Don’t let disputes escalate to the point they require formal mediation, advised Steven P. Dinkin, president of the National Conflict Resolution Center in San Diego, at the 2012 Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference here.

He and Ashley Virtue, the center’s director of external relations, taught a two-day workshop on “The Exchange,” an informal four-stage method that line managers and HR professionals can use to help employees find their own solutions to workplace conflict.