INSTITUTE School
of Public and Environmental Affairs Annual Report 2002
INDIANA CONFLICT RESOLUTION INSTITUTE
Annual Report, 2002
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
I.
Table
of Contents
II.
Introduction
III.
Institute Research . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.3
A.
B.
American Arbitration
Association; Evaluation of Employment Arbitration Rules
C.
Environmental Protection
Agency; Evaluation of Enforcement Activities
D.
Environmental Attorneys;
Evaluation of Professional Attitudes Towards Mediation
E.
F.
G.
Occupational Safety and
Health Review Commission; ADR Program Evaluation
H.
State Programs;
Evaluation of State of the States’ Environmental Dispute Resolution Programs.
I.
United States Institute
of Environmental Conflict Resolution; Evaluation of
ECR Activities in Federal Agencies
J.
IV.
Institute Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
A.
Service to the State of Indiana
1.
2.
Indiana State Agency
Projects
3.
Evaluation Literature
Database
B.
Service to
1. Keller-Runden
2.
Community Conflict
Resolution Program,
V.
Institute Teaching . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
A.
Brown Bag Speaker Series
B.
Training
C.
Courses Taught
VI.
Appendix A: Principal Staff
Biographies
VII.
Appendix B: Research Article
Summary / Selected Texts
II.
Introduction
The Indiana Conflict Resolution
Institute (ICRI) was established in 1997.
Our mission is to improve, and contribute to the knowledge base of, alternative or appropriate dispute resolution (ADR) programs. Towards this vision, our research evaluates conflict resolution programs and processes at the federal, state, and local levels. This research, in addition to assisting our clients design and improve ADR programs, provides the data needed to do groundbreaking research. At the same time, our teaching and service missions help to educate future public administrators and provide useful tools for current practitioners and policy makers implementing ADR programs.
During the fifth year of its operation, ICRI has
completed several previous projects and has begun new projects with the United
States Department of Justice and the United States Department of
Agriculture. These research projects
have resulted in the publication of numerous articles and conference
presentations. In addition to research, ICRI continues to be an important
teaching and service resource for the local and state communities, and well as
for
This past year has been one of strong productivity and exciting refocusing for ICRI. The Institute has recently recommitted itself to its original three-pronged mission of research, teaching, and service in the area of alternative dispute resolution. This recommitment is accompanied by an expansion of key staff positions, which will allow ICRI to better manage its activities in the future. This report reflects the accomplishments of the past year as well as the focus for the year to come.
Lisa B. Bingham,
Director
Rosemary O’Leary,
Principal Investigator
Assistant
Director
As part of the Indiana Conflict Resolution’s (ICRI) mission, its research is local, statewide, and national in scope. Over the past year, some projects have been completed, while new ones have been added. All of ICRI’s research helps strengthen its growing national reputation in the field of dispute resolution.
A. Agriculture , United
States
In the fall of 2001, the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA), Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center (CPRC),
retained the Institute to design and implement an evaluation of their
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services.
The evaluation has two goals:
1)
to provide program
improvement information to agency programs in a timely manner to improve
program performance; and
2)
to provide overall
performance and cost-benefit information to USDA leaders and ADR program
managers.
USDA agencies use conflict resolution processes for
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaints at the informal and formal
stages, and to resolve non-EEO workplace disputes. CPRC has the responsibility for setting
standards for ADR, for monitoring ADR practices and for assisting ADR
programs. ICRI has been collecting
information and stakeholder views as part of the evaluation design.
B.
American Arbitration Association
The Institute completed its research concentrating
on the AAA’s Due Process Protocol for Mediation and Arbitration of
Employment Disputes, exploring the extent to which players frequently
involved in arbitration have different results than one-time participants.
Publications generated from this research:
Lisa B. Bingham & S. Sarraf,
Employment Arbitration Before and After the Due Process Protocol for
Mediation and Arbitration of Statutory Disputes Arising Out of Employment:
Preliminary Evidence that Self-Regulation Makes a Difference, in
Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Employment Arena: Proceedings of the New
York University 53rd Annual Conference on Labor __-__ (Samuel Estreicher ed., forthcoming 2002).
Lisa
B. Bingham, Self Determination in Dispute
System Design and Arbitration, 56
Presentations generated from this research:
C. Environmental
Protection Agency
With the cooperation of the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Institute examined ADR in
enforcement activities at the EPA. The goals of this project were to:
1.
Evaluate the use of ADR
at the EPA in enforcement cases, particularly in Superfund cases;
2.
Examine the sources of
both obstacles and assistance to ADR efforts at the EPA;
3.
Suggest ways in which the
EPA might improve its ADR programs; and
4.
Draw lessons from EPA’s
experiences that may be helpful to other agencies or organizations.
This research helped improve understanding
of the complex context in which ADR is utilized in enforcement activities at
the EPA. While data collection and analysis are complete, this project
continues to produce valuable work product.
Publications generated from this research:
Rosemary O’Leary, Evaluating Environmental and Public Policy Conflict Resolution Programs
and Policies, an edited book of papers from evaluation conference of March,
2001, draft sent to publishers, April 2002, (forthcoming, 2003)
Carolyn Bordeaux, Rosemary O'Leary, & Richard Thornburgh, Control, Communication and
Power: A Study of the Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution of
Enforcement Actions at the
Rosemary O'Leary & Susan Raines, Alternative
Dispute Resolution at the
Rosemary O'Leary & Susan Raines, Lessons
Learned from Two Decades of Alternative Dispute Resolution at the
Susan Raines & Rosemary O'Leary, Evaluating
the Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution Techniques and Processes in
Presentations made on this research:
March, 2001,
March, 2001,
Rosemary O’Leary and Susan Raines
presented “ Lessons Learned from Two Decades of
Alternative Dispute Resolution at the
D.
Environmental Attorneys
In 2000, the Institute worked with the cooperation of the American Bar
Association’s section on the Environment, Energy, and Resources to mail 500
surveys to environmental attorneys in 50 states. The response (34%) represented
attorneys from 48 states and from all public, private, and non-profit sectors.
The survey will be replicated in five and again in ten years to ascertain the
extent to which attorneys’ views of ADR are changing. This year, researchers published initial
survey results.
Publications generated from this research:
Rosemary O'Leary & Maja Husar, Public
Managers, Attorneys, and Alternative Dispute Resolution: Results and
Implications for a National Survey, Int’l J. Pub. Admin. (forthcoming
2002).
Rosemary O'Leary and Maja Husar,
What Environmental and Natural Resource
Attorneys Really Think about Alternative Dispute Resolution: A
National Survey, Nat. Resources & Env’t
(forthcoming 2002).
E.
As a supplement to the Report of
the Interagency Alternative Dispute Resolution Working Group to the President
of the
F.
Within the past year, ICRI began a statistical analysis of ADR and
Litigation Cases from the 1995-1998 case files of the Assistant U.S. Attorneys
nationwide in cooperation with the Department of Justice. During summer 2001,
two student interns from ICRI worked full-time in
G.
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
The Institute completed an evaluation of the effectiveness and
administration of the Settlement Part and E-Z Trial programs at the U.S.
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC). The data collected
included surveys of key OSHRC stakeholders, including judges, administrative
staff, and attorneys. The evaluations examined, among other things, whether:
1. The
programs, as implemented were consistent with their original design.
2. The
programs were reaching the intended audience.
3. The
programs achieved their goals and objectives.
4. Participants
were satisfied with the programs’ administration and outcomes in terms of the
perceptions of procedural fairness, access to the programs, types of cases
eligible for the programs, guidelines of the programs, and benefits to, and
burdens on, participants.
Both program evaluations are complete and posted on the ICRI website.
Reports posted on the ICRI website:
www.spea.indiana.edu/icri/oshrc_eval.pdf
www.spea.indiana.edu/icri/oshrc_eztrial.pdf
H.
State of the States in Environmental Conflict Resolution
This program was aimed at evaluating the use of environmental conflict
resolution throughout the
I.
United States Institute of Environmental Conflict Resolution (USIECR)
In response to the ICRI projects with the Department of Justice, the
USIECR recently signed a contract with the Institute to collect information
regarding the potential need for conflict resolution services across a variety
of federal agencies. Researchers from ICRI, in collaboration with officials
from USIECR, identified three primary agencies (the U.S. Forest Service, the
Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of the Interior) and six
secondary agencies (the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Department of Navy, and
the Department of Transportation) for study. The intent of the needs assessment
is to identify in each agency where possible, the current levels and scope of
ECR use, potential opportunities for the future use of ECR, and barriers to the
implementation of ECR programs. The study will also assist the USIECR in
meeting and furthering its congressional mandate. The study is ongoing,
although several factors have slowed the pace of the study, including the delay
in political appointments by the current administration and the events of
September 11.
J.
United States Postal Service (USPS)
For several years, the Institute has been involved with the USPS in a
comprehensive evaluation of the service’s REDRESS® (Resolve Employment Disputes Reach Equitable Solutions Swiftly)
program. Work continues on both the
REDRESS® I and REDRESS® II projects, and their descriptions and updates are
below:
Overview
For the REDRESS® I evaluation project,
we work with the USPS Headquarters Human Resources Department to study informal
complaints of discrimination. The study
is a multi-year “before and after” evaluation of the implementation of REDRESS®
I. When REDRESS® I was first
implemented as a pilot program in October 1994, the National Program Manager of
REDRESS® I (then Alternative
Dispute Resolution Counsel) contracted with the Institute to design an independent
evaluation of the pilot program. This
work has grown into an eight-year research
collaboration between
REDRESS®
I
Climate
and Conflict Management at the USPS
Researchers at the Institute have completed
the “after” REDRESS® interviews to determine the impact of REDRESS®
upon climate and conflict management at the USPS. Institute researchers traveled to
Exit
Surveys
The Institute is also measuring the impact of the
REDRESS® program by collecting data from participants in mediation
sessions. All participants in REDRESS®
mediations fill out confidential exit surveys and mail the surveys to the
Institute. Thus far, the Institute has
received and entered over sixty thousand exit surveys. The exit surveys allow
Institute researchers to determine how satisfied employees and supervisors were
with the mediator, the process, and the outcome. Using a sophisticated
Microsoft Access database, Institute staff perform data entry and analysis of
exit surveys.
Data
Tracking Surveys
The Institute continues to collect information about the number of Exit Surveys distributed to track response rate information. This information is entered into a database and compared with the exit survey information for research validity.
Dispute
Resolution Specialist Surveys
Institute staff conducted an e-mail survey in 1999 of USPS Dispute Resolution Specialists to elicit detailed information about the REDRESS® mediation experience. In 2000, the research was presented at the International Association of Conflict Management (IACM). The study found that implementation of transformative mediation was successful. The information was useful in providing feedback to the United States Postal Service Headquarters and also in the design of a mediator survey. This year, the study was published in the Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal.
Mediator
Surveys
The Institute is analyzing data from a survey of
mediators to assess how mediators perceive transformative mediation
behaviors. These responses will be
compared to the original design of the USPS transformative mediation program to
assess the implementation of this model of mediation. The results will be used to gain insights on
transformative mediation and will be reported to USPS Headquarters. Data entry
is complete. Data analysis is
ongoing. A manuscript has been accepted
for presentation at the June 2002 meeting of the International Association of
Conflict Management.
Conflict Management and USPS Supervisors
The purpose of this dissertation research project
is to gain precise information about how USPS Supervisors manage conflict in
the workplace. The target group of
supervisors was randomly selected from the main postal plant facility in
Complaint
Filings
In 1999 and 2000,
Institute staff created a new database containing over five years of data on
formal and informal EEO complaints before and after the REDRESS® mediation
program. This dataset is broken down by
zip code, accounting period (13 per year), and fiscal year. The final analysis showed a statistically
significant drop in formal filings after the inception of the mediation
program. This year, this manuscript was
published by the Review of Public Personnel Administration.
Cost
Benefit Analysis
Institute staff members have collected data and begun analysis for a cost benefit analysis of the REDRESS® mediation program. The USPS is collecting internal data for use in this analysis.
Publications
generated from this research:
Tina Nabatchi & Lisa B. Bingham, Transformative Mediation in the USPS REDRESS® Program: Observations of ADR Specialists, 18 Hofstra Lab. & Emp. L.J. 339-427 (2001).
Mediation
at Work: The Report of the National REDRESS® Evaluation Project of
the United States Postal Service (Indiana Conflict Resolution Institute ed.,
2001) (Prepared as conference materials for the American Bar Association
Section of Dispute Resolution – 3rd Annual Conference and at the
First International Conference of the Association for Conflict Resolution, Toronto, Canada; Toronto, Canada; October
10-12).
Lisa-Marie Napoli, USPS
Supervisors and Conflict Management Techniques: Evaluating Training and
Mediation Interventions and Dimensions of Gender (2002) (unpublished PhD.
dissertation,
Lisa B. Bingham & Mikaela Cristina Novac, Mediation’s Impact on Formal Complaint Filing: Before and After the REDRESS® Program at the United States Postal Service, 21 Rev. Pub. Personnel Admin. 308-331 (2001).
Lisa B. Bingham, Addressing the ‘REDRESS®’":
A Discussion of the Status of the United States Postal Service's Transformative
Mediation Program Symposium on USPS REDRESS® Program, 2 Cardozo Online J. Conflict Resol.
(2001), at
http://www.cardozo.yu.edu/cojcr/final_site/symposia/vol_2_symposia/postal_trans.htm.
Lisa B. Bingham & Lisa-Marie Napoli, Employment
Dispute Resolution and Workplace Culture: The REDRESS® Program at
the
Lisa B. Bingham & David W. Pitts, Highlights of Mediation at Work: The Report of the National REDRESS®
Evaluation Project, 18 Negotiation Journal __-__ (forthcoming 2002).
Lisa B. Bingham, Kiwhan
Kim, & Susan Raines, Exploring the Role of Representation In Employment Mediation at the USPS,
Lisa
B. Bingham, Why Supppose?
Let’s Find Out: A Public Policy Research
Program on Dispute Resolution, 2002 J. Disp. Resol. __-__ (forthcoming 2002) (Invited as part of symposium issue; The
Journal is a law review published by the University of Missouri-Columbia School
of Law).
Lisa
B. Bingham, REDRESS™ at the USPS – A
Breakthrough Mediation Program,
1
ACResolution 34 (Spring 2002).
Presentations made on this research:
March 2002; Phoenix,
Arizona: American Society of Public Administration’s 63rd
Conference Lisa-Marie Napoli presented her
dissertation research on a panel session entitled "Using Collaboration to
Deliver Public Service."
Presented research on USPS
REDRESS® I program as part of panel entitled “Mediation at Work: The
Report of the National REDRESS® Evaluation Project.”
January 2001;
Kim, Kiwhan,
Raines, Susan Summers, and Bingham, Lisa B. presented a research poster
session: “Exploring the Role of Representation In
Employment Mediation at the USPS.”
Lisa Bingham attended an
invited colloquium, “Addressing the ‘Redress’: A Discussion of the Status of
the United States Postal Service's Transformative Mediation Program.”
Lisa Bingham presented at an invited colloquium: “Self-determination, Microjustice and Macrojustice: Dispute System Design in the Dark.”
REDRESS® II
Institute staff designed data collection tools for
the expansion of the REDRESS® mediation program into a similar
program for formal EEO complaints, called REDRESS® II. The Institute
launched the research, collected and entered data, and presented some
preliminary analysis this year.