Dispute resolutioiz: 4 When all else fails - We look at third-party intervention in collective disputes, and find that recourse to external conciliation, mediation or arbitration tends to occur only when all an organisation's internal procedures for resolving grievances have been exhausted. Twenty-nine IRS panel members have agreements or policies providing for recourse to an independent third party to settle or avoid collective disputes and 14 have made use of third-party involvement within the past five years, with an impressive degree of success.