The consultative committee is still heavily involved at this point as the committee and the employee that has the original complaint could not resolve it to every party's satisfaction and all parties agree to allow the third party to conduct a complete and solid investigation into the grievance. Furthermore the parties involved agree to give careful consideration to the results of this investigation after it is complete. This does not mean that the results have to be agreed to or followed but only that all parties agreed to give consideration to it and let it carry considerable weight.

If the recommendations of the third party do not work out to be enough and the dispute is still considered not settled by the employee has a final step to trying to get it resolved. The employee can go to the Australia Industrial Relations Commission for conciliation or arbitration.

The formal term for this style of dispute resolution is ADR. ADR programs are desirable because they provide a low cost but effective method for resolving employee disputes.

The ADR program "is kind of the umbrella that fits all the pieces together," Lindeman says. The idea behind ADR is to resolve conflicts between employer and employee through means less costly and contentious than litigation. A successful program can save a company thousands of dollars in legal costs and hundreds of hours in managers' time. Just as important, perhaps, it can protect a company from the demoralizing tension and bitterness that employee grievances can spread through a workforce (Barrier, 1998).

A mediator tries to help the parties themselves reach an agreement, whereas an arbitrator imposes a settlement that may or may not preclude the parties from filing a lawsuit, depending on their agreement (Barrier, 1998)."
Conclusion

Dispute resolution skills are an important asset for any company to have. Whether the dispute is large or small, a problem that does not get resolved can eat awy at the morale of the employees and thereby reduce productivity. Companies spend valuable funds recruiting and training staff members. They get that investment back only if the employee stays at the company and works with the skills they have acquired. If the turn over rate is high the company loses money because of the need to train new workers and have that slower production period while the employees get accustomed to the job. It is important to have an effective employee resolution process in place so that disputes can be handled swiftly and to the mutual satisfaction to all parties involved. This model provides a low cost method for resolving disputes and getting the attention back on the job. The multiple steps available to the employee work to provide a tiered method of resolution while maintaining respect for both the chain of command and the employee.