Conflict Avoidance - L1 Flashcards
What is a conflict?
A disagreement or argument, implies protracted one and implies severity
When do disputes arise in your role?
- Money
- Delays
- Defects
- Different objectives or different professional opinion
- Personalities / emotions
- Historic context
What can you do if negotiations break down?
- Formal dispute resolution e.g. litigation, mediation, negotiation
- Partnering techniques e.g. to find common agreement or commitments
What is a conflict of interest?
Conflict of interest arises when a firms’ independence and impartiality is threatened due to the existence of a conflict between two clients e.g. financial interest, personal interest, commercial relationships, acting on both sides of transaction
What do RICS RoC say about avoiding conflicts of interest?
Rule 1: Members and firms identify actual and potential Conflicts of Interest throughout a professional assignment and do not provide any advice or services where a COI or a significant risk of one arises, unless they do so in accordance with the current edition of Conflicts of Interest, RICS Professional Statement
Give examples of ways that conflict can be avoided.
- Risk management
- Early warning signs
- Partnering techniques
- Clear briefs
- Regular communication
What is risk management?
Identifying the causes of disputes to minimise or avoid them
What are the early warning signs in relation to dispute avoidance?
Identifying early symptoms of problems
Why is good management important?
- Proactivity and planning work load helps raise issues of concern and provides confidence in surveyors ability
- Proactive management and preparation helps prevent disputes
What are the benefits of clear contract documentation?
- Disputes arise from ambiguities in contract documentation
- Should capture specific details of the project and identify risks and set strategy to resolve
What is partnering or alliancing?
Agreement to pursue mutual goals and objectives prior to proceeding might be with aid of neutral facilitators
Why is good project or instruction management important?
- Proactively managing time, money and risk
- Involved addressing difficult issues
- Allocating responsibility for any or all items not adequate
- Even if not project manager, surveyor should apply project management techniques to their services
How can good client management reduce conflict?
- Understand client objective and approach is valuable and maintaining good lines of communication
- Build sufficient rapport to avoid a situation where client incorrectly believes surveyor is in control of all
- Surveyor should warn client about issues and problems and discuss how issues should be dealt with
Give examples of good payment practices.
- Payments made promptly
- Payments made in accordance with agreement in terms of value
How can good record keeping avoid conflict?
- Disputes can be resolved by retrospectively looking back at records
- Proper record of labour, plant, materials is important
- Daily record of site activities and progress reports
- Record of resource movement, when change occurs, why change occurred and what impact
How do reporting and proactivity reduce conflict?
- Regular monitoring cost, progress, quality is important e.g. form of minutes, progress reports, drop lines on programme
- Raise and manage issues causing delay
- Increase cost or quality of product as soon as practicably possible
- Actions should be recorded and tracked towards conclusion
What are the three pillars of dispute resolution?
1 Negotiation - problem solving efforts of parties themselves
2 Mediation or Conciliation - third party intervention which does not bind parties
3 Adjudicative Process - an outcome is determined by a third party such as litigation / arbitration
Who introduced these terms?
- Professor Green, Boston University
- Negotiation e.g. neutral fact finding
- Mediation e.g. conciliation
- Adjudication e.g. litigation, arbitration, expert determination
How do mediation and conciliation differ globally?
Mediation is a neutral facilitator whereas under conciliation the mediator is required to express their opinion
Why is this important to be aware of?
If instructed to act then distinction is important between the two services
What is Alternative Dispute Resolution?
Procedures to resolve conflicts between parties without resorting to litigation
What is litigation?
Process of parties taking legal action through the Courts
What governs litigation in the Courts?
Civil Procedure Rules 1998
What are the issues with litigation?
- Public process so no confidentiality
- Costly and time efficient way of resolving: length, rent, repair obligations, service charge, alienation, break clauses
- Strict procedures
- Lay judges may not have expertise in property
What are the benefits of ADR?
- Cheaper than litigation
- Quicker than litigation
- Flexible process not governed by the CPR
- Can be confidential
- Can involve specialists / experts rather than lay judges
What is mediation?
Confidential process where a neutral party facilitates negotiations between the parties
What is conciliation?
Confidential process where a neutral party facilitates negotiations between the parties and expresses their opinion on the dispute
What is adjudication?
Statutory UK dispute resolution procedure to provide an interim binding decision