Working in a partnership is not always easy. Disagreements can and do arise. In the case of dentistry, there is a long list of possible problems that can cause conflict, whether finance, management issues, human resources, clinical or business decisions. If they are not sorted out they can undermine the business relationship.
Partnership agreements often provide for disputes to be referred to arbitration but this is a formal and expensive procedure and not best suited to mending differences.
Court proceedings between partners usually signal that the relationship has come to an end. So the growing field of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) offers an attractive method of dealing with disputes in a way that saves both expense and time and offers the possibility of putting the business relationship back on a sound basis.
ADR is a way of resolving disputes with the assistance of an independent third party. Unlike a judge or arbitrator, the third party is not there to impose a solution on the parties. Instead, he or she acts as a facilitator and explores the issues with the parties and tries to lead them to their own solution.
Mediation is becoming an increasingly popular form of ADR. Usually both parties will meet in the same building and the mediator will speak to each party individually exploring the issues and moving the parties towards an agreement. The fig is an example of the way it can work.
There are plenty of advantages to ADR. It is much quicker than litigation and less expensive. The parties have to pay the third party for their time and if they choose to instruct a solicitor to assist them, these costs will have to be met too. If ADR is attempted at an early stage in the dispute however, then the costs will usually be significantly less.
ADR is seen as non-confrontational. Additionally, the fact that the parties themselves are developing the solution makes everyone involved feel as though they have worked together to solve their differences.
There are disadvantages to ADR. It is voluntary, which means that whilst one party may be quite keen to resolve the dispute in this way, the other party may refuse or withdraw from the process part way through.
However, even if ADR is not initially successful and agreement is not reached, the parties will have begun to think about settlement and often enter into further negotiations to bring the matter to a close.