Dispute Management – Avoidance, Mitigation, Analysis, Reporting and Resolution

Disputes cannot always be avoided. However, through a thoughtful analytical approach to the avoidance and management of disputes the risk of long term damage to relationships, distraction of senior management and the incurring of significant cost can be reduced. Greenham brings his years of experience to the strategic management of disputes.

The very best dispute avoidance strategy is to have a contract, based on prioritised, real-world, project-specific risks, custom-designed by someone who – through having dealt with a wide variety of projects under stress – has an inherent, instinctive knowledge of what makes for contractual resilience.

The very best mitigation strategy is to identify stress points early – whilst they are still “problems” that have not matured into full-blown disputes – and to find common ground in the opposing points of view that would otherwise fuel a dispute.

And the very best resolution strategy is to seek out the guidance of someone who has designed contracts, who has seen other contracts under stress, and who has worked extensively on dispute resolution teams.

The appropriate analysis and reporting of disputes can enable senior management to make timely and considered decisions as to how an organisation responds to disputes. Project owners and contractors alike, need an advisor with the ability to identify those issues that have the potential for greatest impact on the outcome. And they need an advisor with the courage to make recommendations regarding what to focus on and what not to place focus on, in pursuing the maximumReturn on Investment (ROI) for funds channelled into the resolution of a dispute.

Greenham draws upon probability tools deployed successfully for decades by the insurance industry. These tools bring into sharp focus, those issues representing the greatest risk, those representing the greatest degree of uncertainty, and those that stand to deliver the greatest Return On Investment.