CONFLICT MANAGEMENT The Psychology of conflict and conflict ...

11. ORGANIZATIONAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION SYSTEMS 341
Contributing Role of Experiencing the Dispute
It is critical that future research on the consequences of resolving disputes
through an ODR system tease out the independent effects of experiencing
conflict from the effects of voicing that conflict via an ODR system.
Recently, Boswell and Olson-Buchanan (2004), who showed the negative
consequences for filing a grievance were due at least in part to the dispute
that precipitated the grievance filing, highlighted this issue. Researchers
need to move beyond the traditional approach of simply comparing ODR
system users to nonusers. Instead, we need to better understand the relative
roles of having or not having a dispute versus using or not using a
particular ODR method. Only then will we truly understand the consequences
of using an organization’s ODR system. A similar approach could
be taken at the organizational level. Research often relies on ODR usage
rates as a proxy for workplace discontent. Yet if we were to examine workplace
discontent separate from voicing discontent, we would have a much
better understanding of the effectiveness of ODR systems in organizations.
That is, what are the organizational consequences for a high level of
workplace discontent that is not pursued in an ODR system and/or pursued
through other organizational voice options (e.g., climate survey)?
The Organizational Context and Its Influence on Interpreting and Responding to Disputes
Experiencing and resolving conflict within organizations is, in several
ways, a particularly complex context. First, many of the disputants have
ongoing relationships with each other. The desire to maintain (or recover)
an ongoing work relationship may influence whether a potential conflict
situation is interpreted as a dispute in the first place and which ODR system,
if any, is selected to resolve it. Accordingly, whether and how the
dispute is resolved may have important psychological consequences for
parties to the dispute. Other consequences, such as the political repercussions
for dispute resolution, would also be a consideration for many individuals.
The current legal context that organizations face provides another
interesting backdrop for how a dispute might be interpreted and resolved.
That is, the threat of litigation or setting a dangerous precedent for other
employment situations may influence how disputes are addressed within
the organization. While research has identified some of these factors as
being relevant to procedural choice (e.g., Jameson, 1999), more attention
needs to be focused on how these factors may influence whether a dispute
is identified as such, whether and how it is resolved, and the associated
organizational and individual consequences.
The two previously mentioned research issues highlight the need for
future research to examine the entire conflict management process, from
experiencing to interpreting and ultimately responding to a dispute. Ideally,
research would also take into account the role of prior experiences with an