Conflict is inevitable; legal disputes are not. As part of their risk management exercise, businesses assess a broad array of weaknesses in their operations. They then establish processes to try to mitigate the downside exposure of such weaknesses. These usually include contingencies related to litigation and ongoing disputes but they seldom account for mere conflict.
As a result, risk management initiatives tend to omit from their mitigation efforts de-escalation tools that prevent conflicts from becoming disputes needing formal resolution by courts, arbitration, or other costly means.
