Alternative Dispute Resolution in Ireland and the US Model

This paper examines whether organizations in Ireland are following their counterparts in the USA and adopting advanced ADR-inspired conflict management innovations. It finds that the pattern in Ireland is for organizations in the main to change conflict management practices in a reactive, piecemeal manner that seldom involves any proactive or strategic action. Another interesting development identified is of a small group of organizations that adopt an incremental and evolutionary approach to workplace conflict management innovation, which involves changing tried-and-tested conflict management practices pragmatically overtime. The paper suggests that apart from the USA all other Anglo-America countries more or less follow the pattern of workplace conflict change occurring in Ireland.