contract: one party didn’t fulfil obligation
 By frustration: unforeseen events (e.g. death, theft or, bankruptcy)
Remedies for a breach of contract
 Damages: financial compensation
 Specific performance: court orders that terms must be fulfilled
 Rescind the contract: contract cancelled by court order
Chapter 2: Resolving conflict: non-legislative methods
Chapter 2: Resolving conflict: non-legislative methods