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$4.$ Online Dispute Resolution

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Online Dispute Resolution

This activity is important because as a manager, you may be involved in alternate dispute resolution $($ADR$),$ mediation, or arbitration. These activities can be found in a variety of managerial situations and not just in human resources. Negotiations, in particular, are used by many managers for internal resources, customer agreements, and union discussions. The skills used in these activities are also valuable in day$-$to$-$day management situations.

The goal of this activity is to demonstrate your understanding of ADR, negotiations, and related activities in organizations. You will read a case about a form of ADR, online dispute resolution, and answer questions that follow.

Read the case and answer the questions that follow.

In $1995,$ eBay introduced the world to online auctions. With this new technology, an important customer service question arose$$how would eBay handle customer complaints?

The logical solution was online dispute resolution $($ODR$),$ a form of alternate dispute resolution $($ADR$)$ that allows parties to be in different locations and communicate by computer. Since the beginning of ODR at eBay, the field has blossomed.

SquareTrade was the first firm specializing in ODR and handling eBay$$s e$-$commerce disputes. The company used a structured online negotiation tool to resolve disputes between seller and buyer. The buyer sends a complaint to the seller. The seller uses a drop$-$down menu to choose from possible solutions, with the option of writing a custom solution, and sends this to the buyer. The buyer responds, and this process continues until a solution is agreed on or a more personal intervention is attempted.

Although SquareTrade is no longer in the ODR business $($you may see their name associated with warranties on many sites today$),$ we are now accustomed to the process of dispute resolution via the web. This negotiation method may be imperfect, but it makes what would be a logistical nightmare$$communicating across time zones and languages, and at an unimaginable scale$$possible$.$

$4$e$.$ Which of the following is a true statement?

Which of the following is a true statement?

Multiple Choice

Arbitration is a very low$-$risk process that can take a few days.

The parties may choose between arbitration or mediation depending on the type of conflict.

Mediation is always used before arbitration.

The arbitrator$$s main goal is to make both parties happy.

A mediator$$s decision is binding and usually involves a payment of some kind.