Disputes can permeate a workplace, causing frustration and discontent that dampens morale and decreases productivity. Managers and supervisors can play a key role in averting and controlling workplace disputes. The goal is prevention and early resolution of conflict.

This course will convey leadership techniques and mediation skills that managers and supervisors can use to deflate hostility, increase respect, and improve communication. This will help them build trust with employees, reduce tensions, and resolve small problems before they escalate into large disputes.

DRS will teach the principles of interest-based conflict resolution so they can be implemented correctly and effectively in the workplace. Managers and supervisors will learn how to gather information; how to ask questions; how to distinguish the real issue from the surface complaint; how to discuss work requirements; how to develop options with employees; and how to reach fair and effective resolutions.

The negotiation process can be contentious and inefficient, leading to ill will and frustration. A positive process, however, can strengthen labor-management relations.

This course will teach labor-management negotiating committees how to bargain for a new collective bargaining agreement in the most effective and mutually beneficial way. Committee members will attain all the skills they need to be creative, persuasive, and productive at the negotiating table.

DRS will educate labor and management teams, separately and together, on the fundamentals of negotiation theory and practice as well as impart the statutory, historical, and economic background necessary to reach an efficient and effective agreement. The goal is to train the parties to prepare, in advance of the negotiation, to negotiate the best agreement possible.

The parties will learn how to listen to each other, how to avoid positional bargaining, how to jointly explore useful alternatives, and how to find ways to accommodate each other's underlying interests. They will also practice techniques to overcome the obstacles that inevitably arise during the collective bargaining process. The course is highly interactive and aims to give participants intensive, hands-on experience in applying the tools and strategies DRS teaches.

In handling disciplinary issues, company policy application questions, and contract interpretation matters, every effort must be made to develop the facts, regardless of the ramifications for the company or accused. Moreover, these facts must be recorded in such a form that they can be readily understood upon review.

This DRS course will impart investigation and fact-finding skills to hearing officers, human resource personnel, and others responsible for applying discipline, policy, and work rules fairly and efficiently in union or non-union settings. Pre-investigation preparation, investigation techniques, and interview and hearing procedures will be explained and analyzed. Participants will also learn about the grievance and arbitration process (in the union setting), EE0 touchstones, common technical and procedural errors, how to weigh evidence and witnesses, and the review process.

The goal is to give relevant personnel the training they need to meet all of the objectives of a case. Those objectives include developing the facts, determining responsibility, assessing discipline, and preparing a clear and concise decision.

Advocates need a sound foundation and practical perspective so they can handle arbitrations with confidence and professionalism. This DRS course will train attorneys and others involved in employment or labor-management contract disputes how to evaluate, prepare, and present a case in arbitration.

First, we will look at the fact-finding phase in which the advocate must determine whether the evidence to be successful is at hand, evaluate the merits of the case, and assess the risks of going forward. Emphasis is placed on the next phase, preparation, in which the advocate must marshal the elements of the case into a logical and effective presentation. This phase includes selecting the arbitrator; developing an opening argument; identifying a case "theme"; writing a pre-arbitration brief; selecting and preparing witnesses; preparing exhibits, including "demonstrative" exhibits; and preparing to build a "defensive" case through cross-examination and rebuttal.

The presentation phase will discuss the importance of developing the case logically, chronologically, and factually-who, what, where, when, how, and why-and of leaving nothing to chance but not overburdening the record. Participants will learn about common faults, such as excessive cross-examination, unfocused or "random" presentation of evidence, argumentative objections, and general organizational problems. This phase will also cover how to present an effective closing and how to write a persuasive brief.