Employee disputes

Recently in my Business & Society class we have discussed alternative dispute resolution and while that has not been applicable to my job it should be applicable to my company. We have been the defendent in a number of wrongful termination suits, most recently in the sales organization. The dollar value of these suits is very high, however the bad press can have an even greater implication as we are transforming the company from an engineering led organization to a sales & marketing led organization. Alternative dispute resolution could allow individuals to reach an agreement on matters before they turn into legal matters. Except for a higher authority, looking to your manager, second level manager etc., no resources are available to handle conflict. When these conflicts are avoided a possible result is termination followed by litigation. Some internal conflict management plan has to be implemented.