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Conflict Management E-Newsletter
May 2003 #40
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Contents:
1. Articles
2. Million Dollar National Origin Claim Settled
3. Free! Organizational Conflict Management Check Up
4. Training Announcements
5. EEOC: ADR Clearinghouse
6. HR Professionals Believe Ethical Conduct Not Rewarded
7. Quotes
8. New Book: Controlling People
9. The Peace Chime Movement
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Visit http://www.mediate.com/johnford to learn more about
workplace conflict prevention, management and resolution.
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1. Articles
First Component of an Integrated Conflict Management System:
Dispute Resolution Models
By Jennifer Lynch
In a previous article I provided a checklist to enable you
to assess the gaps between your organization's conflict
management practices and respected best practices. In this
article, I provide an example of an updated dispute resolution model.
http://www.mediate.com/systems/systemsedit4.cfm
Communication and Conflict: Managing Verbal Aggression in Mediation
By Robert K. Wrede
The mediation process involves the risk that participants
have greater freedom to engage in combative, hostile, face-to-face
conduct than normally would be the case in adjudication.
This paper examines a common manifestation of such negative
conduct, "verbal aggression," and proposes an approach to avoiding,
or at least minimizing, its negative effects in mediation.
http://www.mediate.com/articles/wrede_R.cfm
Appreciative Inquiry—Something Out of the Ordinary
By Timothy Germany
Have you ever been so happy inside that you were overwhelmed
with a psychological euphoria that suspended you in a time warp?
Well I am still in inner awe regarding my experiences with
AI to date; and as such it has taken me some time to sit
and write this article.
http://www.mediate.com/articles/germanyT.cfm
Sticks, Stones and Broken Careers:
Verbal Abuse in the Workplace
By Cathy Hartt
To make a long story short, verbal abuse occurs because
the abuser is in a reality where he feels he must
overpower his victim to feel good about himself.
http://www.verbalabuse.com/7.shtml
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2. Million Dollar National Origin Claim Settled
Stockton Steel and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
have agreed to settle a lawsuit filled by the EEOC on behalf
of Pakistani-American employees of the company
who were harassed because of their national origin and
religion. The settlement requires the company to pay $1.1
million to four former employees who suffered ridicule
during their daily Muslim prayer obligations and who were
subject to derogatory name-calling.
In addition to the monetary settlement, the company agreed to
make policy changes, conduct training, and assure the right
of employees to request religious accommodation.
During the EEOC's 2002 fiscal year, charges of religious
discrimination increased by 21 percent over the previous
year and charges of national origin discrimination increased
by 13 percent.
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3. Organizational Conflict Management Check Up
Are you concerned about the health of your
organizations conflict management system?
This diagnostic questionnaire is easy to complete in less
than 10 minutes and provides valuable insight into how your
organization is dealing with conflict. We will email you a
brief report that analyses your organizations conflict
management health, and make clear recommendations for improvement.
This is an easy way to obtain peace of mind.
http://www.mediate.com/johnford/pg83.cfm
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4. Training Announcements
4.1 JFKU Coaching Certification Program Open House,
Learn how to be a professional coach
This is an opportunity to learn how to advance in your profession and supplement your skills with a program that offers both skill training and academic rigor. Choose one of three interdisciplinary
concentrations in Organizational Coaching, Life Coaching or Career
Coaching.You can earn your Coaching Certificate in one and a quarter years or at your own pace, taking graduate credit courses evenings
and weekends. The certificate can be stand alone or part of a Masters Degree.
Friday, May 16, 6:30 - 8 pm. RSVP, Room 305
http://www.jfku.edu/coaching/index.html
4.2 Mediation and Conflict Resolution Training
With Ron Kelly
Do you want to successfully resolve disputes with confidence? In this widely-acclaimed training you will learn a step-by-step process for resolving nearly every kind of business-related dispute.
Trainer is Ron Kelly, winner of six ADR awards, who brings you the
best techniques developed over fifteen years of mediating.
Two weekends and two Friday afternoons, June 20-22 and 27-29
Cost is $895
Call Ron Kelly at 510-843-6074
Register online at http://www.unex.berkeley.edu/cat/176677.html
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5. EEOC: ADR Clearinghouse
In addition to its role of assisting agencies with ADR program
development and review, the Commission's Office of Federal Operations
(OFO) acts as a clearinghouse for general ADR information in the
federal sector. In particular, OFO has established a resource
library on the following ADR subjects:
1. Statutory and Regulatory Documents
2. Sources for Neutrals
3. Training for Neutrals
4. Training for Managers
5. Ethical Standards and Confidentiality
6. ADA/Rehabilitation Act Mediation Standards
7. ADA Video Tapes
http://www.eeoc.gov/federal/adr/clearinghouse.html
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6. HR Professionals Believe Ethical Conduct Not Rewarded in Business
Professionals Feel Growing Pressure to Compromise Standards
Amidst numerous corporate ethics violations over the last year,
a new survey indicates that nearly half of HR professionals
believe ethical conduct is not rewarded in business today.
Troubling figures show that over the last five years,
HR professionals feel increasingly more pressure to compromise
their organizations' ethics standards, however they also
indicate personally observing significantly
fewer actions of misconduct in the workplace.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Ethics
Resource Center (ERC) jointly conducted the 2003 Business Ethics
Survey, with 462 respondents yielding a 22 percent response rate.
The survey is a follow up of a similar study conducted in 1997.
Among the issues addressed were the roles of HR professionals in
maintaining an organization's ethical standards, the incidence of
unethical behavior, senior management's support of employees to
act ethically and key factors encouraging employees to act
ethically.
Much attention has been given to corporate ethics violations over
the last year, and the survey, as a whole, shows that there are no
definitive answers to ethical questions. HR professionals are less
concerned now with retaliation from coworkers or senior management,
or being seen as whistleblowers. Yet, needing to follow the boss's
directives and wanting to be team players remains high on the list
of pressures that may lead to HR professionals compromising the
organization's ethics standards. The mixed results show that
maintaining organizational ethics must be seen as an ongoing process
rather than as a destination or an objective.
The survey results show the following:
·24 percent of HR professionals feel pressured to compromise ethics
standards all the time, fairly often or periodically. In comparison,
13 percent indicated they felt pressured in 1997.
·49 percent say that ethical conduct is not rewarded in business
today.
·The top five causes pressuring HR professionals to compromise an
organization's
ethical standards are as follows:
-the need to follow the boss's directives (49 percent);
-meeting overly aggressive business/financial objectives (48
percent);
-helping the organization survive (40 percent);
-meeting schedule pressures (35 percent);
-and wanting to be a team player (27 percent).
·79 percent of respondent organizations have written ethics
standards.
·HR professionals say 70 percent of senior management and 72 percent
of CEOs are committed to acting ethically. 68 percent and 69
percent, respectively, said the same in the 1997 survey.
·83 percent of HR professionals indicate that employees follow
written ethics standards all the time or often.
·85 percent of respondents said senior management supports HR
professionals adherence to organizations' written ethics standards
·69 percent of HR respondents strongly agree or agree that HR
is a primary ethics resource in the organization, but 40 percent
say that HR is not part of the ethics infrastructure
and is only tasked with cleaning up ethics violations.
·35 percent of HR professionals often or occasionally personally
observed ethics misconduct in the last 12 months, down from 53
percent in 1997.
·Types of misconduct most commonly observed were:
-Misreporting of hours worked
-Employees lying to a supervisor
-Management lying to employees, customers, vendors or the public.
Reasons for Not Reporting Ethical Misconduct
Organizations must rely on their employees to make them aware of
ethical issues and concerns before major problems or scandals erupt.
However, as results of the survey indicate, the willingness of
employees to report observed misconduct cannot be taken for granted.
For example, a key challenge for most organizations in employees
reporting ethics violations is that most did not believe that action would be taken or they feared retaliation from a supervisor or
management.
What influences ethical behavior?
The views of HR professionals are strongly affected by the actions
and behaviors of colleagues and supervisors. The factors that most
influenced their behavior were their own personal values, followed by attitude/behavior of senior management, credible enforcement of
ethics violations and the attitude/behavior of supervisors.
Source: SHRM
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7. Quotes
"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and help them
become what they are capable of being."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Center is a state of unity in which effective action, emotional
balance, mental alertness and spiritual vision are in harmonious
balance. When we're centered, our actions are coherent with what we
care about."
Richard Strozzi Heckler
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8. Controlling People: How to recognize, understand, and deal with
people who try to control you.
By Patricia Evans
Controlling Peopletakes us on a journey through a maze of senseless
behaviors woven into our world. We discover the words and
incantations that produce a controller's spellbound behavior.
And, we find out how to fend off any controller's attempts to control
us.
Based on thousands of cases, CONTROLLING PEOPLE reveals how
controllers struggle to shape the lives of others. We'll discover the forces that compel them and why they, as if under a spell, often destroy the relationships that they want most to preserve. We'll see for the first time the processes that shape them and most important, we'll find out what controllers are really trying to do. We'll know why, when they tell others who and what they are—what they think and feel, and even their motives, controllers don't realize the senselessness of their own behavior. Lastly we'll meet some formerly spellbound controllers and find out what they have to say about
themselves.
http://www.verbalabuse.com
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9. The Peace Chime Movement
IMAGINE people of all races, cultures, occupations, and religions
holding hands around the world. And everywhere you go the sound of
soothing melodious Peace Chimes floats in the air.
IMAGINE the Peace Chimes ringing bringing us together as one.
IMAGINE our earth embraced by peace.
This is the vision of The Peace Chime Movement.
http://www.peacechime.org/peacebreath/peacebreath.html
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10. Feedback and Subscriptions welcome
If you have any suggestions, tips, or other comments,
send an e-mail to johnford@mediate.com.
New subscriptions are welcome. Forward this to a
friend or colleague.
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The Conflict Management E-Newsletter
Published by John Ford and Associates
http://www.mediate.com/johnford
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