Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

Universities are workplaces where conflict is an essential part of the fabric of organizational life. Indeed, debating and challenging ideas is the currency of higher education. The “campus community” is assumed to be a place where opposing viewpoints can coexist and disagreement is ex pected and encouraged. However, unproductive and sometimes destructive interpersonal conflict frequently runs beneath the surface in college workplaces. Higher education institutions have increasingly turned to mediation and other methods of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to more effectively deal with conflicts between campus employees, in particular faculty members. Do conventional dispute resolution methods work in higher education? Over the past year, we conducted a scan of other, and can make many decisions about their operation without affecting other departments or functions on campus. Academics who have job security and work in a department with weak in tra departmental ties can often afford to re treat behind their office doors when conflicts arise with their peers.