CONFLICT MANAGEMENT The Psychology of conflict and conflict ...

10. THE ROLE OF THIRD PARTIES/MEDIATION IN MANAGING CONFLICT 293
4. Autocratic: The third party possesses both process and decision
control.
5. Moot: Both process control and decision control are shared by the
third party and the disputants.
Thibaut and Walker’s (1975, 1978) insight was that decision control was
not necessary to create satisfaction among conflicting parties. Indeed,
disputants were able to accept their inabilities to render their own decisions,
so long as they maintained control over the process (for empirical
examples, see Houlden, LaTour, Walker, & Thibaut, 1978; Walker, LaTour,
Lind, & Thibaut, 1974).
There is a wealth of evidence from the experimental research tradition
inspired by Thibaut and Walker (1975, 1978). For example, a considerable
body of research has explored courtroom proceedings (e.g., Folger,
Cropanzano, Timmermann, Howes, & Mitchell, 1996; Lind, Kurtz, Musante,
Walker, & Thibaut, 1980; Sheppard, 1985). Other work has tended to
examine disputant responses within legal settings, such as interactions
with police officers (Tyler & Folger, 1980), mediation (Lind et al., 1990), and
plea bargaining (Casper, Tyler, & Fisher, 1988; Houlden, 1981).
Thibaut and Walker (1975, 1978) influenced the organizational sciences
as well. For example, their model was applied to employee participation
(Rasinski, 1992; Roberson, Moye, & Locke, 1999). In addition, later research
expanded Thibaut and Walker’s model so that it was more applicable to
business environments. We will now turn our attention to this work.
Managerial Conflict Resolution
Sheppard’s (1984) Taxonomy. In an attempt to be build a more comprehensive
typology, Sheppard (1983, 1984) expanded Thibaut and Walker’s
(1975, 1978) list of conflict intervention phases from two to four: definition,
discussion (much like the process stage), alternative selection (much like
the decision stage), and reconciliation. Each of these four stages contains
an additional two to five substages. Sheppard also added a more comprehensive
list of controls that a third party might exercise. The four basic
types of control are (a) process control, (b) content control, (c) control by
request, and (d) motivational control (e.g., control over incentives). Additionally,
numerous subtypes of control also exist.
The key advantage of Sheppard’s (1983, 1984) model was found in its
thoroughness. By expanding on the initial work of Thibaut and Walker
(1975, 1978), Sheppard demonstrated that social psychological ideas of
third-party intervention could be applied outside of legal settings. Moreover,
Sheppard specifically articulated the different ways in which such an
intervention could occur. This precision, of course, comes with a cost. The
full matrix of types of controls to stages of conflict comes to 403 cells. For
giving practical advice or for conducting research, this is rather unwieldy.