Getting long lasting results from dispute resolution

In order to achieve agreements and decisions that will last, people must feel that the dispute resolution and complaint processes and outcomes are:

• procedurally legitimate and fair. People have had the opportunity to participate, put forward their views and be listened to,and have confidence in the information, rules and processes.
• emotionally satisfying and restorative of social cohesion. These are people’s personal and emotional reasons for the dispute or grievance—whether they feel those have been taken into account in the process, and how they feel about themselves and others after outcomes have been negotiated.
• substantively ‘resolved’. This means addressing the actual issues or intangible things under dispute which people are actually seeking to have resolved.

(Adapted from ‘The Satisfaction Triangle: A Simple Measure for Negotiations and Decision Making’. The Indigenous Facilitation and Mediation Project, 2004. AIATSIS, Canberra)