Mediation doesn’t just work when relationships between two businesses go sour. It can also assist companies in resolving internal disputes between employees, directors, managers and rescue tension between teams when reaching an agreed work plan. This is advantageous particularly when the costs of recruitment, training and any potential grievance are considered. It also offers all parties a third party neutral – someone not connected to a HR team or the company that could be perceived to bring a biased view into an already tense relationship. 

Mediation is often confused with a similar process called arbitration. Mediation is an informal process of back-and-forth discussion. There are no formal rules in mediation except for procedures. Arbitration is a more formal dispute process in which an arbitrator sets the rules for the process and hears both sides, often in a court or other formal setting.

In arbitration the decision of the arbitrator is binding and the parties may not take the matter further to a court, for example. The mediation process, unlike arbitration, is non-binding; that is, the mediator does not impose a decision on the parties, but he/she attempts to present or facilitate a solution that is acceptable to both parties.