DNR’s Workplace Mediation Program

Announcement of Workplace Mediation Program (March, 2007) The DNR Office of Fair Practices is pleased to announce the implementation of DNR's Workplace Mediation Program. On March 14th after completing a forty-hour training course, 20 new mediators gathered with department officials to celebrate their graduation and officially kick off the program. The program is designed to provide every DNR employee with the opportunity to take a more active role in successfully resolving his or her own conflicts in a personal, informal and non-threatening manner. Your assistance in helping us to implement DNR's Workplace Mediation Program statewide will substantially improve the way we as a Department manage conflict. For more information contact: Richard Allen 410-260-8058 or Natalie Veeney-Ford 410-260-8095. Training was provided by Marvin E. Johnson, founder and director of the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution. Mr. Johnson is a nationally recognized mediator, arbitrator and trainer with 30 years of dispute resolution experience. Funding for the training was obtained by the Office of Fair Practices through a grant by MACRO, the Maryland Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO) and from the department. DNR Mediation Team Members include: Richard Allen, Shara Alpert, Lorna Baker, Tina Bianca, Richard Bohn, Courtney Bryan, Li Lan Carson, Jen Cline, Gene Deems, Karen DeStefano, Marva Hawkins, Chuck Hecker, Tona Ives, Michael Kueberth, Marilyn Mause, Mance McCall, Daniel O'Connell, Andy Rinta, Christopher Ruark, Virginia Walsh, Sarah Widman, and Raj Williams.

Do you have Conflicts or Disputes in the Workplace?

• Unsure what to do about a problem in the workplace?
   

• Don’t know how to get through to your boss with out ticking him/ her off?
   

• Want to avoid making enemies with a co-worker who is driving you nuts?
   

• So unhappy you are avoiding going to work?

Workplace conflict is inevitable. It can occur many ways including disagreements between employees and managers, conflicts between co-workers, and disputes over work assignments, transfers, performance assessments, or terminations of employment. Unresolved conflicts can lower employee morale, increase absenteeism, cause the loss of valuable employees, and decrease productivity. DNR has implemented a Workplace Mediation Program to assist employees in resolving issues before they escalate to formal personnel actions. The goal is to get all DNR employees and fellow employees or managers to work out their own solutions.

Mediation is one way (a very good way) to solve disputes less formally, more quickly and often with better results. Mediation is an attempt to effect a peaceful settlement between disputing parties.

Mediation is a FREE, voluntary and confidential process which allows those people who have a dispute to come together with a trained mediator in a non-threatening environment and resolve their own disputes. It allows people to come together to work out their own solutions and arrive at an agreement that everyone can live with.

Have conflict in your workplace?  Learn more...