Conflict management courses

Track record

We have worked with a broad range of organisations and companies across the private, public and charity sectors. These programmes have varied in length according to the aspirations and constraints of our clients.

In some cases our clients wish to work on specific elements of conflict management practice, in others the aim is to work on conflict management in a specific context. For examples of how our approach has worked with previous clients please see below:

Dispute Systems Design
CEDR is regularly consulted by regulatory bodies and ombudsmen on administering organisational and sector specific mediation schemes, meeting their needs by drawing on its extensive experience of dispute resolution.

• Schemes include the creation of the first ever mediation service in a regulatory context for the Financial Services Authority, the mediation scheme for the Housing Ombudsman Service and the COMPACT scheme for dealing with disputes between central government and the voluntary/community sector.
• CEDR also designed a scheme for use by Union Railways in connection with property disputes relating to the recently completed construction of the Channel Tunnel rail link (a high speed railway line) from St Pancras to the Channel Tunnel.
• CEDR worked with Esso and its retail agents to improve dialogue and provide clearer mechanisms for dispute resolution following a period of strained relationships caused by falling oil prices.

Tackling complex disputes

Since 1990 CEDR has established stakeholder-dialogue processes for the facilitation of complex disputes in the commercial and public arenas:

• CEDR undertook a 15-month intervention to design a process capable of resolving the litigation surrounding the collapse of £1billion Atlantic Computers and British & Commonwealth Holdings, one of the largest and best-known corporate collapses of the 1980s.
• CEDR undertook a consultation and process design exercise which eventually resulted in the settlement of the claims of some 5,000 families in connection with the Royal Liverpool Children's Litigation involving involved multiple legal and non-legal issues - this was the first occasion upon which mediation was successfully used in clinical negligence group action.
• CEDR worked with a national medical body to facilitate multi-party negotiations over the proposed revision of its Royal Charter.

Building teams and skills

• CEDR developed a range of bespoke training programmes for an international umbrella organisation, focussing on the development and implementation of human rights and public health issues. Key issues were to address the tensions caused by rapid change, reinforce collaborative team working and improve staff negotiation skills.
• CEDR worked with Novozymes, a leading biotechnology group, to develop a bespoke highly interactive programme of training designed to enhance the negotiation and conflict management skills of a multi-national team of managers.
• CEDR conflict coaches have undertaken a wide variety of coaching assignments:
  • Working with individuals
  • Repairing a difficult manager/subordinate relationship
  • Supporting a director through managing a difficult change process
  • Relationship re-building following a dispute
  • Building team work in the boardroom
  • Working with a team
  • Achieving Board consensus
  • Preparing for difficult negotiations

Supporting critical business deals

• CEDR's deal mediation service helped close the deal for the acquisition of an internet entertainment company worth billion after negotiations had hit difficulties at a late stage due to the level of emotions and personal interests involved.
• CEDR is working with the Wind Energy Division of Germanischer Lloyd Industrial Services GmbH, the leading certification agency in the sector to provide a combined relationship and project risk management service for wind energy projects.