Democracy and the Workplace: Connecting Dispute Resolution with Organizational Values and Mission

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Democracy and the Workplace Connecting Dispute
Resolution with Organizational Values and Mission

• Professor Richard C. Reuben
• University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law
• January 4, 2005

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My central thesis

• Democratic values lie at the heart of todays
  workplaces. While we often think of participation
  as the primary democratic value, there are others
  that are just as significant.
• Dispute resolution mechanisms in todays
  workplaces should be implemented in a manner
  that promotes democratic values rather than
  diminishes them
• Doing so will allow dispute resolution to
  contribute to the overall mission of the
  organization, including better worker
  performance, greater compliance with
  organizational mission, and the creation of a
  workplace where people want to be and stay.

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The Transformation of the Workplace

• Old Workplace Values Master-Servant
• Workers viewed as resources to be exploited
• Loyalty Psychological contract
• Commitment to internal labor market
• New Workplace Values Partnership
• Workers recognized as individuals to be
  cultivated
  
• Mobility, flexibility and adaptability
• Importance of social capital
• The sum of an organizations informal
  institutions, norms, conventions and social
  preferences.
  

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Transformation as Democratization

• Classic Democracy participatory self-governance
  in the governmental context
  
• Corporate democracy
• Applies democratic principles in the corporate
  democracy
  
• Generally limited to employee involvement in
  governance
  
• Organizational democracy
• Extends concept of corporate democracy in
  several ways
  
• Not just governance, but also operation of
  functions, such as workplace
  
• Not just governments and corporations, but also
  other forms of organization, such as the public
  sector and not-for-profits
  
• Not just participation, but other core democratic
  values

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Core Values of Democracy

• Personal autonomy
• Political values
• Participation
• Accountability
• Transparency
• Rationality
• Note Values are relative, not absolute

• Legal values
• Equality
• Due process
• Social Capital Values
• Trust
• Social connection
• Cooperation and reciprocity
• Civic virtue

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Assessing democratic characterPublic
adjudication vs. mediation












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Assessing democratic characterPublic
adjudication vs. mediation
High
High
High
High
Low
High
Depends
High
High

Low
High
High
Medium
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Implications for dispute systems designers and
program managers

• Programs should be structured and operated in
  ways that foster rather than undermine these
  values
  
• Will make them democracy enhancing, rather than
  democracy diminishing
  
• In so doing, will enhance their legitimacy within
  the organization
  
• Doing so can be challenging, and raises
  fundamental questions
  
• Autonomy mandatory mediation?
• Transparency
• Caucus vs. non-caucus models
• Tension with confidentiality
• Due process
• Who chooses mediator style?
• Tip When values collide or are in tension, look
  to autonomy value

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Social Capital in the Organizational Context

• Definition The sum of an organizations
  informal institutions, norms, conventions and
  social preferences.
  
• All of the other factors contribute to social
  capital
  
• Barometers
• Trust flowing between employees and management,
  vertically and horizontally
  
• Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)
• Altruism (helping behaviors)
• Compliance (rules, policies, etc.)
• Courtesy (gestures taken to prevent problems)
• Sportsmanship (willingness to accept bumps in the
  road without protest)
  
• Civic virtue (organizational spiritedness)
• Norm of reciprocity leads to cycles of social
  capital within organization
  
• Virtuous cycle when animated by constructive
  behaviors
  
• Vicious cycle when animated by destructive
  behaviors
  

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Social Capital Barometer 1 Trust

• Trust is a function of expectations
• Expectations with respect to trust are set by
  democratic values
  
• Basic expectation regarding dispute resolution
• Right to day in court
• Anything I want to do other than that
• Trust with respect to disputes
• When disputes handled consistently with
  democratic values, trust in the organization is
  promoted
  
• When disputes handled inconsistently with
  democratic values, trust in the organization is
  diminished
  
• Managing trust with respect to disputes is
  especially important
  
• Disputes may be a small part of overall
  functioning of the workplace, but they have a
  pervasive importance that touches all other
  aspects

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Social Capital Barometer 2 OCB Compliance with
Rules, Policies, Mission

• What is compliance?
• Willingness to accept and support rules and
  policies
  
• Compliance is a function of trust (Tyler). Two
  key observations
  
• As a general matter, belief in integrity of
  process more important than the substance of the
  rules, policies, etc.
  
• Process values square with democratic values
• Whether people given voice, allowed to influence
  outcome (participation)
  
• Whether decisions were explained (rationality)
• Whether decision maker behaved neutrally
  (equality)
  
• Whether people treated with respect (due
  process)
  
• As a particular matter, we begin with an
  illusion of benevolence
  
• Tested against personal experiences
• To the extent consistent, trust affirming
• Stokes social capital by eliciting positive
  reciprocal behaviors
  
• To the extent inconsistent, trust disconfirming
• Starves social capital by eliciting negative
  reciprocal behaviors

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So, what does this all mean in the real world?

• Performance
• When dispute resolution reinforces democratic
  values, it fosters OCB, which in turn enhances
  task performance
  
• Study of mill workers found that helping,
  sportsmanship, and civic virtue enhanced task
  performance, measured in terms of quality,
  quantity of paper produced
• Study of insurance agents found sportsmanship and
  civic virtue enhanced performance of insurance
  agents
  
• When dispute resolution frustrates democratic
  values, it diminishes OCB, which in turn
  diminishes task performance

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Real world implications

• Compliance
• Workplace institutions, like dispute resolution,
  that are consistent with worker expectations
  regarding democratic values will foster
  acceptance and support of organizational
  objectives, strategies, and mission
• Workplace institutions, like dispute resolution,
  that are inconsistent with worker expectations
  with respect to democratic values will encourage
  non-compliance with organizational objectives,
  strategies, and mission
• Reactance theory when our free behaviors are
  limited, we tend to react destructively

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Some concluding questions . . .

• More empirical research needed to test and refine
  theories
  
• E.g., surveying organizations with democratic and
  undemocratic dispute resolution programs, and
  inquiring about how that affects worker
  perceptions of the organization, task
  performance, willingness to support mission
• Beyond the basic guidance I have provided, how
  should ADR program managers integrate these
  principles into their daily work?
  
• Which daily issues and practices are implicated
  by the theory?
  
• What unique challenges are raised by the
  governmental context?
  
• What barriers are there to applying the theory?
• How can those barrier be overcome?