Resolve business disputes

Exercise 1

There are given the discussion between customer and me according to the given situation:

Me: Thanks for calling [company], this is [name]. How can I help you today?

Customer: Hi, I was wondering where my shipment was.

Me: Okay, if you give me your order number, I can check on that for you.

Customer: I don't have my order number! Can't you just look it up by my name?

Me: “ma'am since our customer base is world wide so I cant find your order details just by your name. But your email address can help though.

Customer: Oh, okay! It's [email].

Me: Okay, give me just a second to check it up 

Customer: Thanks. I'm really discomfited because this thing was supposed to be here yesterday and it haven't. (I check upon her order. I got to know after I checked upon the tracking details that because of the hurricane its been delayed. I check her information: she is located in New York, at the outskirts of new york city.

Me: I apologise for the delay in shipment, but the delivery is on hold due the hurricane in your area.

Customer: What? The hurricane was last night. Not today so will I be able to receive my furniture today?

Me: Ma'am Unfortunately, the transportation have closed and the shipping company is going to have a hard time getting to your area because of the hurricane. They are not able to deliver in that area

Customer: How is that my problem? I paid for the furniture, and I want it to be delivered on time!

Me: I'm sorry, ma'am, you have saw that news of hurricane ?

Customer: Well, duh! Everyone's talking about the hurricane!

Me: Well, ma'am, would you want to be out driving right now?

Customer: Of course not! It's awful out there!

Me: But you expect the delivery company to be able to get to you?

Customer: silence

Me: May I know the solution that you are expecting..?

Customer: took a long pause and empathise with the situation

and told them to make the delivery asap

Me: Sure ma'am I will try to reach them and as soon as the situation gets under control . I will make sure that they deliver your furniture to you.

I am sincerely sorry for the inconvenience occurred to you.

Customer: okay

Me: Ma'am is there anything else that I can help you with?

Customer: Yes, could you please give me the contact detail of the person that will be delivering me the furniture .

Me: Sure ma'am , just a second [phone no.]

Customer: Thank you.

Me: Welcome ma'am and thank you so much for understanding our situation. You are a valuable customer to our organisation. It means a lot.

I decided not to escalate the issue because Customer is valuable to the organization and customer is said to be right always. He gives business to the organisation so there is no point in arguing or escalating the issues with them.

And if they are annoyed or dissatisfied they will defame our organisation's name and it will result in loss of business.

Although there are customers who are not satisfied with the service but following are the ways in which we can prevent escalation:

• Customer needs to be listened: Generally when the customer is upset he picks up the call and start complaining right away. So we have to be very attentive and listen to his issues. As if we didn't pay attention at that time, they are already annoyed and we cant ask them to say it again. We should make them feel valuable and should come up with the possible solutions. And try to give them the best customer service experience possible.
• Questions should be asked in a right manner: The customer are already frustrated when they have called you so first listen to them patiently and then ask questions to gather information so that we can understand their problem ao that we do not reach at conclusion. Ask questions in a concern manner, so that they feel empathy and feel connected to you. It develops a sense of trust and leads to reduced escalation.
• Apologise without blaming others: After listening to their problem we should not start the blame game and own it up and think for the solution to be provided. we should just express our desire to provide them with the solutions.
• Don't sympathise, Empathise: Make them believe that you know how it feels to be in that situation. By sympathising we just make him feel that we are sorry but we do not understand their situation. They needed to be feel empathised.
• Ask customer for appropriate solution: its always better to put ball in their court, they tend to think about the problems we are facing. It can actually result in resolving the problem.

Exercise 2

As per the given scenario, the Victorian Building Commision analyses that there are only few clients which having problem regarding the various issues (Coyle, 2011). According to the given diagram there are only 1.6 percent customers having conflicts and 2 percent customers are having serious problem. This data is given below:

In this case there are various causes regarding the building disputes as given below:

Contract Payment Issues: This is one of the major causes which can create a conflict between the customer and the construction company. There are various issues which are related with the contract and payment in this sector. Because in the construction industry payment can made according to the contract and the different stages in the construction of building. For example, a customer have to pay first deposit amount, than progress payment, completion amount and the final payment. But due to delays in the project progress can be causes the disputes between both parties. In the context of Victorian Building Commision, most of the customers are satisfied with contract related issues and rest of them having such causes which are required to solve as soon as possible by the higher authorities (Blattman, Hartmanand Blair, 2014).

Issues in the structural design: This is another causes which is related with the structural design and layout. In a construction sector companies are make pre design and all the facilities which will be provided by them to its customers. But once the project is completed this can be create a problem for the company. It can be miss communication between both parties or can be a poor contract documentation. For example, a company can not use those material and equipment which was promised by them. These issues can be apply on the above case where 2 percent clients are not fully satisfied with their design and layout plans. Therefore, they required to make an effective communication with them which can help to solve their conflicts at the initial stage. Apart from that they also required to show them the future design and report them the progress over a period of time. It can help to reducing their disputes effective and overcoming these disputes (Levine, 2012).

Dissatisfaction in project progress: Construction projects tend to be one-offs. A team come together to develop a a unique architecture that will never be repeated. This is the moto of each and every construction organisation and provide best products to its customers. But sometimes clients are not satisfied due to dissatisfaction in the project progress which can be serious causes for the conflict. It is natural that a consequence delays are common which can be acceptable due to various reasons. These reason can be included uniqueness of the projects, poor scheduling, lack of productivity, third party dependencies and so on. But few companies can delays for other reason which can create a serious concern for the customers. As par the given case study, a few number of clients are not satisfied in the project progress (Stephens,and at. al., 2012). They can raise these issues which can transform in to disputes between both parties.

Construction methodology: This is one of the most common issues which can be arises due to lack of knowledge in the construction process, misunderstanding between clients and business unit etc. these causes can create a conflicts which generally arises in construction sector. Apart from that there are various methods which can be used by the company in the developing of a building. If a client having a sound knowledge and information regarding these methodologies and firms can not follow those approaches which was promised can also a major concern for the customers. In the above mentioned case, a few people who are not aware about these procedures can build a causes for the conflicts which required to removing by the manager. Such king of causes also create due to misunderstanding and the lack of communication. Therefore, a construction firm's required that to use a effective communication system which can help to overcome these conflicts.

Poor quality: A disputes also will be arises due poor quality of work and defective materials. This is another a major concern for a customers which can be related quality of work and finishing of work. In the construction work selection of material and the quality of work is too important in order to provide a high quality product to its customers (Cohen, 2014). Therefore, most of the construction business organisations are focused on the standards and quality rather than design. As per the above context this can be major causes which can leads to conflict between both parties. Thus, all construction business units are required to use quality materials according to the government standards. Apart from that, an effective supervisor are required to select appropriate materials. A poor supervision can be a major cause in a disputes between customers and business entity.

Exercise 3

Usually, dispute arises when two or more than two persons or groups are disagree with each other statement. Dispute not only related with financial problems but it may also cause mental stress of parties. Further, it reduces quality of work performance of parties and reduce their level of performance as well. The parties who are suffer with dispute arising are able to file case and can sue opposite party for enforce its rights and claim for damages. According to the doctrine of 'injuria sine damnum' defendant is only libel to pay compensation when there is any legal injury arises to plaintiff. The above mentioned doctrine means injury without damages so, in that case if legal injury arise and monetary loss not caused to the plaintiff then defendant is libel to pay compensation. But if doctrine of 'damnum sine injuria' is created then defendant is not libel to pay compensation because there is no compensation for monetary loss (Duncum, and Cope, 2011).

Here, case in which conflict is arises between organization and customer. The ABC Ltd is the international retailer which provide varieties of goods and services in may countries. And it produce large number of clothing products and deliver them in another. So that, company needs to deliver goods and services to the person name called R.smith who is living in China because he online book cloths for specific purpose. It is the basic responsibility of company to provide product to him on particular date. But due to legal strike in country, ABC Ltd is not able to deliver goods and services to their customer. As a result customer file case against company. In that case customer becomes plaintiff and organization becomes defendant. According to the law point of view there is monetary loss arises to plaintiff (Bintoro, 2016). So that on the basis of above mention doctrine company is not able to pay compensation because there is no legal injury but monetary loss is present. Also, according to the specific law defendant is not libel pay compensation and or any legal injury or it is not a criminal for it customer because the product or object is easily available in market. So that plaintiff can easily purchase goods from another organization.

Apart from this, the problem can be solve if customer agree to accept goods and services on a later date then he online booked material from website of the company. The dispute is arise because if legal strike of transportation company. Through which export and import from one country to another is not possible and lots of people are effected with this. Also this case able to resolve if company is ready to pay compensation to the customer. As company libel to pay compensation equal to the loss of customer (Wang, Wang and Ma, 2016).

The quality of work of company is effected due to dispute with customer. Through this company reduce its market presence and reduce its image as well. Due to strike the work of suppliers is also affected. Suppliers of ABC Ltd deliver goods and services to it but they are not able to transfer. So that production process of company is also not perform well. But before arising any dispute the agreement between parties is must. A legal agreement between parties create is the legal sign which can build contract between. Through this step, parties are legally bound to perform well and are responsible to complete their obligation in a timely and efficient manner. If one of both parties, not able to perform his obligation then another party can able to file case in against. At this stage, the case becomes dispute which reduce work performance of company.

Exercise 4

United breaks guitar is the most famous song which is sang by the Canadian musician Dave Carroll and his team. The song is based on the real life situation which is happened with the Dave Carroll and his band, sons of maxwell. They sang song when they are affected with activity of united airlines. The case is that, Carroll and his band travelling in united airlines in 2008 so that during travailing the guitar of band has been damaged. On their experience the band sang song and release it in July 2009 on YouTube and iTunes (Sussman, and Underwood, 2011). Around millions of people are view that video their reaction was like embarrassment towards company. The background of the case is, Dave Carroll said that his guitar was broken during the custody of Airlines. When he arrived at his destination to discover that he lost his guitar which is worth around $3,500. In that case, monetary loss is caused to the singer so that he is libel to receive compensation and company is libel to pay the same. The case can be created against company is related to negligence. Because it the responsibility of united airlines to take care of luggage or products of their customers. Company take luggage of people for the security but if caused any harm to it then organization is responsible for it. The case has been file against is due to negligence. Further, Dave Carroll define in his song that when he file suit against company for receiving compensation as equal to the value of guitar. But company denied to pay compensation because he had filed to make suit after the end of standard 24 hours. According to law, if claim is file after completing standard time then it is not enforceable by law. The law only accept case within 24 hours either it is criminal or not (Boulware-Miller, 2010). According to law if any person or company caused harm to any individual or entity due to negligence then it is punishable offence. In the eyes of law if punishable offence is created against any person then he is libel to pay compensation equal to the amount of damage. Carroll is the solo artist who write and sang songs with his own efforts. So that, he released two sequel songs which are also related with the incident of damage guitar by airlines. He wrote a song and create video related to incident then upload it on YouTube in July 2009. After this case, the image of company has been decreased and it receiving embarrassing reaction from people.

If the case of negligence is file against person then he is libel to compensate with it. As negligence is the failure to perform exercise or task which party have to complete it in a timely and efficient manner. The area of tort law has been imposed on the basis of this case. Usually, it is related wit the carelessness of person or a company which is easily determine through this incident. The claim against negligence I the punishable offence (Yiu, Keung, and Wong, 2010.). But according to the rules and regulation of United states government plaintiff have to file suit with in standard hours which are 24 hours. If any person file suit after 24 hour then he is not able to receive compensation from defendant. But here are some exceptions for this. Which are as aligned below:

• If any legal strike of lawyers and no one can file his claim. In that case individual is not able to claim file so that after he can do so.
• If any type of restrictions are imposed by foreign government in the interest of country.
• If plaintiff caused any types of serious injury which is equal to the death or more than 80% injury but if injury is happened after filing the case then it is not consider.
• If higher authorities of law are not file the case plaintiff.

These above mentioned exceptions can be imposed in the law and are enforceable by law. This case also having impact on business which is located in regional town. The story is reported through print media, television, radio and internet. Media spread this news in all over the world on the basis of YouTube video (Hu, Yang, and Huang, 2010). Most of the people react embarrassing after this incident. People think that United Airlines have to improve its customer service which drag down its performance in international market. The company is responsible to manage goods or products in safe custody. If any damage caused to their luggage then organization is responsible to pay compensation. In the above mentioned case Dave Carroll file case against United Airlines but after standard hours which is unenforceable by law. After that incident company receive negative feedback from their customer which reduce market presence of organization and earning efficiency as well. Through this feedback firm have to improve is performance in order to never repeat in future time. In modern era, most of the people is use YouTube through which they can easily get latest information or video which are uploaded by any one. In the song of United Breaks guitar, Carroll define his life experience which is happened with him and his entire band. Through this song customers of United Airlines loss the trust from company and start less use its services (Gould IV, 2011).

Conclusion

As per the above mentioned report it has been concluded that business disputes can be resolve effectively which can increase the relationship between clients and organisation. The first part of this report about the conversation between customer and the employees of the company regarding their products delivery. In this part what the roles and responsibility of the staff in order to satisfy their customers. The next part of this report explained regarding the various types of customer which having issues regarding the building and different causes for the disputes between both parties. The third part of this report is related with the plaintiff filed suit against the defendant. The last part of this report is talked about the law related to the negligence and its impact on the both parties.

References

• Long, C.X., 2010. Does the rights hypothesis apply to China?.The Journal of Law and Economics. 53(4). pp.629-650.
• Coyle, J.F., 2011. Business courts and interstate competition.Wm. & Mary L. Rev.,53, p.1915.
• Blattman, C., Hartman, A.C. and Blair, R.A., 2014. How to promote order and property rights under weak rule of law? An experiment in changing dispute resolution behavior through community education.American Political Science Review. 108(01). pp.100-120.
• Levine, R.E., 2012. Using alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to resolve patent disputes.Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice.7(2). pp.119-125.
• Stephens, D.B., and at. al., 2012. US Business Colleges Still Lag in Teaching ADR: Comparing the Availability of ADR Courses in the 2002 and 2010 Curricula.Dispute Resolution Journal. 67(2). p.22.
• Cohen, J.A., 2014. Settling International Business Disputes with China: Then and Now.Cornell Int'l LJ. 47. p.555.
• Duncum, J.M. and Cope, J.L., 2011. Dispute resolution for all counselors? a new way of looking at our business.Real Estate Issues,36(1), p.14.
• Bintoro, R.W., 2016. Sharia Business and The Challenge of Dispute Settlement in Indonesian Religious Court.Problems of Legality. (133). pp.41-51.
• Wang, Y., Wang, K.Y. and Ma, X., 2016. Understanding International Business Negotiation Behavior: Credible Commitments, Dispute Resolution, and the Role of Institutions.International Negotiation. 21(1). pp.165-198.

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