Gareth Manning, Gleaner Writer
YING
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the Mona School of Business, Professor Neville Ying, says businesses are not doing enough to manage their conflicts.
"As Jamaica seeks to attract and retain investments it is important that everything is done to create this harmonious environment," noted Professor Ying.
He was speaking at the launch of the third Caribbean Conference on dispute resolution, held at the Mona School of Business on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies on Friday.
He said more needs to be done to create a harmonious business environment "because this climate is needed to do business where people can live in peace, harmony and happiness. Finding effective solutions to the management of conflicts and resolving disputes is a central part of creating this climate."
BUSINESS SUCCESS
Professor Ying's comments come in light of current tensions in the bauxite and sugar sectors, as well as conflict between the Government and public sector workers over civil servant salary increase.
The academician argued that dispute resolution can bring business success. He noted that it also impacts on social and economic stability and national development.
"These issues have a very negative impact on development if they are not resolved. the challenge is to manage conflicts and disputes so they do not impede progress or at worst destroy the capacity to achieve important busi-ness goals and objectives," he said.
With growing conflicts in schools across the island, General Manager of PALS Jamaica, Janilee Abrikian, who was also present at the function, said teachers need to be trained in dispute management to help solve conflicts in classrooms.
"What we have at the base is a generation of children that need to be taught alternative behaviours and a generation that need exactly this, that need to dig into their tool box and find the processes that they do have to match the problem," she said.
The third Caribbean Conference on Dispute Resolution will be held May 24- 27 at the Half Moon Hotel in Montego Bay, St. James. The conference will include stakeholders in justice, corporate executives, policy makers, Police, mediators and Youth and Community Leaders. This year the bi-annual conference will focus on the theme: "Matching the Process to the Problem: Dispute Resolution Options for the Caribbean."
