Adr Clause for Learning Team Charter

The following Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) clause will facilitate settlement of any disagreements or controversies arising from Learning Team interaction via the Learning Team Forum, email, telephone conversation, or chat lines.

Learning team members shall attempt to settle all disputes, claims, controversies or differences in good faith through direct communication between all involved parties. The dispute or differences must be in reference to the team members' disregard for the learning team charter's policies, regulations, and rules. If a dispute or controversy cannot be resolved through a direct communication approach and affects the productivity, efficiency and successful completion of the team's goals this shall enable the mediation process. If conflicts continue to arise between or among learning team members, the members will partake in mediation. Mediation will be conducted by an appointed neutral party (to consist of two team members who are not involved in the conflict in question). Mediation involves no formal procedure and the mediator or neutral party does not have the power to render a binding decision or force parties to agree. The mediation shall allow for each party to meet and communicate with the neutral party in order to come to a mutual agreement or consent. The neutral party can and shall offer suggestions for resolutions, but the result of mediation will not be legally binding. The team members, who are involved in the dispute, will not be forced to participate in the mediation process. In the event that the dispute is not settled during mediation, an arbitration step will follow. If an agreement cannot be reached within three days, the conflict will be heard by an arbitrator which shall be the course instructor. The arbitrator will be utilized for cases where team members did not want to partake in the mediation process or could not reach an agreement through the mediation process. The arbitrator will hear each team member's dispute and any mediation reports from the previous step and render a decision within two days that will be binding with all parties involved. The parties must agree and understand that they choose the aforementioned arbitration steps instead of litigation to resolve any disputes.

References

Jennings, Marianne M. (2006). Business: It's Legal, Ethical, and Global Environment, 7th ed. Ohio: Thomson West.