Litigation V. Mediation

Alexander is involved in a dispute related to his business. Alexander is considering legal action. Why may it be financially advantageous to Alexander’s business to avoid litigation and mediate the case?

In business what are some of the most import things to have? Well I believe that some “must haves” in business are good and happy customers. It doesn’t matter if they are internal or external, you need to ensure that your customer base is happy or you will not have a business to run. One thing we as leaders are asked in the military and that is, what is more important, the people or the mission. Well the answer is fairly simple, if you don’t have the people or the people are not happy and have low morale then the mission will ultimately suffer. The same holds true in business, you need to keep you cliental happy or your end goal of having a high profit margin will suffer. One way to keep your internal and external customers happy and still to continue to enjoy your profits is by not choosing to take legal actions whenever you have a dispute. One should always discourage litigation and persuade others to compromise whenever you can.

The expense of time and money associated with a business decision to consider legal action can be avoided through alternative ways to resolve disputes; per our text book Business Law which suggest that litigation is often an inefficient way to resolve business-related disputes . According to our book, three basic methods that can be implemented are negotiation, mediation, and arbitration (Business Law 3rd Edition,2010, p62-63).

The most common alternative is for each party to compromise its position and settle its disagreement, usually through a process of negotiation. Negotiation is a process of compromise by both parties by creating a contract or ending a dispute which involves only these parties in the case.

A second approach covered in this chapter, mediation, could be quite helpful. The mediation process can be a positive step in accomplishing a settlement because it usually occurs in a non-confrontational environment. Mediation is especially