Indiana Conflict Resolution Institute
Publications & Presentations 1999-2000











Evaluating Mediation of Employment Disputes at the United States Postal Service

News articles:

Federal EEO Advisor, Dec. 16, 1999, Vol. 2, No. 11, headline "Agencies on Tight Deadline to Design ADR Programs."  Relevant quote: "The Postal Service is another agency that has done a tremendous amount of ADR research.  The agency's program has been evaluated through thousands of exit surveys conducted by Indiana University, showing that 90 percent of supervisors, employees, and employee representatives were pleased with the process and their mediators. More than 70 percent were satisfied with the outcome of mediation. The Postal Service program is among the largest in the federal sector and will be available to employees nationwide by January."

Federal EEO Advisor, Aug. 19, 1999, Vol. 2, No. 7, headline "ADR saves Agencies Millions." The story covers ADR awards made by the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Relevant quote: "Honorable Mention: In addition to the awards for 'outstanding programs,' OPM handed out four 'honorable mention' prizes. The U.S. Postal Service received an award for its REDRESS program, which has been evaluated through thousands of exit surveys conducted for the agency by Indiana University."

Federal Human Resources Week, Aug. 12, 1999, Vol. 6, No. 16: Relevant quote again regarding the OPM awards: "The awards ceremony was at OPM headquarters in Washington, DC. Attorney General Janet Reno, who was keynote speaker, congratulated the winners as well as all the agencies that submitted applications. In addition to the awards for "outstanding programs,' OPM handed out four "honorable mention" prizes. The U.S. Postal Service received an award for its REDRESS program, which has been evaluated through thousands of exit surveys conducted for the agency by Indiana University. The surveys show that 90 percent of supervisors, employees, and employee representatives were pleased with the process and their mediators and over 70 percent were satisfied with the outcome of mediation. The program, which is expanding nationwide, should be available to all postal employees by January 2000."

Articles and Presentations: 

Bingham, L.B. and Napoli, L. M. (Forthcoming 2000). "Employment Dispute Resolution and Workplace Culture: The REDRESS Program at the United States Postal Service," in Breger, M. and Schatz, J. (eds.), The Federal Alternative Dispute Resolution Deskbook, pp. __-__.  Washington, DC:  The American Bar Association. Chapter invited in 1998, submitted in 1999, and now in press.

Bingham, L.B., Chesmore, G., Moon, Y., and Napoli, L.M., (Forthcoming 2000) “Mediating Employment Disputes At The United States Postal Service:  A Comparison Of In-House And Outside Neutral Mediator Models” in press at the Review of Public Personnel Administration.

Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolution 1999 Conference, Baltimore, MD, Sept. 22-25, 1999.  Lisa Bingham and Lisa Marie Napoli served as panelists for “Changing Workplace Culture: Lessons learned from Mediation of Employment Disputes at the United States Postal Service.”  Over 1000 SPIDR members attended this panel. It sparked lively comments and contributions from the attendees.

Bingham, L. B. (1999). Mediator Roundtable: Feedback from Mediators in the USPS REDRESSÔ Program. Thursday, September 23, 1999, at the 1999 Conference of the Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolution.

Invited Colloquium: Bingham, L. B. (1999).  Evaluating Federal ADR Programs, presented as invited colloquium to the Federal ADR Evaluation Working Group, at the headquarters of the United States Postal Service, Washington, DC, on June 21, 1999.

Invited Talk: Bingham, L. B. (1999). Panelist in session entitled “Transformative Mediation: How Do We Assess its Impact?” sponsored by the Theory to Practice Project at the Wisconsin Association of Mediators 1999 Conference, Madison, WI on Friday, November 12, 1999.

Invited Talk: Brown, G.V. Presented a session entitled “Conflict Resolution: Questions and Controversies” at the 1999 Indiana Mediation Roundtable on October 28, 1999, sponsored by the Indiana State Bar Association.  The presentation focused on research and analysis of the USPS REDRESSÔ program.

Invited Talk:  Napoli, L.M.  Presented a session about the Indiana Conflict Resolution Institute and research on “Transformative Mediation” at the Positive Approaches to Violence Prevention: Peacebuilding in Schools and Communities Conference sponsored primarily by the IU School of Education, August 14, 2000.

USPS papers prepared this year and accepted for presentation at the International Association of Conflict Management Conference in June, 2000:

  • Napoli, L.M., “United States Postal Service Supervisors And Perceptions Of Conflict Management Techniques.”

  • Nabatchi, T., and Bingham, L.B., “Transformative Mediation in the USPS REDRESSÔ Program: Observations of ADR Specialists.”

  • Moon, Y., and Bingham, L.B.,  “Transformative Mediation at Work:  Employee and Supervisor Perceptions.”

  • Raines, S., Kim, K., and Bingham, L.B., "The Impact of Representatives on Mediation Duration and Settlement in the REDRESSÔ Program at the United States Postal Service."

  • Bingham, L.B. and Novac, M.C., “Mediation’s Impact on Formal Discrimination Complaint Filing: Before and After The REDRESSÔ Program at the United States Postal Service.”

Papers submitted to Industrial Relations Research Association Annual Meeting (January, 2001):

Kim, K., Raines, S., and Bingham, L.B., submitted "Employment Mediation:  Exploring the Role of Representation at the USPS.”  

Evaluating the Use of Dispute Resolution Techniques in the Environmental Protection Agency's Enforcement Activities

Articles submitted for publication (have not yet been notified of status of paper by journal):

Raines, S. and O'Leary, R., "Improving and Institutionalizing Alternative Dispute Resolution in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Enforcement Actions:  Views of Agency Attorneys."

O’Leary, R. and Raines, S., “Lessons Learned from Two Decades of Mediation at the EPA.”

Bordeaux, C., O’Leary, R. and Thornburg, R., “Alternative Dispute Resolution of Enforcement Actions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:  Is Practice Consistent with the Theory?”

Conference Papers and Presentations:

May, 2000:  Susan Raines presented “Lessons Learned from Two Decades of Mediation at the EPA” a paper on EPA ADR research at Udall Center conference, Tucson, Arizona.

May 2000:  Carolyn Bordeaux presented “Alternative Dispute Resolution of Enforcement Actions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:  Is Practice Consistent with the Theory?” a paper on EPA ADR research at Udall Center conference, Tucson, Arizona.

Evaluating the State of the States in Environmental Dispute Resolution

Presentations and Articles:

O'Leary, R., Yandle, T., and Moore, T. "The State of the States in Environmental Dispute Resolution," Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 515-614 (1999).

O'Leary, R. and Yandle, T., "The State of the States in Environmental Dispute Resolution:  Implications for Public Management at the New Millennium," Fifth National Public Management Research Conference, College Station, TX  (December, 1999).

O'Leary, R. and Yandle, T., "Environmental Management at the Millennium:  The Use of Environmental Dispute Resolution by State Governments," Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (forthcoming, 2000).

Upcoming:

Tracy Yandle will present a paper on State of States research at the national conference of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., in September 2000.   

Evaluating Employment Arbitration Under the Rules of the American Arbitration Association 

Presentations and Articles:

Bingham, L. B. and Mesch, D. (2000 forthcoming). “Decision-making in Employment and Labor Arbitration.”  Industrial Relations, Vol. _, no. _, pp. _-_.

Bingham, L. B. and Chachere, D. R. (1999).  "Dispute Resolution in Employment:  The Need for Research."  In Eaton, A. E. and Keefe, J.  H. (Eds.), 1999 Industrial Relations Research Association Research Volume: Employment Dispute Resolution and Worker Rights in the Changing Workplace, pp. 95-135.  Champaign, IL:  Industrial Relations Research Association.

Invited Talk: Bingham, L. B. (1999). “If the Repeat Player Effect is Sophistry, Why Did the Protocol Make A Difference?” lead speaker as part of a luncheon plenary panel entitled “Repeat Player Effect: Syndrome or Sophistry?” at the Second National Employment ADR Enclave of the American Arbitration Association, San Francisco, CA, presented on November 4, 1999.

Bingham, L. B. (1999).  "Under-researched Issues in Labor and Employment Law." Panel discussion on Friday, May 28, 1999 at the 1999 Conference of the Law and Society Association, Chicago, IL.

Bingham, L. B. (1999). "Employment Arbitration after the Due Process Protocol: Where Do We Go From Here?" as part of panel entitled "Under My Thumb: Worker Rights in the Changing Workplace", Friday, May 28, 1999, at the 1999 Conference of the Law and Society Association, Chicago, IL.

Indiana Interagency SHARED NEUTRAL Program for Mediation

Presentations and Articles

The Indiana Lawyer, Nov. 10, 1999, p. 11, headline "State Agencies Should Be Next to Use Mediation", byline Steve Lucas. Relevant quote: "Indiana University is now assisting in efforts to expose other state agencies to mediation.  Earlier this year, the Indiana Conflict Resolution Institute (ICRI) at Indiana University supported a pilot project by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to explore the use of mediation at a pre-AOPA (Administrative Orders Proceedings Act) stage.  Currently, with sponsorship by ICRI and a Lilly Community Assistance Fellowship, SPEA graduate student Andrea Karpoff is developing a model for ‘shared neutrals' among allied state agencies. She is also interviewing attorneys who have participated in AOPA mediations sanctioned by the Natural Resources Commission."

Bingham, L. B. (1999). "Government ADR in Indiana" as part of panel on Barriers and Obstacles to the Use of ADR in State Government, Saturday, September 25, 1999, at the 1999 Conference of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution, Baltimore, MD.

Brown, Gina V. and Susan S. Raines, presented a workshop on the use of ADR in environmental Disputes at the Indiana Environmental ADR Workshop, September 16, 1999, organized by the Indiana State Bar Association Dispute Resolution and Environmental Sections.

SPEA Statehouse Colloquium. “Public Policy Conflict Resolution.” February 24, 2000. In addition, Hewlett Grantee Chris Carlson presented as part of this panel.unity.  

International

Kalachakra for World Peace 1999, Bloomington, Indiana, Aug. 17-27, 1999, a Buddhist teaching offered by the Dalai Lama. Lisa Bingham and Lisa Marie Napoli attended and Lisa Marie Napoli volunteered.

Bingham, L.B. and Prell, D.C. (2000 Forthcoming).  "Arbitration of Environmental Disputes that Cross National Boundaries." In The Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems. Oxford, UK: EOLSS Publishers Co. Ltd.  This is a chapter on international environmental arbitration for the UNESCO-sponsored international Encyclopedia, designed to be a comprehensive reference on the global environment.

Indiana Conflict Resolution Institute
Last updated: July 30, 2004
Comments: ICRI Administrator
Copyright 1999 - Indiana University, Bloomington