A range of software applications and platforms designed to aid parties in conducting negotiations. Different platforms stress different aspects of negotiation. Some manage the communication process, and stress keeping inter-party communication simple and structured by providing dedicated fields, formats, and forms. Others provide multiple communication venues for parties to utilize, according to their own comfort and choice, such as secure e-mail, instant messaging, or chat channels. Certain NSS focus on the decision-making process, and assist parties in analyzing their needs and preferences. If parties so choose, these platforms can also conduct an independent analysis of both parties’ needs and preferences and suggest solutions that the software considers optimal.
Published in Chapter:
Online Dispute Resolution
Noam Ebner (Tachlit Mediation and Negotiation Training, Israel)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 8
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-883-3.ch097
Abstract
The past few decades have seen explosive growth in the degree to which disputes that would previously have been litigated in court, or simply allowed to fester, are being dealt with constructively by other methods. The development of the field of conflict resolution and management, and of its sub-field, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), which focus on understanding conflict and on developing processes to deal with it, has provided both the theoretical background and the practical applications needed to transform conflicts into opportunities for learning and building. These developments have greatly affected, inter alia, the way conflict is handled inside organizations and in the workplace. The intuitive understanding of conflict’s combined potential for good and evil in organizations and in long term relationships such as employment and labor relations resulted in these being some of the earliest focal points for ADR.a The task of managing workplace conflict is a day-to-day job of managers (Lax & Sebenius, 1987). Whether formally listed in the company’s organizational responsibility chart or not, the task of identifying and managing conflict is most often assigned to human resources experts. In the age of e-communication, new types and sources of organizational conflict are emerging (Landry, 2000) and organizational dispute resolution experts need to update their toolbox. As HRM makes the transition to e-HRM, traditional ADR is adopting new methods for coping with conflict through e-methods and processes. The technology and skills necessary for managing online mediation, arbitration, and negotiation processes are being developed and improved, and the new subfield of online dispute resolution (ODR) is rapidly taking form. The aim of this article is to introduce, in general, the field of ODR to the e-HRM community, and to elaborate on one process which is suitable for widespread use in e-HRM: that of online mediation. In addition, we will also suggest other potentialities of ODR for e-HRM, in the hopes that this discussion will be taken up and developed by others in both fields.