Mediation for Small Businesses
by Attorney Emily Doskow
Are you a small business owner with a dispute? Mediation might be for you.
Suppose your small business is affected by noise or smells or parking lot litter from a neighboring business, and your attempts to talk it out with your neighbor lead to each of you loudly proclaiming your own point of view. You may feel that your options are limited to calling in the law or living with the situation. But the law may not exactly address your situation. Or, your legal rights may be too costly to pursue. On the other hand, you may not be willing or able to live with the situation as it is.
Small business owners are just as likely as major corporations to run into conflict -- with neighboring businesses, employees, customers, or vendors -- and among business partners. But small businesses are far less likely to have public relations, human resources, and legal departments to help them deal with these conflicts.
In fact, it may be overwhelming for a small business to come up with the time, money, and expertise to cope with even a relatively minor dispute through legal means. What's more, unless the situation is resolved amicably, the leftover hostility will likely affect the quality of life of a small business proprietor who may be bumping up against the unfriendly party personally on a day-to-day basis.
The Mediation Alternative
Mediation offers another way to resolve conflict -- in this example, one that could help you and your neighbor come to a genuine understanding and come up with a resolution that takes both of your needs and interests into account. In mediation, a neutral third person -- the mediator -- meets with parties who are having a conflict to help them try to work it out it together. Because you and the other party make the agreement together, you are both more likely to keep it. And the process of working things out in mediation is an experience you and your neighbor can draw upon if you run into problems again in the future.
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