the international journal of conflict management special issue on: Alternative Dispute Resolution of Workplace Conflicts

Conflicts between employers and employees can take on a variety of forms including lawsuits, informal complaints, grievances, strikes, picketing, etc. In this special issue we explore the many alternative ways that these conflicts can be resolved. These alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures may include negotiation, mediation, arbitration, fact-finding, ombudspersons, peer review, and many other combinations or permutations of thereof. This is a broad area and many different perspectives on this issue are welcome.

Important questions that could be addressed include the following: How do participants perceive the effectiveness and/or fairness of ADR systems? How does the use of ADR systems affect the outcomes for employers and employees? What are the contextual factors that explain the adoption of use of these systems? How do ADR systems differ across countries or cultures? Are alternative forms of dispute resolution systems fair at the micro or macro level of analysis? How do justice concepts relate to ADR systems in terms of predicting important outcomes for organizations (e.g., turnover, legal claiming, grievances, recommendation intentions, productive and counterproductive behaviors). What are the legal constraints and implications of the use of these systems? What theories (e.g., neo-institutionalism, cognitive choice, transaction cost economics) can be advanced through the study of these systems?

However, these are only examples of the types of questions that could be addressed. Other topics related to the general topic of ADR in organizations are also welcome.

This call for papers is aimed at a wide array of scholars–from different disciplines such as management, communications, psychology, sociology, economics, public administration, and law.

Studies using a variety of methodological techniques are encouraged including (but not limited to): laboratory studies, field studies, case studies, survey research, and analysis of archival data. Articles focused solely on theory development are also welcomed as are papers that present novel approaches to ADR systems in organizations in either domestic or international settings. Furthermore, studies that review the law of ADR systems are also encouraged.

Manuscripts should focus on the following criteria:
– Use clear exposition
– Be technically adequate
– Make a theoretical contribution (e.g., testing, creating or extending theory)
– Make an empirical contribution
– Be innovative, interesting, & novel
– Have potential implications for practice

Format
– Length: generally no longer than 35 pages (including everything: tables, references, figures, etc.)
– Double-spaced with 1 inch margins, 12-point Times New Roman font.
– Follow APA (5th ed.) format.

All papers will be blind reviewed. Manuscripts should be submitted in electronic form by November 1, 2006 to: Richard A. Posthuma, rposthuma@utep.edu

complore is a research collaboration tool targeted at academics. it’s in beta & according to their blog only been around a few months.

there’s ‘my notebook’ which focuses on your research. you can easily bookmark articles (or whatever) you find on the web and it will sit in your notebook. you can also post about conferences or whatever. you can have a bookmark list. you can upload files. it was unclear in the tour and from the feature list/FAQ, just how much control you have over my notebook & keeping some details public & some private.

complore is also a yahoo/google group model. you join complore groups & group admins can set how open they want their membership (ie do people need to be approved?). there are forums where you can talk to others who have joined the particular complore group. as the creators of the software are going for the academic market, the profile is heavy on what your education is. i haven’t seen an academically focused group before (though there is a social networking site, academici, focused in this area).

i’m not sure if i’m missing the connection between the ‘my notebook’ and the groups or maybe there isn’t one as complore seems like 2 separate tools to me.

the collaborative group side is something most people would be familiar with and having features that appeal to the academic market is great. but i can’t see ‘my notebook’ being used for the heavy lifting that academics doing research need. there’s no integration with software such as endnote. and there’s very little chance (IMO) someone will add details to endnote & then copy it all into ‘my notebook’. it also doesn’t go the other way.. if i bookmark a webpage in ‘my notebook’, there doesn’t seem to be a way to push the details into my research software. and i can’t get a reference/source list formatted into harvard (or whichever) style.

from what’s there currently (and i’m sure it will change), ‘my notebook’ feels more like what a high school or maybe undergrad student would use (and find valuable). the group software is definitely more interesting to higher level academics.

activecollab is a php/mysql project mgmt software for your server (not hosted).

oh, and i got a great spam comment today!!! on a post where i state i’m playing with the templates so things might not look great i got a comment saying

Did you consider any other viewpoints before you wrote this??

brilliant!

mediate.com has an article up about using myers-briggs in assessing conflict. the article is based on the work of damien killen and danica murphy who have written a booklet entitled ‘introduction to type and conflict’.

like everything with myers-briggs, the idea is to use the information as a tool to help understand others. i can’t find any information about the research they did except for this article and links to buy the booklet.

their work indicates the greatest area for conflict is between the thinking-feeling and judging-perceiving types. (aka the ‘conflict pairs’). the thinking type will want to fix the problem, is concerned with facts & maintains a firm position while the feeling type is concerned about the impact of the problem on other’s feelings & thoughts, ensuring there is give & take, accepting differences and needs & values. perceivers do not like to make quick decisions and want flexibility while judging people want to come to conclusion, focus on present & future and experience satisfaction when the conflict is over.

the conflict resolution network has a free conflict resolution kit on their website.

the kit contains 12 pages about win-win, mediation, managing emotions, etc. and has a checklist which pulls together the ideas of the 12 pages which would be great to use to work thru a conflict.

really great stuff written so anyone can understand. i wish they offered it as a 13 page PDF to download as well as the web pages.

the organisation also has their full training manual online to download for free (and that is in PDF).