Embedding Rights Compatible Grievance Processes for External Stakeholders Within Business Culture

Abstract

Prof. John Ruggie, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Business and Human Rights (SRSG) has noted that companies must implement effective grievance mechanisms or processes that are rights-compatible in order to meet their responsibility to respect human rights.? This gives rise to some practical questions: Will the corporate culture accept or reject the process? Where does it fit in the context of their use of other nonjudicial dispute resolution processes? What can be learned from those processes? Can those lessons be applied to grievance processes for disputes with external stakeholders? Traditionally, companies have largely left the mechanics of dispute resolution in the hands of lawyers, many of whom have a natural bias in favor of litigation, which only they are licensed to practice. Nevertheless, business use of nonjudicial or alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques has grown rapidly in recent decades, and is the preferred alternative of the legal departments of many of the best-run companies. In addition, starting in the 1990s, a number of organizations developed integrated conflict management (ICM) programs to resolve disputes with their employees.