Dispute Resolution

The McGraw-Hill Companies

The McGraw-Hill Companies (McGraw-Hill) is one of the world’s largest producers of textbooks, tests, and related materials, serving the elementary, secondary, and higher education markets. (Hoovers, 2008). McGraw-Hill has various ways in which an employee can resolve workplace issues, including the use of its Employee Hotline and going through the natural progression of communication with managers, supervisors, human resources and McGraw-Hill’s corporate Equal Employment Opportunity department. McGraw-Hill created another resolution avenue through its voluntary FAIR (Fast and Impartial Resolution) Program.

The FAIR Program was established in 1995, under the directive of Chief Executive Officer Joseph L. Dionne. According to Dionne, “It was time to supplement the open-door policy with a formal, in-house alternative dispute resolution program (ADR)...to develop something that settled disputes quickly, something good for morale,” (Bencivenga, 1996, ¶ 1). The program has three phases, starting with filing a written complaint with the corporation and receiving a decision. If that resolution is not satisfactory to the employee, a neutral mediator is used. If that avenue does not return a satisfactory result to the employee, the third phase involves binding arbitration. As stated above, the FAIR Program is voluntary. Facts to consider about the FAIR Program include statements on the McGraw-Hill website, which expressly states:

The McGraw-Hill Companies prohibits retaliation against an employee for filing a complaint under FAIR or with a government antidiscrimination agency. Further, the corporation bars retaliation against anyone for assisting with the investigation of such a complaint. An employee who retaliates against an employee for either of these reasons will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. (McGraw-Hill, 2008)

The program created by McGraw-Hill is in alignment with Daniel Dana’s mediating organization style of managing conflict, “One in which interest reconciliation is the prevailing approach to resolving conflicts,” (Dana, 2001, p.141). Representatives from other companies that have a formal ADR program in place reiterate the claims that these programs save time and money over other means of conflict resolution through the use of legal actions involving court.

As suggested in the Coastal County Clerk of Court (Coastal) scenario, many of the county’s systems are out of date, not even computerized unless mandated by the state of Florida. As time went on and the county grew in population, the feeling is that the county should also be technologically revitalized to keep up with that growth. To that end, a new County Clerk was elected to help reflect the change needed in the county.