Handling dismissal disputes by arbitration

The traditional arbitration process provides an alternative to industrial tribunals for the handling of unfair dismissal cases. In this article, Harcourt Concannon examines the differences between the two approaches using the ACAS experience of unfair dismissal cases taken to arbitration between 1972 and 1977.     

Equity and arbitration in major league baseball

Equity theory argues that workers examine their job performance and salaries relative to workers in comparable situations. If compensation is inequitable, workers may adjust their behavior. We test the hypothesis that an arbitration‐eligible player in Major League Baseball is more likely to file for arbitration and/or proceed to an arbitration hearing if he feels he is underpaid relative to his comparison other. Bivariate probit is used to increase efficiency and correct for the sample bias in estimating decision models within the two‐step arbitration process. The results indicate that equity is a significant predictor of a player's unilateral decision to file but is an insignificant determinant of going to a hearing because of offsetting responses to equity by player and owner. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Arbitration of Statutory Employment Discrimination Claims in a Nonunion Environment: A Guide to Procedural Fairness

The previous decade has seen an increasing trend toward the use of arbitration to resolve statutory employment discrimination claims. The enforceability of most private sector arbitration agreements arising in a nonunion setting is reviewable under the Federal Arbitration Act. Such arbitration agreements are most often created by management and become a condition of employment. To represent a feasible alternative to court litigation, employers and employees must have confidence that outcomes achieved through the arbitration process will be enforced by the courts as final and binding upon the parties to the dispute. The extent to which an arbitration agreement adequately protects the procedural and remedial rights of the participants is an important issue affecting the probability that a court will enforce the outcome of an arbitration procedure. This paper reviews guidelines provided by the courts and practitioners to aid in the design of an effective and legally enforceable arbitration procedure to resolve statutory employment discrimination claims arising in a private sector nonunion environment.     

我国选煤业的节能降耗减排

主要阐述了选煤产业"节能减排"的作用,提出了选煤厂选择合理的选煤工艺、节电降耗、节水降耗、降低介耗等节能降耗的途径。     

The effects of mandatory employment arbitration systems on applicants' attraction to organizations

This study draws on organizational justice theory to investigate the effects of mandatory employment arbitration on organizational attraction. Specific attention is given to the characteristics of employment arbitration procedures that moderate the adverse effects these programs have on applicants' intentions to continue with the recruitment process. A total of 389 professional and executive MBA students read simulated employment brochures. Making employment arbitration mandatory was found to have a significant negative main effect on applicant attraction. This negative effect was mitigated when procedures afforded employees more due process considerations and when employees were given a just‐cause protection in return for giving up their right to sue. Finally, this negative effect was greater among minorities than nonminorities. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Effects of Mandatory Arbitration of Employment Discrimination Claims: Perceptions of Justice and Suggestions for Change

The ability of employers to require employees to submit claims of discrimination to final and binding arbitration in lieu of exercising their statutory rights represents a significant change in public policy. The methods traditionally used by enforcing agencies to investigate discrimination claims provide assistance and intervention that redress power asymmetries between employees and employers. Depriving employees of these enforcement mechanisms and requiring them to use arbitration may have adverse effects on perceptions of justice, both in procedural and distributive terms. We propose that mutuality, equality, and remediality are issues that must be addressed in situations of mandatory arbitration. We also suggest that mandatory arbitration may have other effects including expanding the scope of issues well beyond discrimination claims.     

Lawyers,gender and grievance arbitration outcomes

Why should the grievant’s gender or the presence of legal representation affect arbitration outcomes? The “chivalry hypothesis” holds that male arbitrators will tend to favor female grievants; its theoretical mirror image, the “evil woman” hypothesis, suggests that female grievants suffer a comparative disadvantage vis-à-vis similarly situated males. However, neither hypothesis (both drawn from criminologists’ studies of judicial sentencing patterns) applies all that well to the grievance arbitration process where, unlike in the court system, the parties themselves select their decision-maker. This is not to say that the grievance arbitration process is free of gender discrimination, only that arbitrators are probably not the source of any pro- or anti-female bias which may be uncovered.     

The Impact of Compulsory Arbitration on Bargaining Behavior: An Experimental Study

A series of experiments compares bargaining behavior under three different settings: no arbitration, conventional and final-offer arbitration. Under no arbitration, disputes with zero payoffs were around 10%, while the pie was equally split in less than half of the cases. Under conventional arbitration – where the arbitrator is free to choose his award – every third negotiation ended in dispute, evidencing a modified chilling effect. Under final-offer arbitration – where the arbitrator must award the bargainers either one of their final offers – there was only a small increase in disputes, while equal splits doubled to 80%. The experiment shows that final-offer arbitration, despite having lower dispute rates, interferes more with bargaining behavior than conventional arbitration, where bargaining behavior is similar to that seen in the no-arbitration treatment. Under final-offer arbitration, negotiators adjust their bargaining strategy on the arbitrator’s expected award.     

Lessons from Down-Under: conciliation and arbitration in Australia*

At a time of increased interest in arbitration, this article provides a review of the Australian system of compulsory arbitration. It outlines the structure and processes of the Australian federal system, the current tensions within it, and some lessons for the UK.     

An arbitrator looks at grievance arbitration

This article is an overview of the major considerations that are crucial in the thought processes of an arbitrator in deciding a grievance-arbitration case. An arbitrator’s first obligation is to interpret and apply provisions of the labor agreement in a manner consistent with the intent of the parties. Past practices or precedents are often considered by arbitrators to assess the intent of the parties and to decide certain issues. The most subjective area confronting arbitrators is that of fairness and equity, primarily in discipline/discharge matters where just cause must be demonstrated. Most arbitrators apply the preponderance of evidence standard as the required burden of proof in deciding equity matters. Consistency in handling of prior cases and documentation are especially important in an arbitrator’s weighing of evidence. In summary, grievance arbitration is an extension of democratic due process to the industrial and business world. This article was prepared for presentation at a seminar sponsored by the American Management Foundation, May 6–7, 1993 (Chicago, Illinois). It is a revised, updated version of an article that originally appeared in the October, 1978 issue ofPersonnel Journal.     

国美电器供应链合作伙伴选择研究

国美电器是一家以经营电器及消费电子产品零售为主的全国性连锁企业,主营业务是电器及消费类电子产品零售,目前是中国最具影响力的家电连锁零售企业之一。国美电器与全球知名家电制造企业保持着紧密、友好、互助的战略合作伙伴关系,但在其合作伙伴选择过程中仍存在一定的问题。文章主要对国美电器的供应链合作伙伴选择现状运用SWOT进行分析,指出其在合作伙伴选择中存在的问题,并提出改善国美电器供应链合作伙伴选择的策略。     

Selecting managers for transformational change

This article draws on the findings of a recent empirical study into the experience of managing change in ‘high velocity’, transformational change contexts. It argues that, with increasing empowerment, notions of the singular, mandated change agent may have to be juxtaposed with the idea of change being managed by a more diverse, multifarious ‘cast of characters’. If this is the case, effectiveness in change management may increasingly rest on the development and application of a systematic methodology for assessing the suitability and capabilities to perform in a change role. However, on the basis of the evidence presented, it would appear that selection decisions are being made on a largely subjective and arbitrary basis, and this may be creating wrong or misguided assumptions about an individual's suitability to perform in a change agent role. Additionally, the initial evidence suggests that the process of selection may be open to manipulation by some individuals whose personal aims and goals in the change process are not necessarily congruent with those of the organisation. This in turn may pose an element of strategic risk to the overall change process. The article then discusses some of the theoretical and practical implications facing those with a responsibility for selecting and managing the change managers.     

The tests of just cause: What price predictability in arbitral decision making?

The common law of just cause consists of the accumulated decisions of the arbitration profession rendered on the basis of commonly accepted principles of right and wrong. It constitutes the rules of the arbitration game pertaining to just cause, and, as such, guides decision making in disciplinary dispute resolution. Presumably it brings predictability to this aspect of arbitral decision making much as the principles of contract law bring predictability to nondisciplinary contract construction disputes. The best known component of this body of law is the checklist of seven tests devised by Carrol R. Daugherty. This article examines this element of common law, its origins, and whether it does, in fact, bring grater predictability to the disciplinary phase of arbitral decision making and, if so, at what cost. Besides questioning the degree of predictability achieved by Daugherty's tests, the paper cautions that greater predictability may only be possible at an unacceptably high cost: the sacrifice of those characteristics that make arbitration the preferred dispute resolution technique.     

Arbitration systems and negotiations

We consider a model of bargaining by concessions where agents can terminate negotiations by accepting the settlement of an arbitrator. The impact of pragmatic arbitrators—that enforce concessions that precede their appointment—is compared with that of arbitrators that act on principle—ignoring prior concessions. We show that while the impact of arbitration always depends on how costly that intervention is relative to direct negotiation, the range of scenarios for which it has an impact, and the precise effect of such impact, does change depending on the behavior—pragmatic or on principle—of the arbitrator. Moreover the requirement of mutual consent to appoint the arbitrator matters only when he is pragmatic. Efficiency and equilibrium are not aligned since agents sometimes reach negotiated agreements when an arbitrated settlement is more efficient and vice versa. What system of arbitration has the best performance depends on the arbitration and negotiation costs, and each can be optimal for plausible environments.      

Final Offer Arbitration in theory and practice

This article examines the theoretical foundations of Final Offer Arbitration (FOA). The use of arbitration in Britain is compared with other types of third party intervention, and the strengths and weaknesses of FOA are critically examined and compared with conventional arbitration. It is concluded that FOA has much to commend it, both in theory and in practice, and is particularly suitable for ‘disputes of interest’.     

天线选型在无线覆盖网络规划中的应用

良好的无线覆盖来自于网络规划的详细设计。无线覆盖规划是GSM网络规划的核心内容。本文重点介绍天线选型在无线覆盖的网络规划中的应用方案。     

Sources of delay in grievance arbitration

This study investigates the sources of delay in the grievance arbitration process. Three delay components were examined: delay in proceeding to hearing, delay from hearing to written award, and overall delay. Multiple regression analyses showed that the arbitration hearing format (tripartite panels versus sole arbitrators), the use of legal counsel, and individual arbitrators themselves, were all significant sources of delay. Further, over the twelve-year period examined in this study, the average grievance arbitration case lengthened by about 7.9 days per annum.     

沈阳市行道树调查研究

本文主要阐述城市行道树选择的原则及沈阳市行道树应用现状进行分析,并对沈阳市市内五区的行道树进行了调查、分析,提出了改变当前现状,丰富行道树树种的对策和建议。结果表明存在树种单一;常绿树多,落叶树少;行道树的开发利用研究工作十分薄弱等现象,并针对以上问题提出了几点建议。     

Demonstrating the instrumentality of motivation oriented approaches for the explanation of academic spin-off formation—an application based on the Chinese case

Much of the current empirical literature on academic spin-off formation focuses either on relevant framework conditions or on the potential academic entrepreneurs’ opportunity-seeking process. The interdependency of these two important factors, in contrast, remains understudied, even though it is theoretically well established in general entrepreneurship literature. Against this background this article makes the case for an integrated consideration of motivation and framework conditions. It demonstrates how this approach can convincingly explain changes in prevalent modes of spin-off creation in developing and transforming economies. To do so, data from 68 academic spin-off enterprises from China are investigated.